Joan Ellsasser Parnell

Joan Marie Ellsasser Parnell died Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. Born in 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio, Joan was an independent woman who put herself through college at Western Reserve University (now Case Western), living with and helping support her family in Cleveland’s Brooklyn Heights neighborhood while working as a secretary. By the age of 21, she was a supervisor. She was one of the first women electrical engineers to work for Bell Telephone in Cleveland and New York City. She was devoted to her cat, Mr. Wiggles, and was an avid cook who loved to host dinner parties. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church and a volunteer fundraiser for the American Heart Association.

She is survived by her niece, Ame West (Todd); step-son Allan Parnell (Ann Moss Joyner); granddaughter Hannah Charlotte Parnell Joyner (Will Roske); and long-time friends Karen Bernish, Adona Brown and Ann Tillery. She is predeceased by her parents, Parmalee Sylvester Ellsasser Sr. and Marie Lescher Ellsasser; her brother Parmalee Ellsasser Jr.; her husband Edwin Ball Abbott (1913-1980); and her husband Carl McMillan Parnell (1926-2005).

A service of remembrance will be scheduled to inter Joan’s ashes in the First Presbyterian Columbarium.

Memorial gifts may be made to the American Heart Association, PO Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284 or Parkinson’s Foundation Carolinas Chapter, Attn: Donor Services, 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131.

Services by Brown-Wynne, 300 St. Mary's Street, Raleigh.