LaRease J. Limerick

On October 28, 2019, at 81 years of age, LaRease June Jewell Limerick, passed away peacefully while surrounded by family. “Nana” to her grandkids and “Pee Wee,” as she was known when she was little, LaRease left her mark on everyone who came into contact with her. She was an amazing mother, wife and grandmother, friend and colleague, whose life was a journey worth remembering.

LaRease was born on January 9, 1938 in New York City, the only child of Richard Foster Jewell and Dorothy Mae Kenney. Raised on 158th Street in the famed “Sugar Hill” area of Harlem, she would ride the subway with future superstars like Diahann Carroll and Leslie Uggams. While LaRease dreamed of taking her talents as a pianist to the next level and was pursued by a talent scout, the entertainment business would not be her path.

She was graduated from George Washington High School in NYC and worked for a time in her Aunt Vee’s neighborhood dress shop. Matriarch of the family, Vee was an important role model for LaRease, being a strong black woman who owned her own business at a time in our history when that was rare. Through Vee, LaRease developed her love for fashion — a love that would pack her closets full of clothes for years to come! Vee would also instill in her the value of education as she saw Vee’s daughter, Bessie “Ardelle” Quarles, become the first in her family to graduate from college. Around this time, LaRease married her first husband and during their marriage, the first of her children were born, Joyce and Kevin Coleman (d. 2004).

Then one fine day in 1962, LaRease’s best friend Janice McKelvey (now Janice Cave) introduced her to Dan Limerick, who had just returned from serving in the Army. He was the man of her dreams who shared LaRease’s commitment to family, education, pride in community, and to ensuring that each of their children, and all children, could realize their aspirations. By then a single mother, LaRease embraced Dan’s daughter Renee, as her own. Married on July 30, 1966, Dan and LaRease blended their families and moved everyone to Teaneck, NJ where their last two children, Malik and Kisha, were born.

LaRease and Dan’s shared passion to uplift their community was a driving force in their lives, leading them to be active in the Civil Rights Movement — and to also nurture the community from their home in New Jersey. LaRease loved to entertain and the Limerick house on Buckingham Road was a safe place that attracted friends and family from near and far for fish frys, pool parties, holiday and birthday celebrations. She was also an extremely involved mother, always ensuring that her children were exposed to as many activities, educational opportunities, and experiences as possible.

In her professional life, LaRease devoted herself to using education to transform lives, especially with those for whom the path was not easy. Her work in this area started in the Teaneck public school system, where she was a teacher for the E.S.A.A. program, helping middle school children with special needs. She would later work for the New York City School Volunteer Program, which provided volunteers to serve in public schools as tutors for reading, English, and as classroom assistants for early grades. Her career of service would culminate in working for the Teamsters Union Local 237 for twenty years, where she helped establish the caretaker to maintenance program, providing a pathway for members of the union to advance their careers through education.

Beyond her work in education and Civil Rights, LaRease was an integral part of NECCO along with her close friends, Rena Glasco, Ann Joyner and Ramona Hanna. This organization, devoted to civic involvement and advocacy for the black population in Teaneck, was instrumental in the appointment of the first black municipal judge and the first black mayor of Teaneck.

A well-deserved retirement allowed LaRease and Dan to make a new home in Florida, and to pursue her passion for fashion and shopping (and more shopping) full time. She would ultimately live with her daughter Kisha’s family and spent her final days filled with the joys of family and the laughter of her grandchildren.

LaRease is survived by her husband, Dan, daughters Joyce Coleman-Sampson and her husband Bernard Sampson of Bergenfield, NJ, Kisha Holt and her husband Ronald Holt, Jr. of Plantation, Florida, and Renee Limerick of Middletown, NY; as well as her son Daniel Malik Limerick, Jr and his wife Dawn Limerick of Los Angeles, California. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Christopher Limerick, Travis Holt, Maya Holt, Ryan Limerick, Jayson Holt, Ava Limerick and Nina Holt, in addition to the Adams, Patterson, Lightburn families, her sisters-in-law Donna Limerick and Grace Patterson, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and other family.