Hila Newman McNally, 92, was a Kingsbridge resident

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Longtime Kingsbridge resident Hila “Irene” Newman McNally died in Rhinebeck, N.Y. on Feb. 8. She was 92.

Ms. McNally was predeceased by her husband of 41 years, Matthew, in 1981.

She was born in the Bronx in 1921 and spent her summers on Newman Family farms in Ithaca, N.Y.  She married Matthew in 1940, and while he fought overseas during World War II, she supported the war effort as a welder in a munitions plant and as a secretary for the U.S. Army at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

After her husband returned from the war in Germany, the couple settled in Kingsbridge, purchased a house on Heath Avenue and raised their family. The McNallys were members of St. John’s Parish. 

Ms. McNally loved to work and always had a job close to home, her family said. She worked as a medical assistant at Fitch Sanatorium until it closed in the early 1960s. She also worked at S. H. Kress on Fordham Road, Robert’s Book Store and Benson’s Youth Center during the 60s and 70s, prior to moving with her husband to Rhinebeck in 1980. She was a volunteer at Northern Dutchess Community Hospital in Rhinebeck until the age of 89 when she stopped driving.

Her family said they were blessed to have her as long as they did and that she will be missed deeply.

She is survived by her six children and their spouses, Matthew and his wife Nancy, Steve and his wife Pat, Jean and her husband Kenny, Peggy and her husband Tommy, Marion and Daniel; as well as 12 grandchildren, Matthew, Michael, Timothy, Kelly, Kenny, Maryann, Peter, Kira, Caroline, Mary, Brian and Jean; and 13 great-grandchildren.

Private funeral services were held in Rhinebeck on Feb. 11.

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