Muriel Cahill

Muriel Catherine Cabrini Cassese Cahill, 83, died at home in Willsboro on Thursday, July 25, with her loving family by her side. She came a long way from the stoop of her apartment building in the Bronx to the mountains of the Adirondacks, but she never really left herself or the old neighborhood behind. The girl from West 238th Street and the woman who many people knew in Essex County were one in the same: Happy, hopeful, and filled with a joyous spirit and a great capacity for love and friendship.

Muriel was born in the Bronx on October 6, 1940. Her parents were Filippo "Phil" Cassese and Dorothy Styles Cassese (Eksouzian.) Her character was formed on the stoop, where she sat by herself from a young age and waited while her mother was at work. She was not allowed to leave the safety of those stairs, but that small window on the world influenced the rest of her life. Little Muriel talked to everyone and made friends with people of all ages, including the mailman and the milkman. Everyone knew Muriel, and everyone loved her. That was her essential quality.

Muriel was a graduate of Mother Cabrini High School and Our Lady of Perpetual Help secretarial school. She met George Noel Cahill at Luhr's soda fountain in the late 1950s, when she was a teenager and George was just back from serving with the U.S. Air Force in Europe. They married in 1959, and their four children were all born by the time Muriel was 22. The family left the Bronx in 1977 for a new life in Essex County. She spent more than half of her life in the Adirondacks, but she never lost her Bronx accent, attitude, and outlook. She was a lay minister in the Catholic Church for many years and worked for Essex County in the Treasurer's office and other departments for 35 years. She made many dear friends and memories along the way before retiring in 2010. She lost George in 2011 after 52 years of marriage.

Muriel was proud of the Italian heritage her father's family carried to America from Bari in southern Italy. She loved Italian food and music, and her heritage co-existed with George's strong connection to his Irish ancestry. George tended to dominate the kitchen and the menu at home, but that didn't bother Muriel. She preferred going to restaurants, where she could meet new people and be around what she called "action." She always talked to strangers, just as she did as a child. People naturally opened up to her, succumbing to her genuine curiosity, easygoing manner, and willingness to listen. She ignored all requests by her children to "stop interviewing people." Muriel would travel anywhere, including Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, in her endless quest for authentic Italian pastries, good loaves of crusty bread, and large quantities of the best meats and cheeses. Her answer was always, "Don't worry about it" when asked, "Mommy, who's going to eat all that?"

Muriel considered her greatest accomplishment to be the four children she raised to be good people who knew where they came from and always stuck together. She loved her home on the Boquet River and the full life she made there with George and her family. The house was central, and Muriel was the true center of it all. She counted many blessings and marveled at her good fortune. She said many times, "I was little Muriel who sat on the stoop. Look at me now! Can you believe it?"

Muriel is survived by her four children and their spouses: Stephen and Wendi Cahill of Peru; Laura Cahill Harkrider and William Harkrider of North Carolina; Michael Cahill and Andi LaMountain of Willsboro; and Mary Jane Cahill Christaldi and Mario Christaldi of Elizabethtown. Other survivors include her sister, Grace Anne Rosenberg; and her beloved grandchildren: Sarah Stone; Maureen Coonrod; Kathleen Coonrod; Lincoln Cahill; Daniel Cahill; Michaela Cada; Reilly Cahill; and her great-grandchildren: Eloise Blackstone; and Holden, Erika, and Brandon Cahill. She also leaves her much-loved family pets, Ozzy the dog, and the cats Sofia and George.

A celebration of Muriel's life will occur this fall around her birthday. Save Oct. 5 as the tentative date. She is deeply loved and will be profoundly missed. Remember her with happiness, tell her stories, and don't dwell in sadness. That was her wish. Special thanks to High Peaks Hospice and to all the friends who reached out during her illness.

Services were entrusted to Heidrick Funeral Home, PO Box 188, 7521 Court St., Elizabethtown, NY 12932.