Obituary of Shade T. Cronan

Shade Thomas Cronan
January 18, 1939 – August 16, 2023

Shade Thomas Cronan passed away peacefully at home with her family in the early morning hours of Wednesday August 16, 2023, from complications of COPD and years of managing multiple chronic illnesses. Shade was born on January 18, 1939, in Memphis, Tennessee to Shade Wooten (Mann) Thomas and Edwin Henry Thomas. She was an only child and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas graduating from Little Rock Central High in 1957 just prior to the integration of the high school. She spent many happy summers as a camper and counselor at Camp Junaluska in North Carolina. Shade graduated with a degree in Math in 1961 from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia and went on to be a Systems Engineer with IBM in Tampa, Florida. There, she met Norman Cronan whom she married on May 14, 1965, in Little Rock. Shade and Norman moved to Madison, New Jersey where three of her five stepchildren, Joe, Kelly, and Cliff came to live with them in 1968. Her daughter Shade was born a few years later.

Shade and Norman had a wonderful group of neighbors and friends in Madison who became family and would spend many holidays and special times together. Shade was a very active volunteer in the community, serving as the President of the Community House for the Thursday Morning Club, President of the Friends of the Madison Public Library, and as a library volunteer for the Madison Public Schools. When her children were older, she went back to school to update her computer skills and went back to work until she and Norman retired to Harwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. There, Shade learned pottery and was again involved with community organizations including the Newcomers’ Club and the Harwich Garden Club.

Predeceased by her husband Norman in 2011, Shade moved back to Madison in 2017 with her daughter and family. She was also predeceased by her stepdaughter Cori Cronan. She is survived by her daughter Shade W. Cronan and her husband Christopher DeBiasse; her stepchildren Kim Cronan, Craig Cronan, Kelly Cronan, and Cliff Cronan; her grandchildren, Patrick, Thomas, and Shade Grahling, Adam Denton, Theo Cronan and his wife Candace, Nader Meqdad and his wife Allison Goolsby and Jade Meqdad; and five great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Monday, August 21, 2023, at 11 am at the Madison Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Zufall Health Foundation, 18 West Blackwell Street, Dover, NJ 07801 or www.zufallhealthfoundation.org in honor of the work of Dr. Douglas Bishop and his colleagues who cared for her with such compassion.

Arrangements are under the care of Burroughs, Korh & Dangler Funeral Home, Madison.