Joanne Keiderling

04/26/2005

Joanne Keiderling, 67, of 27 Main St. died Tuesday at home. Mrs. Keiderling held several public offices, including those of town accountant and town clerk. In 1974, she began working as the Selectmen's secretary, serving in that position until retiring in March 2000. During that time, she helped to facilitate the installation of a municipal sewer system and in the creation of a town park beside the fire station. Born in Cambridge on Nov. 17, 1937, daughter of John T. and Elwine Cowell McManus, she attended school in Otis and was a 1955 graduate of Lee High School, where she was a member of the Pro Merito honor society. At the time of her death, Mrs. Keiderling and her husband, Stephen D. Keiderling, owned and operated McManus' Store, where she worked as purchaser. They bought the store from her parents in 1974 and ran it as a general store until 1981, when they converted it into an antiques shop. She had begun working at the general store as a young woman. She was a former Sunday school teacher at Otis Congregational Church and a den mother for the Cub Scouts. She enjoyed tag sales, flea markets, rug braiding, caning and Shaker-taping chairs, and gardening. Besides her husband, whom she married July 5, 1959, she leaves a son, Andrew Keiderling, who is serving with the Air Force in Rota, Spain; three daughters, Eline Forward of Dalton, and Jane Wrzesinski and Sara Hicks, both of Pittsfield; a sister, Jeanne Tacy of West Hartford, Conn., and nine grandchildren. FUNERAL NOTICE -- The funeral for Joanne Keiderling, who died April 26, 2005, will be conducted Friday at 10 at Otis Congregational Church by Pastor Janet McKinstry of Tyringham Union Church. Burial will follow in Otis Cemetery. Visiting hours will be today, Thursday, from 4 to 7 at KELLY FUNERAL HOME in Lee. Friends wishing may make memorial donations to the Otis Rescue Squad, the Lee Regional VNA or to HospiceCare in the Berkshires, in care of the funeral home, 3 Main St., Lee, MA 01238. Joanne leaves her loving grandchildren, Stephanie, Michael, Brandon, Dylan, Zachary, Joanna, Stephen, Alex and Molly.

Obituaries

Celebrating Lives & Legacies

Joanne Keiderling

Memorials