Katherine Ann Corbin Gallagher of Sleepy Hollow, New York, died on Saturday, December 11, 2021, at Kendal on Hudson, the retirement community where she had been a resident since 2015. She was 83 years old and had fought a brief battle with cancer.
Known throughout her life as “Ann,” she was born on April 29, 1938, in the New York City borough of Queens. Ann Corbin was raised in Sunnyside, Queens, and graduated from the Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School for Girls in 1956, after which she went to secretarial school and parlayed it into a job at Royal Dutch Shell in New York.
Ann and her high school sweetheart, James Joseph “Jim” Gallagher, were married on February 13, 1960 at Queen of Angels Church in Sunnyside. After a one-year stint in Detroit, Michigan, they relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana, where they lived for 5 years and welcomed their three children. Following that, they returned to the New York City area and raised their children in and around Westchester County.
Once she became an empty-nester, Ann took on an editorial job at Sports Illustrated magazine, supporting the production of the annual Swimsuit Issue. It took her to many exotic locations including Africa, Thailand, Bora Bora, Tahiti, and Australia, to name a few.
Ann and her husband retired to Vero Beach, Florida, in 1997. Along with her husband, Ann was a member of numerous clubs including Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, New York; the Metropolitan Club in New York City; and Quail Valley Golf and River Club and Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club, both in Vero Beach.
Following her husband’s death in 2014, Ann relocated to Kendal on Hudson, where she was a resident until her death.
Ann is remembered as a natural athlete who competed on the swim team in high school and was a formidable golf and tennis opponent throughout her adult life. She was an excellent solver of crossword puzzles and did The New York Times’ crossword in ink, seven days a week. A private person by nature, Ann’s first passion was her family and her friends. She was fiercely loyal to both, and happiest when in the company of her children and grandchildren. She was an amazing mother to her three children.
Ann was predeceased by her parents, Katherine McElroy Corbin and Thomas Walter Corbin; by her aunt, Mary McElroy, a brother, Thomas W. Corbin, Jr., and by her husband.
She is survived by her sister, Maureen Corbin Topf and brother-in-law Charles of Middle Village, Queens, New York; daughter, Maura Gallagher-Wilson and son-in-law Thomas Wilson of Darien, Connecticut; son Matthew and daughter-in-law Fabrisa of Matamoras, Pennsylvania; son Thomas of Scranton, Pennsylvania; grandchildren Liam Wilson of Darien, Connecticut; James and Anna Maria Gallagher of Matamoras, Pennsylvania; Christian Gallagher of Middletown, New York; and many beloved nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at the St. John Paul II Maronite Church at Immaculate Conception, 199 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, New York, followed by interment at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers the family asks that you consider donating to Hospice Care of Westchester and Putnam, 540 White Plains Road, Suite 300, Tarrytown, NY 10591.
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