Ruth E. Catalano

Ruth Ellen Catalano (nee Lynch) lived a life defined by intelligence, creativity, devotion to family, a deep love of teaching and a deeper Catholic faith. She passed peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones at 101 years of age.

Born August 7, 1924, to Frank and Mary (“May”) Lynch, Ruth lived on Silver Lake Road in the West Brighton section of Staten Island. The middle child between her sister Doris Goggi and her brother Frank Lynch III who predeceased her, Ruth grew up in a proud Irish Catholic Staten Island family whose roots on the island stretched back several generations.

From childhood, Ruth stood out for her creativity, brilliant mind and curiosity. While attending Our Lady of Good Counsel Elementary School in Tompkinsville, she skipped two grades and later graduated from Notre Dame High School on Grymes Hill at just fifteen years old. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in chemistry and mathematics from Notre Dame College at the age of nineteen—an extraordinary accomplishment for a young woman of her era.

Upon graduation from college, she joined the wartime workforce at the Tidewater Oil refinery in Bayonne, New Jersey where she managed a quality testing laboratory. There, she analyzed petroleum fuel samples destined for Allied forces overseas. Tankers swollen with vital fuel for the war effort could not leave port until Ruth approved the quality and safety of the cargo—an enormous responsibility placed in the hands of a remarkably capable young woman.

In 1946, she married Frederick B. Parke Jr., and together they welcomed three children: Sandra, Rick, and Jeffrey. In 1958 Ruth began teaching at Notre Dame Academy and remained there until 1962. After Fred’s passing in 1959, Ruth rebuilt her life with courage and grace. In 1963 she married Jim Catalano. Their marriage created a loving, resilient, blended family that added two more sons, Jim and Michael. First living in New Dorp Heights and then on to Todt Hill into a home that Ruth and Jim built together and where they both lived out their lives.

Teaching became Ruth’s lifelong calling and passion. For more than three decades she taught alongside the devout Presentation Sisters of Staten Island at Immaculate Conception School in Stapleton, shaping the lives of generations of students. To this day, her former students remember her with affection and gratitude—proof of the meaningful and lasting difference she made.

Music was another of her great loves. As a young adult, she sang at Sunday Mass with her sister Doris and later joined the Sweet Adelines, an international barbershop singing organization where she sang the bass part and served as choreographer and costume designer for both quartets and large choruses that competed internationally earning numerous awards.

Ruth had impeccable taste and effortless style. Friends often remarked that she always looked as though she had just returned from the runways of Paris. Yet beneath the elegance, was a warm, welcoming spirit and a quick sense of humor that made everyone feel at home.

Holiday dinners, summer barbecues, and long afternoons filled with laughter became traditions she created for family, friends and neighbors.

She is survived by five children, nine grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, a beloved son-in-law and daughters-in-law, many nieces and nephews, and a wide circle of friends and neighbors whom she loved and whose lives she touched.

Her legacy lives on in the family she nurtured, the students she inspired, and the countless people who were made to feel welcome at her table, in her home and important in her life.

A visitation will be held at Casey Funeral Home, 350 Slosson Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314, on March 17, 2026, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The Funeral Mass will be held at St. Ann Roman Catholic Church, 101 Cromwell Ave, Staten Island, NY 10304, on March 18, 2026, at 11:00 am. Her burial will follow at St. Peter's Cemetery, 52 Tyler Ave, Staten Island, NY 10310, on March 18, 2026, at 12:30 pm.

In lieu of flowers please make a donation in her memory to:

The Presentation Sisters of Staten Island by check mailed to 419 Woodrow Road, SI, NY 10312 Or, Notre Dame Academy of Staten Island via website: https://www.notredameacademy.org