Jeanne T. Quinn

Jeanne T. Quinn, a second-generation Polish American who would see one of her grandsons graduate from medical school and the other from Harvard University, died Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, at her daughter’s home in Kinnelon, N. J. She was 85.

She was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on Dec. 29, 1926, to Jean Stupinski and Joseph “Happy” Wisnieski. Her father would later Americanize the family’s last name to Wisnack.

Her mother died when Jeanne was 11 and she and her older brother Joe would live with their mother’s mother and her aunts in the apartment building the family owned on Jewel Street in the Polish section of Greenpoint. She and Joe would later move in with their father prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Jeanne quit high school to work. And at work, from the beginning, she found mentors, mostly strong women, who would help her learn, to grow and to see a larger world. It would be a path that repeated itself whether she worked at a Park Avenue hotel in New York City, a Ripley Clothing store in Levittown or at the world headquarters of Avis Rent-A-Car in Garden City on Long Island.

Shortly after the end of World War II, Jeanne met James Patrick Quinn. She was working in the bookkeeping office of a New York City hotel; he had recently returned from the European theater of the war. He was 10 years her senior. He could sing. She could dance. They married in June 1948.

They had two children and Jeanne persuaded Jim to leave the city for the suburbs and a Levitt home in Hicksville on Long Island in 1956.

Jim died of cancer on June 1, 1959.

Although she would describe herself as “a poor widow with two lovely children,” Jeanne was always self-reliant. She went back to work, eventually becoming the first female claims adjuster for Avis. She also returned to school, first earning her GED and later taking business classes at Nassau County Community College.

She made her house on Spindle Road a home for her children and their friends as well as for her brother’s family when he was stationed in Alaska or overseas for the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia or Viet Nam.

She also saw that her children were educated, first at Catholic schools on Long Island, then in college, then to what she called “finishing school” trips to Europe.

Jeanne retired to Stuart, Fla., in the early 1990s, although retired hardly described her activities. She became active in a variety of organizations, such as the Easter House, Treasure Coast Hospice and as a volunteer usher for her church, St. Andrew’s .

She and her friends also loved to take cruises throughout the Caribbean, or sometimes simply far enough out into the Atlantic to gamble. But while in Stuart, thrift shops were Jeanne’s favorite stops, always donating to them as well as looking for a bargain.

To the end, though, it was her grandsons, Andy and Emmett Kistler, who brought her joy and pride.

Jeanne is survived by her daughter Linda Q. Kistler and her longtime companion Dan Perry of Kinnelon, N.J.; and her grandsons Dr. C. Andrew Kistler and his wife Sandra of Philadelphia, Pa., and Emmett Kistler of New York City.

She also is survived by her son Bob Quinn and his wife Beth of Goshen, their sons Dr. Sean Mullally and his wife Melissa of Dalton, Mass., and Brendan Mullally of Tillson, and their grandchildren Sam, Bryce, Austin and Devon.

She is also survived by her brother Joseph R. Wisnack of Stuart, Fla., cousins, two nieces and a nephew.

Jeanne was buried at Our Lady of the Magnificat Cemetery in Kinnelon, N.J., where she will remain close to family.