Therese Driscoll
Obituary Reports the death of an individual, providing an account of the person’s life including their achievements, any controversies in which they were involved, and reminiscences by people who knew them.
Longtime Lake Lincolndale resident Therese Driscoll, the wife of former Somers Police Department Chief Michael Driscoll Sr. and the mother of five sons, passed away peacefully on June 14. She was 84.
Born Oct. 3 1936 to Helen and Patrick Mahon, Therese was the fourth child of six from an Irish-Catholic family from the Bronx. She married her husband, a U.S. Marine and New York City Police Officer also from the Bronx, on May 3, 1962.
They started a family with two sons before moving to Lake Lincolndale, a sleepy hamlet of Somers, N.Y. in 1966.
There the family expanded with three more sons and Ellie (Grandma) Driscoll, Therese’s mother-in-law, who moved in, along with various family canines and felines over the years who always liked mom the best.
Like many moving “upstate” in the 1960s from the New York City boroughs, Therese at first felt strange in Lake Lincolndale, a Bronx girl without a driver’s license now in a leafy suburb with no sidewalks.
But summers in Lake Lincolndale revolved around the neighborhood lake, where Therese’s boys learned to swim while she held court with the neighborhood moms. At the lake she had an endless supply of iced tea and vanilla wafers for her children, along with quarters for the pinball machine.
She volunteered on the board of directors of the Lake Lincolndale Property Owners Association, where she served as financial secretary and proudly ran the beach snack bar.
Therese could be headstrong and opinionated, with a temperament at times not far from Maureen O’Sullivan’s character in “The Quiet Man,” with whom she proudly shared fiery red hair.
While her sons attended public schools she was a fierce advocate for kids in special education. She was also a bowler, playing in Putnam County leagues winning a league championship in a senior league.
But her husband, Michael Sr., and her five sons were the pride of her life, which she conveyed to anyone she met.
She was born to raise children, and to be a grandmother, a wish fulfilled with the arrival of her first grandchild, Thomas, in 1995.
Next came granddaughter Megan, finally adding a baby girl to the Driscoll family mix, to Therese’s delight.
Therese is survived by her husband, Michael Sr., who recently retired after more than 54 years in law enforcement to care for her when she fell ill; a son, Michael Jr., and his wife, Diane, of Clearwater, Florida and their children, Dennis and Jennifer; a son, Joseph, and his wife, Barbara, of Somers, N.Y. and their children, Megan and Matthew; a son, Thomas, and his wife, Creslyn, of Pine Island, N.Y. and their children, Thomas and Daniel; a son, James, of Lake Lincolndale, N.Y.; a son, Eugene, and his wife, Autumn, of Derby, CT and their children, Jack and Emma.
In addition to cousins and many nieces and nephews, Therese is survived by her brother, John Mahon, and his wife, Maureen, of Yonkers, N.Y., and; her sister, Leah Dieteman, and her husband, David, of Erie, Pa.
She was predeceased by her father, Patrick, and her loving mother, Helen Mahon; her older brother, David Mahon, and two older sisters, MaryEllen Mahon and Regina Wilson.
Calling hours are scheduled for 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 20 at Cargain Funeral Home, 418 Route 6,(GPS 418 US-6) Mahopac, NY., 10541.
A Mass of Christian Rite is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, June 21 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 95 Plum Brook Road, Somers, N.Y.
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