STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Ellen T. Adkins, 89, an accomplished volunteer and a 1999 Advance Woman of Achievement who owned a beauty shop, died Saturday in the Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners, where she had been a resident for the past year.
Born Ellen Rourke in Travis, Mrs. Adkins graduated from McKee High School and attended the Wilfred Academy, a beauty school in Manhattan.
She met her husband of 54 years, Noah Adkins, during an air raid blackout in 1942 at the St. George ferry terminal where he was working as a military policeman. The couple married and moved to Port Richmond in the 1950s and to West Brighton in the 1960s.
Mrs. Adkins worked at several beauty shops before opening Ellen’s Beauty Shop in Port Richmond, which she ran for 15 years. She retired in 1980.
But it was the work Mrs. Adkins did beyond her regular job that made her a truly extraordinary member of her community. Early on, she became involved in service, working for the March of Dimes when son Richard was a young boy. Soon she expanded her community involvement, working at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home in Dongan Hills for nine years and for the Pax Christi Hospice for over two decades. She was also a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Assumption Council of the Knights of Columbus and the New York Transcription for the Blind.
Deeply involved with her local chapter of the Columbiettes, Mrs. Adkins was the first Staten Island woman to be named the supreme director of the Columbiettes Supreme Council, which oversees all of the chapters on the East Coast.
In 1992, she was honored by former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, and given a certificate of appreciation by the Staten Island Federation of Catholic School Parents for her fundraising efforts.
Whether it was her service, or something as simple as singing with the choir at St. Mary of the Assumption R.C. Church, Mrs. Adkins displayed a love for interacting with those around her.
“I’m used to working around people, and can’t imagine doing anything else,” Mrs. Adkins told the Advance in 1999. “I think if you keep active, it keeps you young.”
“She was a very outgoing person,” said her son, Richard Adkins. “She had a very good sense of humor, and she loved jokes and pranks.”
Her husband, Noah, died in 1998.
Along with her son, Richard, Mrs. Adkins is survived by two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 11 a.m. in St. Mary of the Assumption Church. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.
-- published in The Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, NY) on 3 May 2010
Born Ellen Rourke in Travis, Mrs. Adkins graduated from McKee High School and attended the Wilfred Academy, a beauty school in Manhattan.
She met her husband of 54 years, Noah Adkins, during an air raid blackout in 1942 at the St. George ferry terminal where he was working as a military policeman. The couple married and moved to Port Richmond in the 1950s and to West Brighton in the 1960s.
Mrs. Adkins worked at several beauty shops before opening Ellen’s Beauty Shop in Port Richmond, which she ran for 15 years. She retired in 1980.
But it was the work Mrs. Adkins did beyond her regular job that made her a truly extraordinary member of her community. Early on, she became involved in service, working for the March of Dimes when son Richard was a young boy. Soon she expanded her community involvement, working at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home in Dongan Hills for nine years and for the Pax Christi Hospice for over two decades. She was also a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Assumption Council of the Knights of Columbus and the New York Transcription for the Blind.
Deeply involved with her local chapter of the Columbiettes, Mrs. Adkins was the first Staten Island woman to be named the supreme director of the Columbiettes Supreme Council, which oversees all of the chapters on the East Coast.
In 1992, she was honored by former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, and given a certificate of appreciation by the Staten Island Federation of Catholic School Parents for her fundraising efforts.
Whether it was her service, or something as simple as singing with the choir at St. Mary of the Assumption R.C. Church, Mrs. Adkins displayed a love for interacting with those around her.
“I’m used to working around people, and can’t imagine doing anything else,” Mrs. Adkins told the Advance in 1999. “I think if you keep active, it keeps you young.”
“She was a very outgoing person,” said her son, Richard Adkins. “She had a very good sense of humor, and she loved jokes and pranks.”
Her husband, Noah, died in 1998.
Along with her son, Richard, Mrs. Adkins is survived by two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 11 a.m. in St. Mary of the Assumption Church. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.
