Georgeanne Flanagan obituary: Clancy-Palumbo Funeral Home, East Haven

Georgeanne (Coughlin) Flanagan, 85 of New Haven and East Haven passed away September 9, 2025 at home in East Haven. She was born January 9, 1940 in New Haven to George and Veronica (Lipowski) Coughlin. Georgeanne is survived by her four loving children; Rita Portnoy (Paul) of West Haven, Eugene Flanagan (Kim) of Clinton, George Flanagan (Jennifer Christensen) of East Haven and Scott Flanagan (Nancy) of Raeford, NC along with eight grandchildren she adored; Dr. David Portnoy (Dr. Jennifer Portnoy), Daniel Portnoy, Rachel Flanagan, Jessica Flanagan, Brian Flanagan (Monica Taggart), Kelsea Flanagan, Kyle Flanagan (Hannah) and Megan Flanagan. Georgeanne is also survived by several great grandchildren and her siblings; Roberta Pollard of Stamford, Maureen Coughlin of West Haven and Lance Coughlin of Hamden and many nieces and nephews.

Georgeanne is preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Antonia Coughlin.

Georgeanne grew up in New Haven, the second of four girls. She graduated high school from Wilbur Cross in 1957, started college at Southern Ct State University, detoured to start her family, then returned to SCSU to graduate in 1971. She was much admired by her younger classmates whom she "helped" to pass exams. After graduating she worked at East Rock Community School in New Haven as a Physical Education teacher (where she also passed on her love of crochet to many students) until her retirement. She also made lifelong friends at East Rock who continued to stay in touch and visit.

Her favorite place to be was surrounded by family at Mansfield Grove Campers Association in East Haven where her parents purchased two cottages for their growing family to enjoy the sun and sand. She surrounded herself with her immediate family, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, and friends. She loved sitting on the deck, eating a bagel, drinking her "cuppa" tea, and challenging herself by doing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle in ink. Every summer holiday she could be found cooking up a feast and gathering everyone to enjoy it. She adored all of her grandchildren and her great grandchildren.

She was just reminiscing about New Years Eve celebrations when her kids were still young. Watching one of her favorite movies "Father Goose" and being sure to stay awake until midnight where we would all go outside on the porch and bang pots and pans along with the Wynne family across the street to make sure everyone in the neighborhood was awake.

As children vying for her attention, we could only get what we wanted by addressing her as "Mother Dearest Darling with Gold on herself, Queen of Diamonds with a cherry on top." She was a competitive game player, Yahtzee, Boggle, Cribbage,Parcheesi, Checkers were all fierce battles at the Flanagan's.

She is greatly loved.

Our family wishes to extend our profound thanks to the East Haven Fire and Rescue and the East Haven Police departments for their professional and compassionate assistance. You all helped make a difficult time much less so. Another heartfelt thanks to Chris Palumbo for helping us navigate through this process. Thank you to all that have offered condolences and help when it is much appreciated.

We will be having a celebration of Mom's life within the next few weeks and will notify everyone of the details once established.