Theresa C. McKillop

At the request of  Theresa C. McKillop’s  family. Anyone who wishes to attend the visitation and services, should wear a  Mask please.

Theresa C. McKillop died at her home in Smithtown N.Y. on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 surrounded by loving family.

Theresa Christina (Kaspar) McKillop was born on March 13, 1930 to Matthew J. and Marie J. (Waldhauer) Kaspar in Queens New York. She grew up in Glendale with her younger brother Matthew. The family spent the summer at their beach bungalow in Roxbury, Queens where Theresa (Terry) was a member of the women’s “Dolphins” club. Terry married Richard McKillop in 1954.  They lived in Glendale prior to moving to North Bellmore, Long Island, where they raised six children. In 1993, Terry and Rich retired to Port St. Lucie, Florida, where she enjoyed socializing with relatives, bowling and teaching CCD classes. They returned to New York in 2014.

Theresa attended St. Pancras Elementary School in Glendale and The Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School where she graduated with academic honors in 1948. When her oldest child entered high school, Theresa began college and graduated with an MA in special education from Hofstra in 1975. She started her career at a clinic at the Long Island Jewish Hospital and later worked as a special education elementary school teacher at the E.W. Bower and William Rall schools in Lindenhurst. One of her greatest joys was retelling the story of one of her students returning from the Marine Corp to thank her for the difference she had made in his life

In 2018 Theresa was predeceased by Rich, her husband of sixty-three years. She was also predeceased by her parents, her younger sister Marie, and her nephew Stephen Kaspar.  Theresa is survived by her adored children and their spouses Claudia and Dr. Jeff Fishman of Stonybrook, NY, Christine and Gary Lespinasse of Freehold, NJ, Diane and Joe Santos of Smithtown, NY, Richard and Patty McKillop of East Meadow, NY, Mary Ellen and Bill Goetz of Acworth, Georgia and Jacqueline and Antonino LaGattuta of Smithtown, NY. She also leaves behind her fifteen treasured grandchildren, Steven Fishman, Karen (Brian) Fried, Lauren (Peter) Boettcher, Dr. Danielle Lespinasse (Zachary Snyder), Brianna Lespinasse and Alexandre Lespinasse, Jason (Emily) Santos, Craig (fiancée Kelly) Santos and Sofia Santos, Meghan, Lindsay, Emma and Kelsey McKillop, and Richard and Nicholas Goetz and five precious great grandsons, Michael, Matthew and Aiden Fried and Luke and Liam Boettcher.  Theresa leaves her cherished brother Matthew Kasper and his wife Marie, sisters-in law Margaret (John Modica), Carolyn, Eny, Helen, Mary and Dorothy McKillop, and a multitude of nieces and nephews.

Visitation Sunday 9/26 from 2-4 PM and 7 – 9 PM at the Branch Funeral Home, 190 East Main St., Smithtown NY. Funeral Mass 10:45 AM at St. James RC Church Setauket, NY. Interment at St. John Cemetery, Middle Village, NY.