-- published in The Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, NY) on 3 May 2010
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Ellen T. Adkins, 89, an accomplished volunteer and a 1999 Advance Woman of Achievement who owned a beauty shop, died Saturday in the Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners, where she had been a resident for the past year.
Born Ellen Rourke in Travis, Mrs. Adkins graduated from McKee High School and attended the Wilfred Academy, a beauty school in Manhattan.
She met her husband of 54 years, Noah Adkins, during an air raid blackout in 1942 at the St. George ferry terminal where he was working as a military policeman. The couple married and moved to Port Richmond in the 1950s and to West Brighton in the 1960s.
Mrs. Adkins worked at several beauty shops before opening Ellen’s Beauty Shop in Port Richmond, which she ran for 15 years. She retired in 1980.
But it was the work Mrs. Adkins did beyond her regular job that made her a truly extraordinary member of her community. Early on, she became involved in service, working for the March of Dimes when son Richard was a young boy. Soon she expanded her community involvement, working at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home in Dongan Hills for nine years and for the Pax Christi Hospice for over two decades. She was also a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Assumption Council of the Knights of Columbus and the New York Transcription for the Blind.
Deeply involved with her local chapter of the Columbiettes, Mrs. Adkins was the first Staten Island woman to be named the supreme director of the Columbiettes Supreme Council, which oversees all of the chapters on the East Coast.
In 1992, she was honored by former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, and given a certificate of appreciation by the Staten Island Federation of Catholic School Parents for her fundraising efforts.
Whether it was her service, or something as simple as singing with the choir at St. Mary of the Assumption R.C. Church, Mrs. Adkins displayed a love for interacting with those around her.
“I’m used to working around people, and can’t imagine doing anything else,” Mrs. Adkins told the Advance in 1999. “I think if you keep active, it keeps you young.”
“She was a very outgoing person,” said her son, Richard Adkins. “She had a very good sense of humor, and she loved jokes and pranks.”
Her husband, Noah, died in 1998.
Along with her son, Richard, Mrs. Adkins is survived by two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 11 a.m. in St. Mary of the Assumption Church. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.
-- published in The Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, NY) on 3 May 2010
Born Ellen Rourke in Travis, Mrs. Adkins graduated from McKee High School and attended the Wilfred Academy, a beauty school in Manhattan.
She met her husband of 54 years, Noah Adkins, during an air raid blackout in 1942 at the St. George ferry terminal where he was working as a military policeman. The couple married and moved to Port Richmond in the 1950s and to West Brighton in the 1960s.
Mrs. Adkins worked at several beauty shops before opening Ellen’s Beauty Shop in Port Richmond, which she ran for 15 years. She retired in 1980.
But it was the work Mrs. Adkins did beyond her regular job that made her a truly extraordinary member of her community. Early on, she became involved in service, working for the March of Dimes when son Richard was a young boy. Soon she expanded her community involvement, working at Carmel Richmond Nursing Home in Dongan Hills for nine years and for the Pax Christi Hospice for over two decades. She was also a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Assumption Council of the Knights of Columbus and the New York Transcription for the Blind.
Deeply involved with her local chapter of the Columbiettes, Mrs. Adkins was the first Staten Island woman to be named the supreme director of the Columbiettes Supreme Council, which oversees all of the chapters on the East Coast.
In 1992, she was honored by former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, and given a certificate of appreciation by the Staten Island Federation of Catholic School Parents for her fundraising efforts.
Whether it was her service, or something as simple as singing with the choir at St. Mary of the Assumption R.C. Church, Mrs. Adkins displayed a love for interacting with those around her.
“I’m used to working around people, and can’t imagine doing anything else,” Mrs. Adkins told the Advance in 1999. “I think if you keep active, it keeps you young.”
“She was a very outgoing person,” said her son, Richard Adkins. “She had a very good sense of humor, and she loved jokes and pranks.”
Her husband, Noah, died in 1998.
Along with her son, Richard, Mrs. Adkins is survived by two grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be Wednesday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 11 a.m. in St. Mary of the Assumption Church. Burial will be in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.
-- published in The Staten Island Advance (Staten Island, NY) on 3 May 2010
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