Elaine J. Silvernail of Rhinebeck died on Jan. 1. She was 82.
Born on Nov. 8, 1941, she was the daughter of Ludwig Maas and Catherine Zazworsky Johannsen, and grew up primarily in Lynbrook, N.Y. She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from SUNY Oneonta, where she met her husband, Neal Silvernail. They were married the morning of her college graduation in 1963. Neal Silvernail died on July 10, 2022.
Silvernail taught briefly in the Saugerties and Richfield Springs, N.Y., schools, and then in the Rhinebeck school system, where her husband also worked. She began working in the Pine Plains schools in 1982, and remained there until her retirement in the early 2000s.
She was active in the Third Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rhinebeck, acting as Sunday school superintendent, co-director of the Couples Club and chair of the worship and music committee among other posts.
Silvernail is survived by her daughters Cara (Richard) Silvernail-Thomson and Kristin (Robert) O’Connor, as well as grandchildren Jordan S. Thomson Zietz (John), Dylan S. Thomson (Caroline “Killian” Carr), Aiden S. Thomson, Abigail and David O’Connor and Ilysa Genden (Tyler), and a great-grandson, Theodore Thomson Zietz. Also surviving is her sister Claire Gentile and many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was scheduled for Jan. 13 at 11 a.m. at the Third Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rhinebeck with a reception to follow.
The family asked that memorial donations may be made in Silvernail’s name to the Third Evangelical Lutheran Church, 31 Livingston St., Rhinebeck, N.Y. 12572, or to Dutchess County Hudson Valley Hospice, 374 Violet Ave., Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 12601.