Astrid Aurora Gronlund Wenzel died peacefully at Greenwich Hospital on June 7, 2020. She was 95.
Born in Mamaroneck, on February 21, 1925, she was the only child of Artur Grönlund and Aurora Justiina Peltoniemi, immigrants from Finland, and was baptized in a Swedish Lutheran church in the Bronx.
She grew up in Harrison and graduated from Harrison High School in 1942. After graduating from secretarial school in New York City, she became personal assistant to Louis M. Klein, Superintendent of Harrison Schools.
In 1952, she married her former classmate, John S. Wenzel, at All Saints’ Church in Harrison. They raised a family in the house she helped her father build in Rye.
She stayed home to care for her two sons and aging father until his death in 1974. When her husband became a partner in House of Light/Northeastern Wholesalers in Mamaroneck, she assumed the role of credit manager and worked there until she and her husband retired in 1991. Five years later, the Wenzels moved to Hilton Head Island/Bluffton, South Carolina.
Mrs. Wenzel’s many interests included gardening, playing the piano, scouting, golf, bridge, oil painting, lawn bowling, fishing, and taking care of her dogs.
Her husband John died in 2014. She is survived by her sons, Arthur (Danuta) and Scott of Rye, as well as her grandchildren Stefan, Paul, Catherine, and John; her beloved rescue dog, Chloe; and countless cousins here and in Finland.
As a lifetime and faithful parishioner, the family requests that donations in Astrid Wenzel’s memory be made to All Saints’ Church, 300 Harrison Avenue, Harrison, NY 10528.
