Dell Lanier Venarde

Born:
Died: 12/26/2012

Dell Lanier Venarde of Kennett Square, PA, a 55-year resident of Wilmington, DE, died peacefully on December 26, 2012, with family at her side. She was 79.
Dell was born in 1933 in Orlando, FL and grew up in Georgia and Florida. She left the South to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which she graduated in 1955 with a BS in chemical engineering. She did not return to the South, but never lost the accent or the manners of her youth.
After college she worked at Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati, OH, where she met Jack H. Venarde. The two married at the then-new Eero Saarinen chapel at MIT in 1957. They soon after moved to Wilmington, where before her first child was born, Dell taught math and physics at Wilmington Friends School. Later Dell earned an M.Ed. at the University of Delaware and taught math at Delaware Technical and Community College and Widener University. Her devoted husband Jack died in 2006, not long after escorting Dell as the only female graduate of MIT’s Class of 1955 to appear for the 50th reunion.
Dell is survived by her mother, Dell M. Trawick; her son, Bruce L. Venarde and his partner Jack Eckert; her son, David F. Venarde and his wife Sarah Horowitz; her grandchildren, Emma and Thomas; and many loyal friends old and new.
A service will be held on Thursday, January 3rd, at 11 am at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, 719 Shipley Street (Shipley Street at Eighth Street), Wilmington.
Dell was passionate about nature and environmentalism, live music and theater, travel, and her parish of Saints Andrew and Matthew. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Delaware Nature Society, an organization that gave our daughter, mother, and grandmother great joy over many years. Go to delawarenaturesociety.org/donate.html or mail donations to Delaware Nature Society, PO Box 700, Hockessin, DE 19707.