STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Lifelong Staten Islander Joan A. Rendell, 80, of Shore Acres, a nurse, wife and mother who gave unstintingly of her time and energy to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, died Saturday at home.
Born and raised Joan McElroy in Westerleigh, she settled in Shore Acres in 1962.
After graduating from St. Peter’s Girls’ High School, she earned a nursing degree from St. Vincent’s Hospital School of Nursing in Manhattan and became an R.N.
She began working as a nurse and met her future husband, Dr. Alfred D. Rendell, a well-known obstetrician-gynecologist, in an operating room at St. Vincent’s Hospital in West Brighton, now Richmond University Medical Center, and the couple fell in love.
They wed in 1957. and were dedicated to each other, personally and professionally. She was his surgical assistant for 20 years, and together they raised two daughters. In their leisure time, they did everything together — traveled, skiied, played tennis.
In 1989, Dr. Rendell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and Mrs. Rendell immersed herself in his care. In 1990, she began attending a weekly support group for Alzheimer’s caregivers, which she credited with saving her emotional life. After some time, she was asked to start a similar group at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, teaching other caregivers the skills she had acquired in order to cope.
She became more involved with the Alzheimer’s Foundation, not only as a facilitator, but as a member of the board of directors.
Mrs. Rendell was active in many organizations on the Island. A descendant of the original French Huguenot and Dutch settlers, she was regent of the Richmond County Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution; member of the New York State and National Society DAR, and a member of the National Society Colonial Dames of America.
She was a past president of the Alliance with the Richmond County Medical Society and a member of the New York State Alliance; a member of the Institutional Review Board at the Institute of Basic Research, Willowbrook.
Named an Advance Woman of Achievement in 1999, Mrs. Rendell also received the Dr. Norbert Leesburg Award, Assemblyman Robert Straniere’s Community Heroine Award; the Alzheimer Foundation’s Forget Me Not and Dr. Levy Memorial Caregiver awards, and was honored by the American Legion, among many honors.
She belonged to many cultural institutions on the Island, including the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Friends of Alice Austen House, along with groups as diverse as Protectors of Pine Oak Woods, the Staten Island Historical Society and the Mud Lane Society, as well as Community Board 1 and numerous civic associations.
In her rare “downtime,” Mrs. Rendell loved to spend time spent with her daughters and four grandchildren. She also enjoyed walking and painting.
She was a parishioner of St. Mary’s R.C. Church, Rosebank, where she served as a Eucharistic minister.
Her husband, Dr. Alfred, died in 1998.
Surviving are her daughters, Francesca Rendell and Marietherese Rendell-Gitto; her brothers, Thomas and Jack McElroy; her sisters, Evelyn Gerzetic, Diane Gustafson and Sister Terese McElroy, and four grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, with a mass at 10 a.m. in St. Mary’s Church. Arrangements include cremation.
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