Cornelia Landon Russell

Cornelia Landon Russell (Corny), 96, of Farmington, died on April 8, 2024, following a brief illness. The daughter of Henry Hutton Landon and Cornelia Sage (Landon) Williams, she was born in New York City, on November 4, 1927. She moved to Hartford with her family in 1937. Except for the first ten years of her marriage, she lived in the Greater Hartford area for the rest of her life. She attended Oxford School in West Hartford. She graduated from Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, in 1946, and Bennett Junior College in Millbrook, NY, in 1948. She worked at the Junior School in West Hartford, which later became Renbrook School. She married John Butler Russell in May 1951. At the time of their marriage, he worked for the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Officer, and they spent the first few years of their married life at postings in Montevideo, Uruguay, and Havana, Cuba. They returned to the United States permanently in 1954. Upon their return they lived in Riverside, CT, for six years, before moving to West Hartford in 1961. She raised three children and was active in volunteer organizations, including the Girl Scouts, the PTO of the Lloyd H. Bugbee School in West Hartford, and the Junior League. She went to work in her 40s, first as an elementary school crossing guard in West Hartford, then as a teacher’s aide at the Oak Hill School in Hartford, a job that she loved. She retired from Oak Hill in June 1989 to move on to her rewarding next chapter: helping to take care of her grandchildren. Corny was loving, warm, generous, lively, stubbornly independent, and a born caregiver, who would do anything for the people she loved. Her family and friends were the center of her world, and she had a special gift for connecting with children and animals. In her later years there were losses. She outlived her husband, most of her siblings, and many of her friends. In her mid-80s, she began losing her eyesight as a result of macular degeneration, a process that was complete by 2021. With the loss of her eyesight, she also lost her independence and had to give up her beloved dog when she could no longer take care of him. However, she never lost her mental acuity, her prodigious memory, her optimistic nature, and her care and concern for others. Cornelia L. Russell is survived by her brother, Staunton Williams, Jr., of Northampton, MA; three children: Sage Russell of Frederick, MD (Jeff Mason); Jan Russell Erikson of Tolland (John); and Hunt Russell of Bloomfield; six grandchildren: Elisabeth Russell Hoff (Sam), Emily Russell, Cornelia Russell, Katie Erikson, Kevin Erikson, and Dan Erikson; three great-grandchildren, Evie, Freya and Johnny; and numerous nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors. She was predeceased by her parents; her husband of 56 years, John B. Russell; three brothers: Harry Landon, Bill Williams, and Hank Williams; her sister, Nancy Landon Ashford; two nieces and a nephew. Her family would like to thank the staff at Brookdale Gables in Farmington, for their attentive care during the last two and a half years of her life, as well as AccentCare Hospice and the doctors, nurses and aides on the 6th floor of the UConn John Dempsey Hospital, for their compassionate and professional care during her final illness. A memorial service will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford on June 22, at 11:00 a.m. Molloy Funeral Home of West Hartford is assisting the family with arrangements. Burial will be private at the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Connecticut Humane Society (www.cthumane.org) or Westie Rescue USA (www.westierescue.com).