Lucy Mary Kilroe

Our mom passed away on Friday, February 6, 2026 in Stuart, Florida, her home for the past three years. Mom has had a few different chapters in her 92 years. She was born in Weymouth, Nova Scotia on October 3, 1933, the first child of Celeste (LeBlanc) and Harry Melanson. She was, and is still known by her nick name, Toots, to her family and friends in Nova Scotia. As a young adult, mom left Weymouth, like so many young women of her generation, and moved to New York.

Our mom told us many times in the last few months that she had a long and wonderful life. She was fond of remembering stories about her loving family, and in particular her father’s strength and kindness and her mother’s sense of adventure. She expressed her gratitude for the time she was married to Ralph because he gave her two daughters, Jodie and Jill. She reminisced about road trips from New York to Nova Scotia with her daughters every summer throughout their childhood. She spoke of her lasting love for her mother in law, our grandmother, Carmela Ceccolini, with whom she had coffee with every morning that she lived on Pocantico Street in North Tarrytown, New York.

Mom always smiled when she recalled her first date with Jack in 1972. She knew that he was the one! While she initially expressed some trepidation with the thought of becoming a parent of three boys, that quickly passed, and mom and Jack were married in 1973. She took on the role of a mother of five teenagers with determination and dedication. She and Jack loved the home they purchased to house their new family of seven in Wappingers Falls, New York. Mom loved to tell us her memories of caring for us in those years. In particular, she liked to remind us of the dozens of cookies she baked to fill the cookie jar that was empty each day by dinner time. Perhaps, this was the beginning of her passion for making cookies which she continued until she was no longer strong enough to stand at the counter.

As young retirees in their late 50s, mom and Jack moved to Calabash, North Carolina. Mom loved entertaining in the home she and Jack built together. They had so much fun during these years. The door was always open to friends. A cup of coffee, glass of wine or a beer was on offer to accompany chats across the table. Mom and Jack enjoyed wonderful friendships which lasted to the end of mom’s life.

After Jack’s death in 2009, mom again found herself pushed to redesign her life. She maintained the friendships that she and Jack had made and added a few of her own.

She developed a community of friends at a recreation centre near her home. This group exercised and lunched together. As time went on, she found a group of card loving women and played weekly.

In 2018, she and Jodie began annual road trips to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where Jodie purchased a summer home so they could escape the summer heat and reconnect with their Nova Scotia roots. Mom enjoyed these trips until the summer of 2025 when we insisted that she fly. She reluctantly boarded a plane for the first time since 1973, determined to make one more trip to Nova Scotia.

In the fall of 2022, mom moved to Stuart, Florida to live across the street from Jodie. She amazed us with her adaptability at a point in life when most people find it difficult to adjust to change. Mom was undeterred and made new friends in the church community of St Joseph Catholic Church as well as in her neighbourhood on daily walks with Jodie and her grand- dog, Bella.

Mom had a lifelong strong faith in God, and was a devout Catholic. She was comforted by prayer over the past 6 months when she was challenged by health problems. We already miss her and, at the same time, we know that she was ready to leave this life for the next life where she would be reunited with those she loved who had predeceased her: Jack, her loving husband; Mike and Kevin, her sons; Tom, her son in law; Harry and Celeste Melanson, her parents; Ralph, her first husband and father of her daughters; Sonny, her brother; and Jean Paul, her nephew; beloved dogs Pepe, Tuffy, Maggie and Mimi.

While mom’s many friends will remember her for her smile and her encouragement, as well as her baked goodies, her family members will remember her with love and gratitude for the many gifts that she gave to us including determination and acceptance of whatever life brings.

Surviving are: her daughters: Jodie Gill and Jill Ceccolini (Steve Spencer); son, John Kilroe; sister, Judy Hamers (Richard Hamers); nephews, Joel Million, Stuart Melanson, Joey Melanson; nieces, Teresa Papandrea, Patty Melanson, grand dogs, Bella and Arlo.

There will be a funeral Mass at Saint Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church in Shallotte, North Carolina on Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 10:00. Following Mass, mom will be interned with Jack in the columbrium at the church. A reception will follow at the Pastorial Cente