Florence Rodey Steele, residing with her husband of 68 years, Richard Steele in Oronoque Village, Stratford, CT, died on Monday, March 30. She was 92.
Mrs. Steele was born and lived in Montclair, New Jersey, until 1971, when she and her husband, also from Montclair, moved to Chatham Township, NJ, and then came to Connecticut in 1991. She was a 1942 graduate of Arlington Hall, Arlington, VA, as well as a graduate of the Berkeley Secretarial School in East Orange, NJ. She worked as a secretary at the Montclair Board of Education prior to her marriage and subsequently in several office manager positions, before becoming Personnel Manager for Orange Products, Inc., Florham Park, NJ, retiring after twelve years in 1984.
Mrs. Steele was the daughter of the late Mildred Halsey Rodey of Montclair and Bridgehampton, NY, and Bernard Shandon Rodey, Jr. of Montclair and Albuquerque, NM. She was the granddaughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. Levi Wright Halsey of Montclair and the Hamptons and Judge and Mrs. Bernard S. Rodey of Albuquerque. Surviving are her beloved husband Richard Steele of Stratford, her daughter Helen Katherine Lea (Jeffrey T. Lea) of Fairfield, CT and Glen, NH, her daughter Mildred Rodey Steele of Philadelphia, PA, and her granddaughter Amanda Katherine Lea, Jackson, WY. Additionally there are much loved nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sisters Lyllis Rodey McVey and Helen Rodey Stewart.
Friends are invited to greet the family on Thursday, April 2, 2015 from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 pm at the Dennis & D'Arcy - Abriola & Kelemen Funeral Home 2611 Main Street, Stratford. Funeral services and interment in Mt Hebron Cemetery in New Jersey will be held privately. For online condolences please visit www.dennisandarcy.com