Geraldine Jane Callaghan Daly

Geraldine Jane Callaghan Daly, passed away Sunday, July 19, 2015, at the age of 83, surviving her husband of 59 years, James William Daly, M.D., by two years. Born in Chicago to Patrick and Geraldine Callaghan, she attended elementary school at St. Mary’s, Chicago, IL, and graduated from Maine Township High School, Des Plaines, IL. She was a secretary for a manufacturing firm when she married James William Daly in 1953. While raising the three children, Geraldine supported her husband’s medical school training, and his careers in military and academic medicine. She took up antiquing and furniture refinishing to decorate their home and sewed much of her own fashionable clothing. As an officer’s wife at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX, she was active in social support and community service organizations. Geraldine took her fondness for sewing, embroidery and quilting to a more cerebral level, pursing a degree in clothing and textile design at Our Lady of the Lake College. Just hours short of her degree, however, she and her family moved to Gainesville, FL, where James taught medicine at the University of Florida. She again immersed herself into community service as a member of the Gainesville Women’s Club and a founding member of Holy Faith Catholic Church. Her intellectual quests inspired her to research her genealogy and discover a Revolutionary War ancestor; so, she became a life member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as Gainesville Chapter Regent and the Florida treasurer. She left Gainesville, though, when her husband’s career took them to Omaha, NE, and Columbia, MO. Having bought, remodeled and sold a house in Omaha, she worked in real estate sales in Columbia. When James retired from medicine in the mid-90s, they returned to the house they built in Gainesville, where Geraldine incorporated Group Tours, and was active with the Red Hat Society. Much of her creativity was spent painting, embroidering and sewing award-winning quilts, which she often sold for donations to charity. She died of complications associated with dementia. She is survived by her siblings: Patrick Callaghan, M.D., Daniel Callaghan and Mary Charland; her sons, Daniel Francis and Timothy Patrick, and daughter, Rebecca Ann Daly Anzevino; and five grandchildren. A visitation will take place on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 9 am at St. Paul’s Catholic Church with a Funeral Mass to follow at 10 am at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, 12708 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, Florida 33618. Internment at Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, Florida at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society or Alzheimer's Research.