Trudy McDonough

Mary-Gertrude, otherwise known as Trudy, Auntie, or Miss McDonough, was born in Hartford on May 20th, 1942, the daughter of George F. and Estelle (McCullough) McDonough. She died, quietly, at St. Francis Hospital on Friday, March 8th, 2019, due to complications from pneumonia. Born with spina bifida, she learned to fight and overcome her disability throughout her life. After graduating from Mount St. Joseph Academy in 1960, and Saint Joseph College in 1964, she became a grammar school teacher at St. Mary’s School, Simsbury, where her first year students numbered 35. By 1968, she had earned an MA in reading and, eventually, her 6th year at Central Connecticut State University. With her new diploma she was hired as a reading consultant for the Elementary Schools in Wethersfield, CT, where she spent over 30 years teaching, the last 6 of which working in their Kindergarten Center. She was appointed by Governors O’Neill and Weicker to the State Developmental Disabilities Council and chaired the Committee on Neighborhood Public Schools in 1988. She was also chairperson for the Bloomfield Advisory Committee on Services to People with Disabilities. Trudy loved to bake, sew, paint, garden and, when she was younger, hike up to Reservoir #6 and the Heublein Tower on Talcott Mountain behind her home. The summer after college graduation she spent hitchhiking in Europe with a friend and camping in Canada with her sister. She spent many years enjoying the beach life in Weekapaug, R.I., and travels to Ireland, Bermuda, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Florida and Alaska. She is survived by her siblings, William, of Bloomfield, Martha (McDonough) O’Brien of Pawcatuck, and John, of Bloomfield. Her nieces and nephews are Marita (and Robert) Coombs of Sommerville, MA; William (and Marycate Buckley) McDonough of West Chester, PA; Marsina (and Marc) Stearns of Haddon Heights, NJ; Colin (and Colleen Rice) McDonough of Baltic, CT; Timothy (and Abby Atkinson) O’Brien of Pawcatuck, CT; and Brendan (and Jennifer Sims) O’Brien of Ledyard, CT. She also leaves 14 Grand Nieces and Nephews and many dear friends, including her cousins Andrew (and Rita) Casassa, of Westfield, MA, Susan (Moulton) Casassa and family, of Granby, CT, Carleton Holcomb and family, of Norfolk, CT, and David Johnson, of San Francisco. She loved and appreciated her special caregivers: Lois Fischer, Sayre Fournier, and Marva Chung, of the Caleb Hitchcock Center at Duncaster, Bloomfield, CT, where Trudy resided. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Sat., March 16th, at 10:00AM at Sacred Heart Church, 26 Wintonbury Ave., Bloomfield, followed by a graveside service at Mount St. Benedict’s Cemetery, Bloomfield. Memorial donations may be made to: The Prosser Public Library, 1 Tunxis Ave.,Bloomfield, 06002.

Trudy McDonough

March 8, 2019