Shirley Paulucci

Former Staten Islander Shirley Elizabeth Paulucci, 87, of Brooklyn, a homemaker who most loved being with her family, died Friday in Brooklyn Hospital Center.

Born Shirley Elizabeth Kiser in Washington, D.C., she grew up in Baltimore, where she graduated from Seton High School in 1947.

She moved to South Beach in 1948, and lived on the Island for five years before relocating to Brooklyn.

A secretary in Manhattan for two years, she left the work force to become a homemaker.

Mrs. Paulucci was interested in Civil War history and enjoyed playing gin rummy, solving crossword puzzles and watching the game show Jeopardy!

Described as soft-spoken, laid back and strong, she was a great listener who always put her family first, they said.

She was an amazing person and mother; when I was a student at Bishop Kearney High School, I wrote an essay about her, which earned her the title of 1991 Mother of the Year, said her daughter, Teresa Paulucci.

A devout Catholic, Mrs. Paulucci was a parishioner of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James in Brooklyn.

Her husband of 45 years, Henry, died in 1993. She also was preceded in death by her son, Henry, in 1987; her son, Eugene, in 1993, and her son, John, in 2013.

Surviving, in addition to her daughter, Teresa, are her sons, Stephen and Raymond; her daughters, Christine Walcott, Marguerite Melofsky, Catherine Donohue and Shirley Paulucci; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, with a Mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church, both in Tottenville. Burial will take place in Blue Ridge Cemetery, Thurmont, Md.

Services: Our Lady Help of Christian's RC Church Thursday, August 13, 2015 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Tuesday, August 11, 2015 & Wednesday, August 12, 2015 2-5 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Blue Ridge Cemetery

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Help of Christians R.C.Church