Jodell Underwood "Jody" Abend

1935 - 2014

Jodell "Jody" Underwood Abend, 79, an exceptional and very much loved woman, died suddenly of a stroke on the evening of Dec. 10, 2014, at Linda Manor Extended Care Facility in Leeds, after being partially disabled by a previous stroke she suffered in late October, 2014.

She was born March 26, 1935, in Arkansas City, Kansas, to Geraldine "Gerry" Parman and Bernard Underwood, and is a direct descendant of Giles F. Parman, Sr., who served in the American Revolutionary War (registered in Northampton Co., Pennsylvania,) and survived the Wyoming massacre. Jody spent some of her formative years in Tucson, Arizona. She often spoke of the great beauty of the Arizona desert, of her love for the "wide open spaces," and of her favorite horse, Apple. While in high school in Tucson, Jody was awarded a National Merit Scholarship; was Rodeo Queen of 1953; spoke at her high school graduation on the subject of "loyalty," a principle that remained important to her; and accepted a scholarship to attend Vassar College.

While at Vassar, she studied cultural anthropology, heard classical music for the first time and used her beautiful singing voice in college musicals. She was elected a member of the Daisy Chain, perhaps Vassar's most honored tradition, in which sophomore students are elected by the senior class based on their leadership skills, class spirit and eagerness to volunteer their time, all of which aptly describe Jody. She represented Vassar on a trip to the Middle East, later appearing on a TV news program to report on the trip. She later also traveled in Europe, the eastern Mediterranean and Japan.

Upon graduation in 1957, Jody moved to New York City, to work at The New Yorker magazine. She returned to Tucson some time later to be with her mother and ill father, and during that time worked for the Radio Corporation of America. She left Tucson for Japan to marry Sander Abend, M.D., a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy. Much to her great grief, her father died a month later. Her mother, Gerry, would later move to New York City to be close to the family. While living in Yokosuka, Jody worked for the Red Cross, studied Japanese culture, and started a family with Sander. After moving back to New York City with her husband and fraternal twin daughters, Jody became a homemaker, volunteer, and accomplished needlepoint artist. After a move to Scarsdale, New York (where she lived for the next 38 years of her life, right up until one month before her death), Jody enjoyed gardening, particularly growing tea roses. She passionately loved reading and was intellectually curious; she was fascinated to learn about many popular as well as ancient historical subjects.

Jody was a passionate and enthusiastic person who loved and enjoyed: archeology; astrology; classical music; Christmas; dog shows, reading mysteries, historical novels and speculative fiction; theater; museums; collecting whimsical handmade objet d'arts; watching forensic crime shows on TV and royal weddings on the computer; fine needlepoint design; and drinking her morning coffee mixed with Café Francis by Maxwell House International Coffees. (She said she should've purchased stock in it). She was known in the family for her scholarly range of knowledge; for being impossible to beat at Scrabble and impossible to stump at Dictionary; for being in the club of those who do the New York Times crossword puzzle in pen; and for wrapping gifts so beautifully that one didn't care what was inside the box. To her friends, she gave a great deal of time, energy, heart and focus, a listening ear and wise feedback.

After going through a divorce in the early 1980s, Jody went back to school and obtained a master's degree in library science from the Pratt Institute in New York City, and became a professional book indexer. She excelled at indexing, covering a wide range of topics in her 30+ year career, from history to psychology, metaphysics to the arts, to biographies, autobiographies and politics. The last book she indexed was David M. Friedman's WILDE in AMERICA: OSCAR WILDE and the INVENTION of CELEBRITY. Jody's health began to decline in her 70s, with 55 years of cigarette smoking as a factor, as well as thyroid disease and labile blood pressure, for which she refused treatment. Despite these problems, she spent time with loved ones, enjoyed good meals and the occasional glass of white wine, read many books and pursued her various interests.

She is survived by her daughters Lisa N. Abend (Gerald "Gerry" M. Shattuck Jr.) of Haydenville, and Sara C. Abend (Orlando Maldonado) of New York, New York; brother Kent Underwood (Phyllis) of Hillsborough, North Carolina; her nieces and nephews David, Darcy, Stephanie and Ian and their families; cousins, great-nieces and great-nephews; best friend Bernadine "Mickey" Jacobs, Esq., of Scarsdale, New York; and longtime companion Sydney Wolfe Cohen of Chappaqua, New York.

Jody's brilliance, her striking grey eyes and black Irish beauty, her enthusiasm and emphatic way of delivering an opinion; her great laugh; her delicacy of feeling and high degree of sensitivity, wisdom and insight, will be greatly missed.

Lisa would like to thank her partner Gerry for all his support as well as Matt Meers, Janet Egelston, Cora Lee Drew and J.M. Sorrell, who all helped at critical times; the staff at Linda Manor Extended Care Facility, especially Alice and Chad on the nursing staff who were with Jody the night she died; Christine Coleman and the staff at White Plains Hospital; and the marvelous Loretta Wood and the staff at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains, New York; and Lindsey Drozdal-Akers of Drozdal Funeral Home, Northampton.

Jody's remains were cremated and a private memorial was held in Tarrytown, New York, in October of 2015.

Donations in her memory may made to your local NPR radio station or PBS TV station, or the National Organization of Women; or please visit and support your local museum or library.

Drozdal Funeral Home of Northampton was in charge of the arrangements.

To sign a Guest Book, express condolences, share memories and read other obituaries, go to www.gazettenet.com/obituaries.