Catherine Caldari

Born Catherine Bisceglie in Brooklyn, she graduated from the former Girls' Commercial High School there in 1942.

She settled in Oakwood in 1967.

She worked for 44 years as a school aide at PS 14 in Stapleton and retired in 1995 from PS 23 in Oakwood.

An excellent cook, she enjoyed reading and playing cards. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren, whom she adored.

A strong, vibrant and caring woman, she loved her family dearly and would do anything for them, family said.

She was a parishioner of St. Patrick's R.C. Church, Richmond.

Ernest, her husband of 58 years, died in 2003.

She is survived by her son, Julius; her daughters, Carol Ildebrando and Antoinette Caddy; her sister, Karen Ventura; six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Monday from the Casey McCallum-Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, with a Mass at 10 a.m. in St. Patrick's Church. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.