Catherine "Kitty" Chetner

Catherine “Kitty” Jane Furphy Chetner, 90, passed peacefully at Taconic Rehabilitation and Nursing at Hopewell on August 17, 2026. She was born in 1936 in Port Chester, NY and graduated from Sleepy Hollow High School. She worked briefly as a teller at a Westchester Savings Bank.

On October 15, 1955, she married the love of her life, Charles “Charlie” Chetner, in Tarrytown, NY on a day marked with very heavy rains. The reception hall flooded hours after their wedding celebration ended. Over the next 15 years, she gave birth to three sons and one daughter. Kitty was predeceased by Charlie and her parents, George and May (Padian) Furphy, her brother James Furphy, her sister-in-law Helen Chetner, and her daughter-in-law, Debbi. She is survived by her sons James, Michael (Laura), and John (Karen), and daughter Ann (Eric) Kummer, grandchildren Mike (Sara), Holly (Jesse), Emily, Megan (Kyle), Stephanie, Paige, Joseph and Matthew, six great-grandchildren, including one new arrival in July, as well as her sister-in-law, Patricia.

Kitty, Charlie, and their sons moved from Tarrytown to Montrose in 1966. Kitty and Charlie then relocated to Fishkill in 2008. Kitty was a member of several Roman Catholic parishes (Tarrytown’s Church of the Transfiguration, Verplanck’s St. Patrick, Buchanan’s St. Christopher, Fishkill’s St. Mary, Mother of the Church) and served as a lay minister for years. She was also a member of the Cortlandt Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps Ladies Auxiliary.

As their family grew up, Kitty began working part-time, then full-time at Drs. Berman and Rickett’s dental practice in Buchanan, first as a dental assistant, then as an insurance biller as computers were becoming mainstream in small businesses and homes. She retired in 1998. Over her career, certain coworkers became life-long friends.

Kitty and Charlie enjoyed square and round dancing for years locally and around the state. Kitty and Charlie both obtained motorcycle licenses, but she never rode after the road test. She accompanied Charlie on trips connected with his volunteerism in various fire companies (fireman, fire police, and fire commissioner). Over the years, they traveled solo, as a family, and with extended family and friends to England, Scotland, Ireland (twice), Bermuda, California, Florida (Disney, Venice), Niagara Falls, Hershey, and other locations. For years, they and their youngest children camped in a small pop-up camper.

Kitty savored pizza and an occasional beer at Paradise Restaurant in Verplanck. They both cherished games of pinochle with her brother and his wife along with kite-flying and horseshoe pitching. She relished reading and was a devout subscriber to all things Readers Digest – the magazine, condensed books, special editions, as well as the newspaper (print edition preferred) and other periodicals. She did not drink coffee but started her day with tea. She loved a mix of M&Ms candy, or a bowl of ice cream (with a baby spoon to savor each bite). Burger King fries were a favorite treat, too.

In 2005, Kitty and Charlie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a party filled with family and friends – and another round of torrential rain.

To know Kitty was to see her smile and her warm, welcoming demeanor. She was always gracious and folks enjoyed chatting with her. To her children, she was tough and regimented. “Maybe” meant no. She was the “bad cop” to Charlie’s “good cop.” She rarely indulged in a glass of wine or a beer. If it was a holiday and she was cooking, she did not have wine until the meal was ready. Her fair Irish skin flushed immediately. While she was not enthusiastic about cooking or baking, her Nestle chocolate chip cookies were rabidly desired by her children, family, and friends, so much so that she hid them from her inebriated young adult children returning home after a night out.

Local grandchildren enjoyed sleepovers, sometimes at Grandma and Grandpa’s house (complete with blanket forts and treats), other times she, or she and Charlie, were the sleepover guest(s) – whether for holidays or to babysit while adult children were working. She was always calm, patient, and willing to help – whether for a newborn or a teen.

Other than holidays or birthdays, Kitty was never one to voluntarily host family gatherings, but she delighted in socializing with extended family and friends. Whether it was 4th of July picnics or annual parties with the McGuire/Rosa branch, weekend visits with Friendly’s ice cream and cards at Jim and Pat’s Albany-area home, or family reunions and holidays at the family farm in Cooperstown, she loved time with family immensely.

The family farm provided laughs, especially when she tried to manage her raucous, tipsy, giggly adult children. She’d clear her throat, an approach which worked often when her children were young, but a method which absolutely failed on adult children, generating an exasperated sigh from Kitty and additional laughs – preventing none of the harmless antics currently underway nor the rowdy shenanigans which ensued thereafter.

Kitty’s legacy is her family and her unspoken examples of decency, love, and kindness. Her family will remember her smile, her cookies, her expressions of pride and those of disapproval, her ability to budget the family finances and save (often on one income with four children), and her sweet tooth. Kitty had a stubborn Irish streak, and her steadfast conviction was often frustrating for those around her, but it was also undoubtedly the source of her strength over her nine decades. Forever loved, forever missed, and always in the hearts of those who knew her.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 26, 2026 from 4 - 7 pm at the McHoul Funeral Home of Fishkill, Inc., 1089 Main Street, Fishkill. A Mass of Christian Burial is being offered on Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 10 am at St. Mary, Mother of the Church, 106 Jackson Street, Fishkill, immediately followed by burial at Fishkill Rural Cemetery.

For online tributes, visit Katherine’s memorial page at www.mchoulfuneralhome.com.