Kathryn Prendergast

Kathryn (Kay) Alicia McDonald Prendergast died comfortably at her apartment in Lake Oswego, OR on June 1, 2025, after a long life and a brief respiratory illness. She was 99 years old. Kay was born in Brooklyn, NY to Arthur and Evelyn (Feehan) McDonald. Her early life knew both loss and resilience. In 1929, within a week of one another, her father and baby sister Joan died of tuberculosis. Kay and her mother moved into her maternal grandparents’ home where multiple aunts and uncles resided. They lived in close quarters, supporting each other through the Great Depression. Kay never forgot the warmth and welcome of her beloved grandmother, Brigid (Cooney) Feehan. In 1935, Kay’s mother remarried a widower, Stanley Bostwick, who would be a loving presence in their lives for more than 40 years. As a teenager, Kay and her mother shopped at a neighborhood market in Queens, NY where there was a stock boy two years her junior. Kay thought it odd that he seemed to follow them around the store. Her mother dismissed these concerns. The boy was Tom Prendergast, and Kay was right: He was following her because he was smitten. One of the first times they spoke, Tom told Kay that he was going to marry her. She laughed and told him he was being foolish. A courtship began. They married in 1950, settling in Queens, NY. Kay earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Queens College, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from college. She then took a six-month secretarial course and found work in Manhattan. She was both competent and skilled, and she quickly advanced to become an executive secretary, earning enough to support her and her husband in the first years after their marriage, including paying for his final year of college (the GI Bill only funded 3 years). In the early 1950s, Tom’s first engineering job with Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. took them to Akron, OH for four years. They returned to NY in 1956, to Roslyn, Long Island, where they settled to raise their family. Kay ended her secretarial career after their first child was born. She would spend the next 25 years as a wife, homemaker, volunteer, and active member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Roslyn. In her late 50s, she went back to school to earn her real estate license. She worked as a real estate agent and later qualified as a real estate broker, ultimately starting her own small firm. She became a successful businesswoman, earning a reputation for honesty and kindness in addition to her business acumen. After Tom died in 2014, Kay left NY to be closer to their three children. A few days before her 90th birthday in 2015, she moved to Mary’s Woods in Lake Oswego, OR where she resided for the past decade. Kay was a quiet, gentle soul who never spoke an unkind word about anyone, ever. She always thought of others’ needs before her own. Her life was a testament to her Catholic faith, being true to St. Paul’s advice to ‘Always seek what is good both for each other and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you.’ [1 Thessalonians 5:15-18]. Kay is survived by her three children Kate Moore (Peter) of Vancouver, WA, Tom Prendergast (Ann Alpers) of Portland, OR, and Richard Prendergast (Kim) of Wolfforth, TX, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian Resurrection was celebrated for Kay at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, June 24th at St. Ignatius Church, 3400 SE 43rd Ave, Portland, OR. That day will also mark the 75th anniversary of Kay and Tom’s wedding. Please visit the Mt Scott Funeral Home website (www.mtsfh.com) to sign the guestbook or to share memories. A separate memorial will be held from 4 to 7 PM on Friday, July 11th at the Roslyn Heights Funeral Home (www.roslynheightsfh.com) at 75 Mineola Ave, Roslyn Heights, NY. Interment will be at St. John’s Cemetery, 80-01 Metropolitan Ave, Middle Village, NY on Saturday July 12th . In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift in Kay’s memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or honor her life by saying a kind word or offering help to someone in need.