A funeral Mass will be held Saturday for Adele-Ethel Reidy, a former Walters Art Museum docent who witnessed the 1949 settlement of Jews in a young State of Israel.
Mrs. Reidy, who resided in West Towson for many years, died of stroke complications, Oct. 29, at the Westminster Canterbury at Shenandoah Valley, a senior living community in Winchester, Va. She was 95.
Born in Chicago, she was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Kaczkowski, a general practitioner and his wife, Blanche, a homemaker.
She was a 1941 graduate of the Academy of Our Lady. She obtained a music history degree at the Chicago Musical College.
Family members said her father wanted her to teach music, but she jumped at a chance to see the world by joining Trans-World Airlines in 1945. She trained in Kansas City and became a hostess. She served at the Midway airfield in Chicago, and later flew the trans-Atlantic route from New York to Paris, based at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Her son, Jonathan Reidy, said his mother was given a temporary assignment in the summer and fall of 1949: She was chosen by TWA's upper management to assist in establishing flights to Israel. "She was the only hostess on these flights," her son said. "They were based in Rome during this time." Mrs. Reidy accompanied hundreds of Jews, some of whom had been liberated from Nazi death camps, to establish lives in the newly founded State of Israel, he said. "This was an important time in her life," her son said. "It gave her a new perspective. She recalled meeting a young man in his 20s who had been in a concentration camp. He was once fairly well-to-do, but he lost everything. But he told her how much he was looking forward to a new beginning in Israel."
Another son, Christopher Reidy, said: "She recalled being on a flight with the future prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion." She lived in Rome and traveled in her free time throughout Europe. She continued to fly with TWA when she married Dr. Joseph James Reidy, a psychiatrist. "They met at a wedding and my father had to propose to her three times," her son said. "She loved her job and did not want to get married."
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) - December 4, 2018
Adele Ethel Reidy
October 29, 2018 -December 8, 2018
[Omps Funeral Home]
Mrs. Reidy, who resided in West Towson for many years, died of stroke complications, Oct. 29, at the Westminster Canterbury at Shenandoah Valley, a senior living community in Winchester, Va. She was 95.
Born in Chicago, she was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Kaczkowski, a general practitioner and his wife, Blanche, a homemaker.
She was a 1941 graduate of the Academy of Our Lady. She obtained a music history degree at the Chicago Musical College.
Family members said her father wanted her to teach music, but she jumped at a chance to see the world by joining Trans-World Airlines in 1945. She trained in Kansas City and became a hostess. She served at the Midway airfield in Chicago, and later flew the trans-Atlantic route from New York to Paris, based at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Her son, Jonathan Reidy, said his mother was given a temporary assignment in the summer and fall of 1949: She was chosen by TWA's upper management to assist in establishing flights to Israel. "She was the only hostess on these flights," her son said. "They were based in Rome during this time." Mrs. Reidy accompanied hundreds of Jews, some of whom had been liberated from Nazi death camps, to establish lives in the newly founded State of Israel, he said. "This was an important time in her life," her son said. "It gave her a new perspective. She recalled meeting a young man in his 20s who had been in a concentration camp. He was once fairly well-to-do, but he lost everything. But he told her how much he was looking forward to a new beginning in Israel."
Another son, Christopher Reidy, said: "She recalled being on a flight with the future prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion." She lived in Rome and traveled in her free time throughout Europe. She continued to fly with TWA when she married Dr. Joseph James Reidy, a psychiatrist. "They met at a wedding and my father had to propose to her three times," her son said. "She loved her job and did not want to get married."
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) - December 4, 2018
Adele Ethel Reidy
October 29, 2018 -December 8, 2018
[Omps Funeral Home]
A funeral Mass will be held Saturday for Adele-Ethel Reidy, a former Walters Art Museum docent who witnessed the 1949 settlement of Jews in a young State of Israel.
Mrs. Reidy, who resided in West Towson for many years, died of stroke complications, Oct. 29, at the Westminster Canterbury at Shenandoah Valley, a senior living community in Winchester, Va. She was 95.
Born in Chicago, she was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Kaczkowski, a general practitioner and his wife, Blanche, a homemaker.
She was a 1941 graduate of the Academy of Our Lady. She obtained a music history degree at the Chicago Musical College.
Family members said her father wanted her to teach music, but she jumped at a chance to see the world by joining Trans-World Airlines in 1945. She trained in Kansas City and became a hostess. She served at the Midway airfield in Chicago, and later flew the trans-Atlantic route from New York to Paris, based at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Her son, Jonathan Reidy, said his mother was given a temporary assignment in the summer and fall of 1949: She was chosen by TWA's upper management to assist in establishing flights to Israel. "She was the only hostess on these flights," her son said. "They were based in Rome during this time." Mrs. Reidy accompanied hundreds of Jews, some of whom had been liberated from Nazi death camps, to establish lives in the newly founded State of Israel, he said. "This was an important time in her life," her son said. "It gave her a new perspective. She recalled meeting a young man in his 20s who had been in a concentration camp. He was once fairly well-to-do, but he lost everything. But he told her how much he was looking forward to a new beginning in Israel."
Another son, Christopher Reidy, said: "She recalled being on a flight with the future prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion." She lived in Rome and traveled in her free time throughout Europe. She continued to fly with TWA when she married Dr. Joseph James Reidy, a psychiatrist. "They met at a wedding and my father had to propose to her three times," her son said. "She loved her job and did not want to get married."
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) - December 4, 2018
Adele Ethel Reidy
October 29, 2018 -December 8, 2018
[Omps Funeral Home]
Mrs. Reidy, who resided in West Towson for many years, died of stroke complications, Oct. 29, at the Westminster Canterbury at Shenandoah Valley, a senior living community in Winchester, Va. She was 95.
Born in Chicago, she was the daughter of Dr. Joseph Kaczkowski, a general practitioner and his wife, Blanche, a homemaker.
She was a 1941 graduate of the Academy of Our Lady. She obtained a music history degree at the Chicago Musical College.
Family members said her father wanted her to teach music, but she jumped at a chance to see the world by joining Trans-World Airlines in 1945. She trained in Kansas City and became a hostess. She served at the Midway airfield in Chicago, and later flew the trans-Atlantic route from New York to Paris, based at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Her son, Jonathan Reidy, said his mother was given a temporary assignment in the summer and fall of 1949: She was chosen by TWA's upper management to assist in establishing flights to Israel. "She was the only hostess on these flights," her son said. "They were based in Rome during this time." Mrs. Reidy accompanied hundreds of Jews, some of whom had been liberated from Nazi death camps, to establish lives in the newly founded State of Israel, he said. "This was an important time in her life," her son said. "It gave her a new perspective. She recalled meeting a young man in his 20s who had been in a concentration camp. He was once fairly well-to-do, but he lost everything. But he told her how much he was looking forward to a new beginning in Israel."
Another son, Christopher Reidy, said: "She recalled being on a flight with the future prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion." She lived in Rome and traveled in her free time throughout Europe. She continued to fly with TWA when she married Dr. Joseph James Reidy, a psychiatrist. "They met at a wedding and my father had to propose to her three times," her son said. "She loved her job and did not want to get married."
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) - December 4, 2018
Adele Ethel Reidy
October 29, 2018 -December 8, 2018
[Omps Funeral Home]
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