Adele Girard

On March 15, after 94 years of sharing her gentle and compassionate soul with the world, our beautiful mother, Adele Girard passed away peacefully at home, with her beloved children at her side. Born January 21, 1932, to Maurice and Geneva Osman, Adele was raised with an abundance of love by her adoptive mother, Aida Feser. She grew up in Sunnyside, Queens, spending the summers at Rockaway Beach where so many cherished memories were formed. She graduated from the Professional Children’s School, especially skilled in dance and acrobatics.

In 1959, Adele married the love of her life, Pierre Girard, who pre-deceased her in 2008. Always wanting a large family, she fulfilled that dream quite successfully, filling their home with 10 children, one of whom, Michelle Georgette, predeceased her, as an infant, in 1962. Adele’s children were her pride and joy, and she dedicated her life to raising them with unwavering love, strong faith, a love of learning, and an excellent command of English grammar. She loved reading to her young children, making the stories come alive with dramatic readings in a range of voices. (Some of us may or may not still be afraid of the troll under the bridge in The Three Billy Goats Gruff!)

She loved the Bayside, Queens garden apartment the family lived in and the close-knit group of friends she was part of there. In 1976, the family moved to Huguenot on Staten Island, a world away from less-rural Bayside, and where she was first introduced to ticks, much to her dismay. And while not formally considered as “survivors,” she leaves behind cherished neighbors and friends on Cornelia Ave. A lifelong Episcopalian, she was a faithful parishioner at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church for over 40 years.

Kind, compassionate, giving, and soft-spoken (always amazed at how loudly her children speak), she loved family gatherings, cats and dogs (especially Morris and Bonnie Blue), horror movies, chocolate-covered cherries, coffee, Tabu perfume, reading, and an extra dry martini with four olives. She had a subtle sense of humor, but to her great frustration, she could never jokingly fib because a little half-smile always gave her, and the joke, away.

She adored her beloved sister Carol, who also predeceased her in 2013. While their seemingly hereditary lack of directional sense meant it was never a good idea to let them travel alone together, they were sure to have incredibly funny stories when they did.

Adele is survived by the children she so loved, Marc, Janine (Jack), Micheline, Gabrielle (Christopher), Christian, Noel (Susanne), Justin (Samantha), Laurence (April), and Roger, and her grandchildren Angelique, Brandon, Brigitte, Christopher, Dylan, Francesca, Gavin, Gregory, James, Kaeden, Marissa (Ted), Matthew, Monique, Natalie, Ryan, Spencer, Steven, Vanessa, and her great-grandchildren, Trent and Kanan.