Kathleen Marie (Turner) McNeal

Kathleen Marie (Turner) McNeal, age 79, passed away on February 15th. She is survived by her loving son, William David Jr., his wife Tracy, granddaughters Margaret, Eleanor, and Phoebe McNeal of Brookline, Massachusetts, her sister and brother-in-law, Marianne (Maggie) and Bill Murdock of Bozeman, Montana and their family. She is predeceased by her husbands William David Sr., and John Nolte, PhD.

Kathy was born to Henry and Anna Marie (Bertram) Turner in northern New Jersey where she grew up. She graduated from Fairlawn High School in 1962, where she excelled in cheerleading and socializing. She attended Tufts University where she majored in physical education. Kathy loved Boston, Massachusetts, from buying produce at Haymarket Station to watching Bobby Orr fly down the ice at the Boston Garden, to a chance sighting of JFK at a Harvard football game. She stayed in the area after graduating to teach at Marblehead High School for several years while also coaching the women’s tennis team. She had a tremendous sense of adventure which can best be summarized by the following: on Friday afternoons in the winter she would pack up her two door Triumph convertible and drive over 6 hours to northern Vermont where she was one of the only women on the ski patrol at Jay Peak. It was on the ski slopes that she would meet her future husband, William (Bill) McNeal. 

Kathy obtained her masters degree in education from Salem State University. She married and relocated to upstate NY where she had a son, William David Jr. She briefly taught at Schenectady Community College, stayed home full time for Will’s early formative years, and was a substitute teacher in Queensbury, New York and the neighboring districts, for 15 years. 

Kathy lived in Queensbury for over forty years. She made lifelong friends in her community, through volunteering and substitute teaching in Queensbury Schools, the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association, and Our Lady of the Annunciation parish. Although Kathy’s parents retired to their birthplace of New Orleans, and her only sibling Marianne (Murdock) moved to Bozeman, MT, this created ample opportunity for family vacations crisscrossing the country. Each summer under the dubious eye of their mother, Kathy and Marianne would pack their respective children into planes, trains, and automobiles (aka minivans) in pursuit of a new destination, from Disney World to the Canadien Rockies, and many places in between. These trips were epic in not only their scope, but also the number of memories they created for each family. 

Years after Bill passed away suddenly, Kathy found a second chance at love when she reconnected with John (Jack) Nolte, whom she had previously dated decades earlier while living in Boston. Jack and Kathy enjoyed over 10 years together, marrying in 2007 and dividing their time between Tucson, AZ, where he taught at the University of Arizona, and Queensbury. In a span of four years Kathy welcomed her three granddaughters, who would subsequently give her lots of material with which to brag to her friends about. Jack predeceased Kathy in 2014, yet she continued being a snowbird for years to come. In addition to loving all things active, from skiing to tennis to jogging to rollerblading, Kathy loved animals, specifically dogs. This love was manifested in her volunteerism with the Tucson SPCA. Those who knew her will remember Kathy most for her seemingly endless energy and inexhaustible gift of gab. She was always the life of the party, lit up a room wherever she went, and will truly be missed. 

Kathy's Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at St. Mary of the Assumption Church located at 5 Linden Place in Brookline, MA. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend.  A celebration of Kathy's life will be held this summer on Lake George in New York.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Kathy’s memory can be made to your local SPCA chapter, or the charity of your choice. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Kathleen Marie (Turner) McNeal, please visit our floral store.