Rita Halstead

Born and raised Rita Gorman in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, she moved to Great Kills in 1971.

Mrs. Halstead was a matron in city schools for 15 years, working alongside her husband, Robert, a school custodian, at PS 11 in Dongan Hills and PS 39 in Great Kills. She retired 13 years ago.

“My mother was bubbly, always in a good mood,” said her son, Robert Halstead. “She loved life.”

Mrs. Halstead loved to spend time with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed crocheting blankets for family members and visits to Atlantic City

She was a parishioner of St. Clare’s R.C. Church, Great Kills.

Robert, her husband of 39 years, died in 2002.

Surviving, along with her son, Robert, are her sons, Michael and John; her daughters, Jo’Ann Ruocchio and Elizabeth Regina; a brother, George Gorman; two sisters, Frances Moore and Kathleen Currao; nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Friday from the Casey-McCallum-Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, with a mass at 9:45 a.m. in St. Clare’s Church. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.