Catherine Barrett

Former Great Kills resident Catherine Barrett, 72, of Middleburgh, N.Y., a loving homemaker who is remembered for her kind and gentle nature, died Friday in Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, after undergoing heart surgery.

Born Catherine Edwards in Manhattan, she grew up in Great Kills, where she lived for 30 years before relocating to Middleburgh.

She graduated from New Dorp High School.

Mrs. Barrett worked for Upjohn as a home health care aide in the 1970s.

She didn't have a mean bone in her body, said her husband, Arthur. She never bad-mouthed anyone. She was a good woman, and we had a great marriage for 53 years. She was my right arm and best friend.

Mrs. Barrett was an excellent cook. She was a homebody, and if her family was happy, so was she, he added.

While living on the Island, she was a devout parishioner of Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, Tottenville. In Middleburgh, she attended Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church.

Surviving, along with her husband, Arthur, are her son, Michael; her daughter, Kathleen Ferro; three brothers, Walter, Thomas and David Edwards; eight sisters, Joni Edwards, Helen Fiume, Marion Overton, Carol Baratta, Maureen Grandstaff, Arlene Mattheis, Lorraine LaFeir and Karen Brunetto, and four grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: Thursday December 4, 2014 Our Lady Help Of Christians R.C. Church , 10:00 AM Mass. Entombment at Resurrection Cemetery.

Visitation: Visitation will be Tuesday and Wednesday 2-4 & 7-9 PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Help of Christians R.C.Church