Louise Parker Patejdl

Louise Patejdl
April 21st, 1947 – April 29, 2025
Louise "Whit" (Parker) Patejdl, 78, of New Rochelle, NY, passed away peacefully on April 29, 2025. She was born April 21, 1947, in Wilson, NC, a daughter of the late John Council Parker and Cornelia Hobgood Knott.
Louise was preceded in death by, Michael John Patejdl, her second husband to whom she was married for 30 years. She is survived by her two sons, Frank Phillip Ferrara Jr. and Marc Brandon Ferrara and his wife Melissa Anne Ferrara: four grandchildren Julia Catarina, Nicolas "Nico" Orson, Luca Donato, and Elena Cinetta; two sisters, Cirlot "Molly" Truncellito and Quina Nelling; two first cousins, Jimmy Harris and Celia Joyner; and two nieces, Tamara Wica and Katie Truncellito. She also leaves many other extended family members and friends who will miss her dearly.
Louise spent her formative years as a child in the small rural town of Farmville, North Carolina, deep in the heart of tobacco country. Her family moved to Wilmington, DE in 1956. She graduated Brandywine High School in 1965, and then attended Baldwin Wallace college in Berea, OH, where she received a bachelor's degree with concentrations in Sociology and Business.
She was a proud member of the Alpha Phi sorority where she made lifelong friendships. It was in college where Louise met her first husband, Frank Phillip Ferrara, whom she married in the summer of 1968. Following the birth of their two sons, Louise and Frank moved to East Islip, NY, to be close to Frank's job and family. After almost 10 years as a stay-at-home mom, Louise went back to work to help support her children. First as a teacher at the Islip Community Nursery School, then as Personnel Administrator with a local restaurant group on Long Island. She then took the civil service test and got a wonderful job with Eastern Suffolk BOCES in Patchogue, NY. She worked there for 25 years taking over as Director of Personnel before retirement in 2009.
Over the years, Louise always yearned to be closer to her family down south but loved Long Island, especially her frequent trips to the beach at Robert Moses state park, and the lifelong friends she made along the way.
She loved hosting friends for dinner, playing cards, going to the gym and staying active. She took every opportunity she could to be with family, hosting for the holidays, making special birthday dinners, attending games, events, graduations and weddings, and her most treasured time enjoying family vacations.
Louise was an outstanding mom with an oversized heart that went above and beyond for her sons. She was so proud of them and so grateful for their beautiful families. She was never happier than in the role of grandmother, which she enjoyed beyond measure.
Her love for family and friends was palpable. She always put others first before herself. She loved her family more than anything and never let a day go by without reminding us of how much she did.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 2pm, at Asbury Crestwood United Methodist Church, in Yonkers, NY. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation: https://oceana.org/about/