Julia Celardo

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Longtime Graniteville resident Julia Celardo, 94, a retired secretary, dedicated volunteer and community leader, died Tuesday in Seaview Hospital, Rehabilitation Center and Home, where she had been a patient for one week.

The Mariners Harbor native was born Julia Esposito and graduated from Port Richmond High School.

She settled in Graniteville in 1951.

Mrs. Celardo worked at the former Richmond College, St. George, as secretary to the president of the college. She retired in the mid-1980s.

She volunteered as a driver for Meals on Wheels of Staten Island, had been active in her community and was a member of the Staten Island Garden Club and AARP, where she had served as secretary.

She enjoyed creating floral arrangements, reading novels and watching classic movies. She was an excellent cook and enjoyed preparing Italian dishes.

She was a parishioner of Our Lady of Pity R.C. Church, Bulls Head.

John, her husband of 66 years, a skilled artist, cartoonist and comics editor whose syndicated comic strip, "Tarzan," became popular worldwide, died in 2012.

She is survived by her son, John; her daughter, Donna Deforest; three grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

The funeral will be Saturday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a Mass at 9:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Pity Church. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.