Paula A. McKenna

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Paula McKenna, 54, of Westerleigh, a legal secretary who was devoted to her family, died Friday in New York Presbyterian Hospital, in Manhattan.

The lifelong Staten Islander was born and raised Paula Goffredo in West Brighton, and graduated from Port Richmond High School. She had lived in Westerleigh since 1984.

She served in the U.S. Army from 1980 to 1983, and was assigned as a personal secretary to Gen. Donald Bolduc, a commanding officer of Allied Forces Central Europe (A.F.C.E.N.T.), headquartered in Brussum, the Netherlands.

Mrs. McKenna was working as a legal secretary for the Manhattan firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Stein and Hamilton, where she had been employed for 25 years, at the time of her death.

She was a "kind-hearted, loving person" who treasured time spent with family and friends, family said.

An animal lover, Mrs. McKenna doted on her dog, Tank, and her cats, Big Kitty, Martini and Chumley. She was also an avid reader and Zumba enthusiast.

"She always found time to help a friend in need," said her sister, Prudence Goffredo.

Also surviving Mrs. McKenna are her husband of 16 years, Thomas; her son, Frank Carotenuto; her daughters, Donna Carotenuto and Olivia McKenna; three brothers, Anthony, Domenick and Frank Goffredo, and a sister, Roseanne Goffredo-Alkhatib.

The funeral will be Wednesday from the Meislohn-Silvie Funeral Home, Port Richmond, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady of Mount Carmel-St. Benedicta R.C. Church, West Brighton. Burial will follow in St. Peter's Cemetery, also West Brighton.