Thursday, October 1, 2026
Rockville Centre resident Elaine Stillwell was honored at the recent Manhattanville College reunion weekend, receiving the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award — one of three awards presented annually by the college.
Stillwell accepted the job of being the 50th reunion chairwoman for her Manhattanville class in May 2009, finding all but one graduate in preparation for the reunion and keeping her classmates informed of all the latest news and plans.
Stillwell, a wife, mother, grandmother, educator, author and lecturer is well known as the founder, with her husband, of the Rockville Centre Chapter of the Compassionate Friends, a national self-help organization for bereaved parents and siblings, after the deaths of their two oldest children, 21-year-old Denis and 19-year-old Peggy, in the same car accident in 1986. The couple continue to lead the chapter, guiding 70 parents in monthly meetings and 300 families who receive their monthly newsletter.
Stillwell retired late last spring as the bereavement coordinator for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, a position she held since 1998. But grieving people can find her gifts of caring and humor in her appearances as a keynote speaker, at workshops, seminars, in radio and TV appearances, magazine articles, videos and DVDs. Among her works are a DVD, “Helping Your Heart Through Grief,” and three books — “Sweet Memories,” 1998; “A Forever Angel,” 2001 and her 2004 signature book, “Death of a Child: Reflections for Grieving Parents” that is widely read today.
