Obituary for Rosemarie Toomey
We regret to announce the passing on May 25 (Memorial Day) of Rosemarie Veronica Toomey (nee Kennedy) of Middle Village. She died after complications from heart failure. She was 90 years old, 11 days shy of her 91st birthday on June 6.
Funeral services are being held Tuesday, June 2 between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. followed by a blessing at Our Lady of Hope Church and burial at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmindale, New York.
Family and friends knew her as “Sissy,” although her devoted husband of 57 years, Francis H. (Buddy) Toomey, often affectionately referred to her as “Red” due to her striking shock of red hair and flamboyant personality.
Her parents, Joseph and Mae (nee Bowman) Kennedy, moved from Manhattan to Queens with their children to Seabury Street in Elmhurst, a place Sissy always remembered fondly. She grew up with three brothers: Matthew, Raymond and Joseph, all deceased; and a younger sister, Ann, who lives in Astoria.
Sissy attended Resurrection Ascension Elementary School and Newtown High School before pursuing a 30-year career with AT&T, where she became a telephone operator and business representative.
She first met her shy, bespectacled future husband Buddy, also of a large family, at the underground bowling alley on 63rd Drive in Rego Park, where he was a pin setter and she was a proud, star bowler whose exploits often made the local paper and showered welcomed attention on her. They were inseparable ever since.
After marrying in 1953 and having their first child, Paul, in 1958 and their second, Gary, two years later, Sissy and Buddy bought a newly built home on a dead-end street in Middle Village and, years later, would establish the 75th Street Block Association. They quickly joined the nearest church, a nascent Our Lady of Hope two blocks away, where their two children would attend elementary school.
While Buddy joined the church’s Holy Name Society, Sissy joined the Holy Rosary Society, both taking leadership roles. She would later belong to OLH’s senior club, as well as the one at nearby St. Margaret’s, becoming a card shark and expert bingo player. She also served as treasurer of the local Republican Club, rubbing shoulders with local politicians.
In her later years, she spent time with her sons’ families, enjoyed the music of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland and liked to travel to places like Arizona, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and Ireland. While not well known for her cooking, she had been praised numerous times for her tuna fish casserole.
After the death of her husband nearly 10 years ago at the age of 83, Sissy continued to live independently in her Middle Village home and subsequently lived with an aide when her health began to decline. She celebrated her 90th birthday surrounded by her sons, their wives, her grandchildren and four of her great grandchildren.
Sissy is survived by her sister, Ann; her son Paul and wife Dee, of Glendale; her son Gary and wife Jacquie of Maryland; grandchildren Frank Orlando of Maspeth, Dawn Pearce of Franklin Square, Jillian Toomey and David Jacobs, of Maryland, and Sarah Jacobs of New Jersey; and 10 great grandchildren: Frank, Brandon, Alexandra, Vincent, Luke, Joey, Liam, Nathanael, Harley and Ethan.
Funeral services are being held Tuesday, June 2 between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. followed by a blessing at Our Lady of Hope Church and burial at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmindale, New York.
Family and friends knew her as “Sissy,” although her devoted husband of 57 years, Francis H. (Buddy) Toomey, often affectionately referred to her as “Red” due to her striking shock of red hair and flamboyant personality.
Her parents, Joseph and Mae (nee Bowman) Kennedy, moved from Manhattan to Queens with their children to Seabury Street in Elmhurst, a place Sissy always remembered fondly. She grew up with three brothers: Matthew, Raymond and Joseph, all deceased; and a younger sister, Ann, who lives in Astoria.
Sissy attended Resurrection Ascension Elementary School and Newtown High School before pursuing a 30-year career with AT&T, where she became a telephone operator and business representative.
She first met her shy, bespectacled future husband Buddy, also of a large family, at the underground bowling alley on 63rd Drive in Rego Park, where he was a pin setter and she was a proud, star bowler whose exploits often made the local paper and showered welcomed attention on her. They were inseparable ever since.
After marrying in 1953 and having their first child, Paul, in 1958 and their second, Gary, two years later, Sissy and Buddy bought a newly built home on a dead-end street in Middle Village and, years later, would establish the 75th Street Block Association. They quickly joined the nearest church, a nascent Our Lady of Hope two blocks away, where their two children would attend elementary school.
While Buddy joined the church’s Holy Name Society, Sissy joined the Holy Rosary Society, both taking leadership roles. She would later belong to OLH’s senior club, as well as the one at nearby St. Margaret’s, becoming a card shark and expert bingo player. She also served as treasurer of the local Republican Club, rubbing shoulders with local politicians.
In her later years, she spent time with her sons’ families, enjoyed the music of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland and liked to travel to places like Arizona, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and Ireland. While not well known for her cooking, she had been praised numerous times for her tuna fish casserole.
After the death of her husband nearly 10 years ago at the age of 83, Sissy continued to live independently in her Middle Village home and subsequently lived with an aide when her health began to decline. She celebrated her 90th birthday surrounded by her sons, their wives, her grandchildren and four of her great grandchildren.
Sissy is survived by her sister, Ann; her son Paul and wife Dee, of Glendale; her son Gary and wife Jacquie of Maryland; grandchildren Frank Orlando of Maspeth, Dawn Pearce of Franklin Square, Jillian Toomey and David Jacobs, of Maryland, and Sarah Jacobs of New Jersey; and 10 great grandchildren: Frank, Brandon, Alexandra, Vincent, Luke, Joey, Liam, Nathanael, Harley and Ethan.