Ellen Fiskaa

The lifelong Staten Islander was born Ellen O'Connor in Port Richmond and graduated from Port Richmond High School. She settled in Castleton Corners in 1975.

Mrs. Fiskaa worked for 15 years as a nurse's aide at Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Egbertville, and Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, Castleton Corners. She then worked as a cook at The Hungerford School in Clifton for eight years. For the past three years she had been a clerk at the Christmas Tree Store in Charleston.

She enjoyed gardening, walking her three dogs and cooking for her family.

"Her Irish heritage and Irish legacy led to her infamous question, 'Are you proud of the Irish in you?" her family said.

Mrs. Fiskaa's son, Eddie, died in 2005.

Surviving are her husband of 45 years, Roy; her son, Richard; her daughters, Nora Forlenza and Deborah Zerino; two brothers, John and William O'Connor; a sister, Mary Simonson, and seven grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday from the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, with a mass at 9:30 a.m. in Holy Family R.C. Church, Westerleigh. Burial will follow in Fairfield Cemetery, Castleton Corners.