Funeral mass was offered Aug. 7 at Our Lady of Mercy Church for Bernadette O’Reilly Lando, 77, also known as “Chickie.” She passed away Aug. 2 at her home. She was the daughter of the late Catherine (Hastings) and Martin Dougherty. A lifelong Jersey City resident, Chickie was a graduate of St. Michael’s High School, the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing and Jersey City State College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education.
Chickie worked as a registered nurse at St. Francis Hospital for 25 years. She worked as a school nurse with the Jersey City Board of Education for 32 years, many of them spent at P.S. 8. During that time, she taught practical nursing, adult education and health at Jersey City Medical Center. She retired from the Jersey City Board of Education in 1999.
Chickie was a Jersey City activist. She was a trustee for the Board of Managers of the Jersey City Medical Center, a commissioner of Human Rights during the Smith Administration. She was a longtime charter member of the Anthony R. Cucci Civic Association, being elected Councilwoman at Large under the Cucci Administration (1985 – 1989). A member of the Our Lady of Mercy Senior Citizens, Chickie was honored to be named Jersey City’s Irishwoman of the Year in 1986.
She was the wife of the late Salvatore Lando; mother of Michael J. O’Reilly (Fire Chief FDJC) and his late wife Lisa, Brian O’Reilly and his wife Tammy and Kevin O’Reilly and his wife Donna; grandmother of Melissa Carr, and her husband Ronald, Nicole Tornroth and her husband George, Michele and Michael O’Reilly, Brian, Sean and Daniel O’Reilly and Karlie and Kennedy O’Reilly; sister of Judy Kearney, and the late Maureen Sheehan, Patricia Lambert, John P. Dougherty and Margaret Burke; and also survived by many nieces and nephews. Services arranged by the Greenville Memorial Home, Jersey City.