Catherine Sullivan, 88, family matriarch and great cook
She roamed the world with her engineer husband.
JUST TO LOOK OVER the delicacies that Catherine Sullivan specialized in is to regret that you were never invited to her home for dinner.
Try manicotti, clams and spaghetti, crabs and spaghetti, or lamb and spaghetti, often served at her beach house in Ship Bottom, N.J., with the sound of the surf and the gentle sea breeze at the window.
If you notice an Italian flavor to her menu, it's understandable, since her maiden name was Garofalo.
"Catherine may have been the matriarch of the Sullivan Clan, but she knew her Italian cooking," her family said.
She had plenty of eager mouths to feed, what with five children as the core of an extended family that gathered at her home in Moorestown or Ship Bottom, knives and forks at the ready.
"There might have been as many as 20 people for dinner," said her son Joseph Sullivan.
She died Sept. 5 at age 88. She had lived in Moorestown, N.J., for 53 years.
"A beloved friend to many, she was known for her warmth and generosity," her family said. "Catherine touched and positively impacted the lives of many in countless ways."
For Catherine, who was born in South Philadelphia in 1926, life wasn't always easy in childhood. "She grew up in the Great Depression, poor but rich in her family's love, and carried that over to all who knew her," her family said.
She was the daughter of Dominic and Leonilda Garofalo. She married Joseph A. Sullivan on April 14, 1951. He was a mechanical engineer who worked at oil refineries all over the world. She often accompanied him, but not to Saudi Arabia, where wives were not welcome.
After her husband died in 2002, Catherine lived by herself, but never alone. Her son Joseph said that families of children with birth defects awaiting surgery often stayed at her house through the auspices of Father Ho Lung's Mission at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Moorestown.
In addition, she never lacked for visitations from her extended family and many friends, at both her Moorestown and seashore homes.
Some of her family were scattered all over the country, including Hawaii, and she enjoyed visiting them.
Nicole Pensiero, longtime friend and neighbor who often visited the Sullivan family, recalled the time Catherine and her daughter, Kathy, and Nicole and her mother took a two-week trip to Spain, "and we had a blast."
Nicole also recalled how the Sullivans took a handicapped child from a Caribbean island into their home, as part of their service to the needy.
"For me and my siblings, Kay was a big part of our lives," Nicole said. "She was very generous and friendly."
Besides her daughter, Kathy Sullivan Widmayer, and son Joseph she is survived by three other sons, Thomas, Shawn and Kevin Sullivan; a sister, Philomena Garofalo Rossi; and eight grandchildren. She was also predeceased by a brother, Dominic Garofalo.
Services: Were yesterday. Burial was in Mount Carmel Cemetery, Moorestown.
Donations in her memory may be made to Father Ho Lung's Mission, Missionaries of the Poor c/o Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 42 W. Main St., Moorestown, N.J., 08057.