Bonita “Bonnie” Katherine McCarthy, 80, died on Aug. 17, 2020, due to complications from COVID-19 at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Specialty Hospital of Central Jersey, surrounded by her family. She was born on Oct. 10, 1939, in Naugatuck, to the late John and Katherine Fitzgerald.
Bonnie attended Sacred Heart High School in Waterbury and attended Our Lady of Good Counsel College in White Plains, N.Y. She married William McCarthy on Sept. 10, 1960, at St. Francis Church in Naugatuck. The couple had five daughters. She had been an active member of the Catholic church, serving as a Eucharistic minister at St. Catherine’s Church in Holmdel, N.J., and a Sunday school teacher for many years. She was a founder and counselor of Bottle Cappers, an organization that helped the trouble youth in the community find their way. Bonnie was president of the PTA at Nutswamp Grammar School, Thompson Junior High, and Middletown High School South in Middletown, N.J., and subsequently a teacher’s aide at Middletown High School North for 11 years. She was the unofficial mayor of the assisted living facility in Jackson, N.J., where she lived at with her husband. She loved gardening, cooking and painting; but above all she loved spending time with her family and friends.
Bonnie is survived by her husband, William; her sister, Polly Pyne and her husband, Jack Pyne; their five daughters, Jamie Seymour and her husband, Chas Seymour, and their three daughters, Katherine Raffensperger and her husband, Jonathan Raffensperger, Margaret Seymour, and Charlotte Seymour; Johnna Geraghty and her children, Thomas Geraghty and Katherine Geraghty; Meg Anne McCarthy-Klein and her husband, Aaron Klein, Marnee McCarthy, and Kate McCarthy and her children, Cheyanne Goroshin and Vlad Goroshin. She is also survived by her many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews.
There will be a private service for the family due to COVID restrictions. The service will be live streamed on zoom on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.: providence.zoom.us/j/96193251951. The Alderson-Ford Funeral home of Naugatuck is assisting with arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in Bonnie’s name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Maryland Chapter, 10626 York Road Suite A, Cockeysville, MD 21030 or passion.cff.org/in-memory-of-bonnie-mccarthy.
For online condolences, visit www.fordfh.com.
