Obituary

 AGE: 71 • Formerly of Somerville and Bridgewater

Kathleen A. (Sullivan) Gallagher, 71, passed away November 27, 2014 at Hanover Hill Health Care Center in Manchester, NH. She was born February 7, 1943, in Somerville, NJ, the daughter of the late George D. and Alice E. (Mallettt) Sullivan. Kathy was raised and educated in Bridgewater, NJ. She received her B.A. in Chemistry from Syracuse University and a Masters in Chemistry and Education from Boston University. Kathy taught high school chemistry in Wakefield, Hamilton-Wenham, and Melrose, MA before joining the faculty at the University of New Hampshire.

Kathy worked as a research scientist for the University of NH for 30 years. At UNH she was Director of Instrumentation where she mentored many graduate and doctoral students who went on to very successful careers. During the early AIDS epidemic, she was granted a sabbatical for two years to work with the National Institute of Health research group in Bethesda, Maryland.
Kathy's career was in chemistry and education, but her passion was music. She was an accomplished pianist and sang with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus in Boston, MA, the Concord Chorale in Concord, NH, and the Newburyport Choral in Newburyport, MA. She also loved travelling the world, gardening, cooking, and computer games. She will be dearly missed in the communities she joined and enjoyed.

Surviving family members include her spouse, Edward Gallagher of Portsmouth, NH, her cousins Roy Jacobi and Maureen S. Jacobi and her in-laws: James Gallagher, Carol Ann Gallagher, Neil and Linda Gallagher, Owen Gallagher, her nieces and nephews, Colleen (Gallagher) and Robert Foulis and their children Patrick and Ryan, Laura Gallagher, Brian Gallagher, Michael Gallagher and her dear friends Nancy Cherim and Barbara Sorace.

There are no calling hours. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10AM on Saturday, December 6, at St. Bernard Church, Bridgewater. Burial will follow at St. Bernard's Cemetery, Bridgewater. Donations in Kathleen's memory can be made to the Newburyport Choral Society, P.O. Box 92, Newburyport, MA 01950.

Published in Courier News on Dec. 5, 2014