Kathleen Marie Meenaghan

Kathleen Marie ‘Kay’ Meenaghan, 83, died peacefully Tuesday June 23 at her home comforted by her loving cousins Jim and Sue Meenaghan and Evelyne Heneghan as well as her devoted caregiver Vanice after a long illness.

A lifelong resident of Springfield, Kay attended Holy Family School, was a 1954 graduate of Cathedral High School, a 1958 graduate of The College of Our Lady of the Elms and earned a masters degree in education from Westfield State College.

Kay went on to teach in the Springfield Public Schools system, initially at the Elias Brookings Elementary School, but primarily at the White Street Elementary School, retiring in 2000 after over 42 years of teaching.

Kay was a longtime communicant of St Paul Church in Springfield and a member of the Jewish Community Center in Longmeadow. Kay was always an avid reader and enjoyed participating in and sometimes hosting her monthly book club. She took tremendous pleasure spending months accumulating small gifts (enough to fill a spare bedroom) in preparation for her annual Christmas luncheon with her friends.
She was also a member at Glenmeadow where she “enjoyed” exercise classes but THOROUGHLY enjoyed her regular Glenmeadow bus trips with her friends to ‘lose her shirt’ at the casino!

Generous with her time and attention, hilarious sense of humor, fiercely loyal to both friends and family, one of the all-time great story tellers in a family of story tellers, Kay will be deeply missed by her family and friends, many of whom she went to school with, worked with and continued deep friendships with for the rest of her life.

Predeceased by her parents John Meenaghan and Yolanda (Accorsi) Meenaghan, her second mother Aunt Nora Meenaghan and her brother Michael Meenaghan, she leaves her sister-in-law Barbara Meenaghan, nephews John, Joseph, Kevin , Michael Meenaghan and their families; and many loving cousins and extended family here in the U.S., as well as Ireland.

The family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the professionalism, kindness, loving companionship and grace of Vanice Whyte who was Kay’s caregiver and friend for the several months prior to her passing.

Calling Hours will be held 6:30 PM -9:00 PM, Sunday (June 28, 2020) in the Forastiere Smith Family Funeral Home, 220 North Main St., East Longmeadow. Funeral services will begin at 9:00AM on Monday (June 29,2020) with everyone asked to assemble in the funeral home. A funeral mass will be held at 10:00 AM in St. Paul’s Church , 235 Dwight Rd. Springfield. Burial will follow in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Springfield. For your protection, it is imperative to practice social distancing and to provide yourself with a face mask during the time of the calling hours and the time of the funeral service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the College of Our Lady of the Elms or to Compassus Hospice www.forastiere.com