Billie Jean Awad

Billie Jean Awad of Southwoods Drive, Ithaca and formerly of Dryden, NY died unexpectedly on the evening of April 19th at home with her family. She was born in 1949 in Owego, New York, the daughter of William Brainard and Myrtle Nelson Brainard. She was graduated from the Owego Free Academy and attended Tompkins-Cortland Community College.

In December, 1975, she began work as a Department Secretary in the Government Department at Cornell University, and then moved to become the Graduate Field Secretary in the Romance Studies department, where she worked for thirty-

five years. During that time she managed one of the largest programs at Cornell, collaborating with seven different chairs of the department, whom she tutored in their responsibilities.

In 1981 she was promoted to Administrative Supervisor I in Romance Studies and in July 1999 promoted to Administrator IV. Billie was particularly proud of this promotion. It took place as her department was merging with the Department of Modern Languages; she went from managing a relatively small department to overseeing a large and complex one. Her energy and skill and human qualities were instrumental in the smoothness of the transition and the ultimate success of that merger.

Her enormous talent as an administrator combined with her ebullient personality brought her the admiration and affection of people in every corner of the University and throughout the community. Billie was deeply devoted to Cornell and was a source of strength and comfort to generations of students and to her colleagues who are forever indebted to her unceasing work on their behalf, to her generosity and many kindnesses. When she retired last year, she was feted at an enormous outpouring of friends and colleagues.

Billie loved to travel with her family. She was a passionate photographer, a wonderful cook, a loving wife, an adoring mother, and a miraculous grandmother. She loved to laugh and loved to dance. She was the best friend in the world.

She is survived by members of her deeply grieving family: by her husband George Awad, Esq.,who brought much joy to her life; by her daughter Anna Carberry; by her son Ralph Lott, his wife Tiffany, and their two children, Brennen and Meredith; stepson Lucas Awad, by her mother Myrtle Nelson Brainard, her father William Brainard, her sisters Patricia Maki and her husband Walter, Jacqueline Buck and her husband Gale, Anna Lawrence and her husband Ray, and her brothers James Brainard and his wife Ilene, John Brainard and his wife Linda, Theodore Brainard and his wife Lori; numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins and by her beloved grand daughter, McKenna, whom she had been raising and who was the light of her life.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered by Rev. Leo Reinhardt at 10 AM Monday, April 24th, 2006 in Immaculate Conception Church, 115 N. Geneva St., Ithaca. Friends are invited to call from 2 to 5 PM Sunday at the Perkins Funeral Home, 55 West Main St., Dryden, NY. Those who wish to remember Billie are asked to consider a gift, in lieu of flowers, to the Immaculate Conception School, c/o 115 N. Geneva St., Ithaca, NY 14850.