Wendy Stuart (Wade) Costello (1950 - 2007)

Born 9 May 1950 in Cheverly, Prince George's County, Maryland

Ancestors

Died 14 Mar 2007 at age 56 in Chatham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts

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Biography

Wendy was born in 1950. She was the daughter of John Wade and Jane Hurlburt. She passed away in 2007. ^[1]

Obituary

CHATHAM - Wendy Costello died of cancer at her home on Wednesday, March 14.

She was the wife of Richard William Costello for 20 years.

She was born in Cheverly, Md., the daughter of Jane Hurlburt Wade and the late John Robert Wade. She was raised in Waterbury, Conn., spending summers in Chatham with her family since 1951.

She graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School and spent a year with the English Speaking Union, attending Howell's School in North Wales. She graduated summa cum laude from Connecticut College with a double major in early childhood education and Asian studies. During this time she spent a semester studying in India. As a member of the Wisconsin Native American Teacher Corps, she attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, earning a masters degree in elementary education.

Returning to Chatham, she worked in many positions related to early childhood education. First, she was the head teacher at the Nauset Integrated Head Start Program, the only such program of its type in the area before integrated preschool services were offered by the local public schools. Then she was the Family Day Care licensor for the Cape and Islands, administered by the Massachusetts Office for Children. Then followed a few years as the director of the Head Start Program of the Cape Cod Child Development Program in Hyannis.

In her last 10 years in the classroom, she was a teacher at the Rocking Unicorn Preschool in West Chatham. After volunteering at the Eldredge Public Library, she joined the staff there, working mostly in the youth services department until the time of her illness. In recognition of Wendy's many years of dedication and service to children and families throughout the Cape, her colleagues at the Early Childhood Council at the Cape Cod Children's center in Eastham donated a collection of new parenting books to the Children's Room at the Eldredge Library in her honor.

She volunteered for many community charitable groups, such as Lower Cape Outreach Council and The Art of Charity. She served on the boards of Friends of Monomoy Theatre, Monomoy Community Services, the Lower Cape Visiting Nurse Association, and the Chatham Historical Society. She also volunteered for the March of Dimes and Pals for Life.

In addition to her husband and mother, she is survived by her brothers and their families, Peter H. and Dale M. Wade of Eastham, Timothy F. and Beth H. Wade of Chatham, Stephen P. and J. Kathy Wade of Franklin, Mass., and Michael P.Wade of Manhattan and South Orleans. [The Cape Cod Chronicle (Chatham, MA) - 22 Mar 2007]

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Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #57948102; Wendy Wade Costello, Union Cemetery, Chatham MA

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Footnotes

1. ↑ Information from Beardsley family researcher Nick Dann, 27 Jan 2021.