Charlotte Iliff Lafean

Charlotte Iliff Lafean, formerly of Fredon, NJ, and late of Vernon, NJ, March 8 in Nokesville, VA. Mrs. Lafean was the daughter of the late Fred C. Iliff and Geraldine S. Iliff of Newton, New Jersey, and an alumna of Newton High School ’47, of Cedar Crest College ’50, and St Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing ’53. Her sixty-year nursing career, largely in Emergency Room treatment, spanned the innovations of Intensive Care (ICU), Cardiac Care (CCU), and Shock/Trauma; school, camp, correctional, and home care nursing, and nursing training. A board member of the Emergency Department Nurses’ Association (EDNA) while employed at Newton Memorial Hospital, she later served at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Warwick, NY, and in northern Virginia at Potomac, Fairfax, and Mount Vernon Hospitals, and led the medical unit at the Alexandria, Virginia jail.

A lifelong devotee of music, Mrs. Lafean sang in the choirs of Pohick Episcopal Church in Lorton, Virginia, and St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Vernon, New Jersey, and the Alexandria Chorale. She studied violin and piano, and encouraged music in schools and among her family. She served on the Organ Committee of St. Thomas’ as well as its Vestry and rector search committees, and as its acolyte master; and had been a lay reader and lay Eucharistic minister at both houses of worship. St. Thomas’ ministries to hikers on the nearby Appalachian Trail and to local homeless also benefited from her efforts, especially her skill in nutrition and cooking. She was a consistent supporter of Brentsville District High School wrestling and football.

Mrs. Lafean raised a small family and lent her heart to her children and their friends as Cub Scout den mother, Girl Scout Brownie leader, 4-H leader, and ‘Doctor Mom’. But she was also prone to adopting, ad hoc, anyone who came into a need for parenting, guidance, or support. Her informal children drew on her practical sense, high principles, accumulated wisdom, and ever-evident caring to turn personal disaster into new beginnings or to chart new directions in their own lives. All very fondly remember the ‘universal Mom’ and most have remained in contact up to her death.

Charlotte was predeceased by her parents, husband Edward L. Lafean of Lake Ridge, Virginia, formerly of Newton, New Jersey, and a daughter, Celia Jane Lafean, and is survived by two brothers and a sister, John L Iliff of Branchville, New Jersey, Fred C. Iliff Jr. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Virginia I. Morrow of St. Ansgar, Iowa; a daughter, Margaret L. (Warren) Prados of Nokesville, Virginia, a son, Edward L. (Patricia) Lafean of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and grandchildren Sarah C. Prados and William E. Prados of Nokesville, and Virginia L. Lafean and Emmalee L. Lafean of Basking Ridge, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A funeral service will be held at Pohick Episcopal Church, Lorton, VA, March 28 at 10:30 AM; family will receive well-wishers at the church following the service. Private interment in New Jersey will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family invites expressions of sympathy to the American Lung Association or to the music program of either church.