Patricia Frances Hennessy

“Mom inspired us to appreciate the world’s beauty, and was always there when we needed her.”

Patricia F. Hennessy, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2026, with her daughter Laney by her side. Born in Staten Island, NY, Pat often told stories about the family farm where chickens, a goat, rabbits along with vegetable gardens made life growing up during the Great Depression and WW2 so different than today. Such sparse early years created in Pat a longing for life which was exemplified by Pat’s New Dorp High School yearbook aspirations that included “travel and owning her own dress shop”.

In ‘52, Pat married Ray Golterman, also of Staten Island, which began their travels first by living in Brooklyn, where Pat developed a deep interest in photography. Pittsburgh was next, where she took art lessons, and then onto the Midwest and Des Moines Iowa where Pat and Ray would travel across five states for business and where Pat would give birth to Jeff and Elaine (Laney) in ’58 and ’59. After praying first for a boy and then a girl with red hair, Pat felt such joy when God blessed she and Ray with both.

Pat and Ray returned to Staten Island in the early ‘60’s. Pat’s dress-shop dream came true when she joined her sisters at the Lancaster Shop as a bookkeeper. While working and raising her family, Pat continued her art lessons and often took the family on painting expeditions around Staten Island, upstate NY and Long Beach Island NJ. LBI’s beaches, fishing shacks, boats, and lighthouse, emerged as her favorite art subjects. Pat’s art was as generous as it was artistic. Along with still life and landscapes, Pat painted everyday objects—bowls, ornaments, lobster trap buoys, note cards, and even furniture – objects d’art that often became gifts for family.

After Pat and Ray separated, Pat created a warm and loving home on Lighthouse Hill, in Staten Island, filled with collected and created artworks as well as other unique objects. The homes’ yard had forts, swings, mulch piles to dive into, a frog pond, a basketball hoop and lots of space for the kids, friends, and cousins to enjoy. In ‘75, the family moved to Bridgewater, NJ where Pat earned her real-estate broker’s license. This helped fund her dream of “summers on LBI” where she purchased a summer home to enjoy fishing, clamming, boating, and swimming. After the kids were out of college, and embracing her love of adventure once again, Pat moved to the Florida Keys, where she worked locally while pursuing her art, boating, and fishing. She even spent time living in Belize, helping a friend build a house!

As grandkids arrived, Pat returned to the Jersey Shore and delighted in taking her “grand-babies” fishing, exploring Barnegat Bay, and for Root Beers and ice cream on hot summer days. She traveled often to visit Laney and Jeff and their families and rarely arrived without beautiful tins of home-made cookies, cheesecake, or one or several of her famous pies. Pat became known as “someone you could go to and who would listen” by her kids, their friends, nieces and nephews, and even younger cousins and siblings. She had this unique ability to listen and give emotional support or even just “how to do things” like cooking, baking, an art/craft project, or even projects around the house. Contained in the many remembrances about Pat, was the common theme of “she was there for me when I needed her”.

For reasons of declining health, Pat moved into assisted living and later a nursing facility in Tom’s River, NJ. This transition was difficult for Pat and akin to “caging a wild bird.” Her independent spirit chafed against the confinement necessary to keep her healthy and safe, yet she persevered by reading and even dabbling in her watercolors well into her 94th year. Her world’s delight was regular visits from Laney and Jeff, their families, visits from one of her favorite nieces Janet Stoothoff, and visits by other family members. Pat enjoyed “lunches out” and drives to see her beloved Barnegat Bay, the ocean, and visits to her sisters Rita and Connie in LBI. She loved keeping up on the lives of her grandchildren and great grandson and was happy when they were happy!

Pat is survived by Laney and her husband Ron Diahy of Manasquan, NJ and her son Jeff Golterman and wife Linda of Durham, North Carolina; grandsons Steven Diahy, his wife Milly, of Edison NJ, and their son Arlo, Paul Diahy and fiancée Juliet Rinaldi of Union City, NJ, Greg Golterman of Nashville, TN, and Mike Diahy of Manasquan. She is also survived by her sisters Connie Kane of North Beach, NJ, and Carol Riley of New Orleans, LA, as well as 22 nieces and nephews whom she dearly loved and followed closely throughout their lives. Pat was predeceased by her parents, Sallie and Thomas Hennessy of North Beach, NJ, her brother Robert Hennessy of West Creek, NJ, and her sister Rita Hennessy also of North Beach, NJ. Pat will be remembered as a devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, sister and cousin, a gifted artist and photographer, and a woman who expressed love most powerfully through creativity, generosity, curiosity, and family. She will be forever in our hearts!

Plans for Pat’s memorial service are currently underway.

Services are entrusted to Jersey Shore Cremation Service, 43 Taylor Avenue, Manasquan, NJ - JerseyShoreCremation.com