Denise Gargiulo Keller, 63, of New Fairfield, passed away on May 31, 2023 surrounded by her loving family. She had fought courageously against multiple sclerosis (MS) for most of her life, but was unable to conquer a serious bout with pneumonia.
She is survived by her husband Jim; daughters Alyse (Johnson) of Brookfield and Jana (Wilshaw) of Bethel; sons-in-law Joe Wilshaw and Kevin Johnson and granddaughter Elowen Wilshaw. In addition, she is survived by her loving mother, Phyllis Gargiulo; sisters Pat Santoro and Cyndy Gargiulo; brother John Gargiulo; an aunt, cousins and many in-laws, nieces and nephews…and grand-dog Mosley.
Denise was born in the Parkchester section of The Bronx, where she attended St. Raymond’s Academy for Girls before moving to Westchester for her senior year. She graduated from North Salem High School, where she later worked for 15 years as a special education teacher. Denise earned her BA from SUNY College at Buffalo and a master’s degree in Gifted & Talented Education from Columbia University.
Gifted and talented in her own right, Denise was Westchester’s Junior Miss in 1977 and played the lead role in the musical “Mame” in high school, and Eve Harrington in “Applause” (All About Eve) in college. She was president of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority at Buffalo State where she was White Rose Queen and a finalist for the President’s Key Award.
Even with all this, she was mainly known for being sweet-natured and friendly, with an eager smile lighting up her beautiful blue eyes.
When MS forced her to leave her job, she focused on her family and community. She was class mother for both daughters in elementary school, children’s liturgy leader and marriage prep counselor at St. Edward the Confessor Church, PR director for the Community Service Club, and “stage mom” and chauffeur during her daughter’s brief modeling career.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society at nationalmssociety.org.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12:15pm on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at Saint Edward the Confessor Church, New Fairfield. Interment will be private and at the convenience of the family.
The family will receive friends at the Green Funeral Home, 57 Main St., Danbury on Friday, June 9 from 5pm to 8pm.
