Retired math teacher Theresa Neenan Gallagher, 87, dies

Theresa Neenan Gallagher was the sort of woman who spent her life taking care of others, as a nun and educator who was also devoted to family, recalled a longtime friend.

"She truly spent her life taking care of anyone needing help," Catherine Murphy of Melville said Friday. "She was an extremely kind, compassionate human being. Anybody who was in need of her help received it, no matter how much it involved."

Gallagher died last month at Hospice Inn of Melville following a sudden illness. She was 87 years old.

A memorial Mass for Gallagher is set for 10:45 a.m. July 17 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Malverne, where Gallagher lived for many years before retirement in which she divided her time between Boynton Beach, Fla., and Malverne.

Murphy said Gallagher was born in South Ozone Park, Queens, to Irish immigrant parents, William and Helen Neenan. She was one of six siblings; none survives her. According to Murphy, Gallagher attended St. Joseph's High School in Brooklyn, and then earned a bachelor's degree from Manhattan College and a master's in Latin from St. John's University.

Gallagher taught math at the junior high school and high school levels in Catholic schools in Brooklyn, Queens and Puerto Rico, Murphy said. Sometime earlier, Murphy said Gallagher became a nun, entering the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood. Officials there could not be reached Friday.

"She left the community [of sisters] to take care of her mother," said Murphy, who lived in the same Boynton Beach complex with Gallagher, dividing her time between Florida and Melville.

Gallagher would later marry John Gallagher of Malverne, who predeceased her, Murphy said.

In 1972, Gallagher became principal of Madonna Heights Residence in Dix Hills, now called Madonna Heights Services, which has a school and a residential treatment facility that aims to help "adolescent girls, women and families overcome the devastating effects of poverty, neglect and abuse," its website says. She retired from the school in 1985, Murphy said.

Even in retirement, Murphy said Gallagher was dedicated to helping others, volunteering at a hospital in Boynton Beach, even serving as a canasta instructor in the complex where she lived.

Gallagher is survived by five stepchildren, none of whom could be reached: John Gallagher of Brooklyn and London, Dr. Richard Gallagher of White Plains, Eugene Gallagher of New Jersey, Mark Gallagher of Manhattan and Catherine Danser of Saratoga, Calif. She also is survived by several grandchildren and nieces and nephews.