Dena Schild Grenell graveside service set for Jewish Burial Rites on Sunday

DENA SCHILD GRENELL a New Orleans  native and former Baltimore resident, died on September 11, 2024. She was 94.

DINA SCHILD GRENELL

Raised in Houma, Louisiana, Grenell graduated from Terrebonne High School before attending LSU and then going to the Ray-Vogue School of Fashion in Chicago. At fashion school, she obtained a great sense of style that she never lost, carefully perusing her outfits every day to be sure the colors matched. It was in Chicago that she met her first husband, Irvin Zimmerman, with whom she had three sons, all raised in New Orleans.

While her sons were still in school, she began working at the Security Office at Touro Infirmary (now Touro Hospital) and later at Tulane University, where she was the executive secretary to the Director of Continuing Education at the Tulane University School of Medicine.

It was there she met her second husband, Dr. Robert Grenell, which led to her relocation to Baltimore. They enjoyed many years of traveling, cooking gourmet meals, antique shopping, and spending time with family. Following her husband’s passing in 2004, she moved back to New Orleans, where she made new friends and reconnected with old friends through Shir Chadash Synagogue and the New Orleans Jewish Community Center.

Grenell also had a huge love for music. She knew the lyrics to jazz standards and popular songs from the 1940’s and 1950’s. As she began her decline in the last few months, her happiest times were singing along to jazz standards with her granddaughter Meryl, a noted local performer and former Jewish educator at Shir Chadash.

She is survived by her sons Alan Zimmerman (Holly), CCJN Jewish Trivia columnist Mark Zimmerman (Janet) and Dan Zimmerman (Rick), six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The graveside funeral will take place at Jewish Burial Rites Cemetery, 4321 Frenchman Street, on Sunday, September 15, at 1:30 p.m. Rabbi David Cohen-Henriquez will officiate.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation or to The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic & Assistance Foundation.