ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Military Veteran Returns to RCC to
Forge Path to New Career
Taking Page from Mom’s Book, Knarich Graduates RCC Nursing Program
Two generations of the Knarich family
have a keen appreciation for the value of
an RCC Nursing degree. Joseph Knarich,
a Marines veteran and Town of Clarkstown
police officer, graduated from the Nursing
program in May with a special distinction at
the pinning ceremony: he was pinned with
the original pin earned by his mother, Jayne,
for her Nursing degree in 1981.
“I knew that if I ever finished this program I
would ask her for that honor,” Joseph Knarich
said, citing his mother’s 33-year nursing
career at Columbia Presbyterian Medical
Center as a “huge inspiration.”
Knarich, who served in Operation Desert
Storm with the Marines, is finishing up a
24-year career as a police officer with the
Clarkstown Police Department – the same
length of tenure served there by his father,
Joseph Sr. During Joseph Jr.’s time on the
force, he often had occasion to turn people
over to hospital emergency room nurses, and
wondered what became of those patients.
Now Knarich hopes to work in a hospital
emergency room, with the ultimate goal of
working on helicopters as a trauma flight
nurse, an environment he relished during his
Marines tenure. He also plans to volunteer
locally in a free clinic to give back to the
community.
PASSINGS
ALUMNI
LAURA DELL ’71 of Orangeburg, died at age 91 on January 21. She
enrolled at RCC at age 46 after raising her children and graduated
with honors. She then earned her bachelor’s at St. Thomas Aquinas
College and also attended graduate school.
RICHARD K. GEIGER ’62 of Suffern, an All-American soccer goalie
inducted into the RCC Hall of Fame in 2009, died on March 11 at age
75. He worked at Geiger Lumber, the family business, for 45 years.
STEVEN BRETT HARRIS ’10, age 51, died April 17.
ELEANORA F. MORE ’76, died on January 15 at age 88. She
enrolled in RCC’s Nursing program two decades after earning a
At RCC, Knarich attended one class
per semester for seven years while working
rotating police shifts. He was deeply
impressed by the Nursing program’s top-
notch faculty and its success in preparing
students for immediate employment. Most
memorable to him was his experience with
Estelle Yahes, a psychiatric nursing instructor,
now Professor Emerita. “I was astounded a t
how smoothly she interacted with the mentally
ill,” he said, citing her handling of an irate,
intimidating inmate as the most impressive
interaction with an emotionally disturbed
person he witnessed as a police officer.
Knarich also praised retired Professor Tanya
Drake, who taught both him and his mom.
A Nyack native, Knarich resides in West
Nyack with his wife of 25 years, Rosemary.
Their oldest child, Madison, 20, is enrolled
in RCC’s Sam Draper Honors Program.
Colin, 19, attends Binghamton University, and
Caroline, 15, is enrolled in the Clarkstown
schools.
bachelor’s in microbiology, and then worked for many years in Good
Samaritan Hospital’s pediatric unit.
FORMER EMPLOYEES
STEPHEN PERRY CHURCHILL , adjunct faculty, Computer
Assisted Design, died April 16 at age 58. He also taught at Cornwall
Central HS. He is survived by his son, brothers, and other loved ones.
ARNOLD RIST, first full-time director of the RCC Evening Division
(1961-1965), died February 6 at age 92.
STUDENTS
TYRONE JACKSON, 20, died in an automobile accident
on February 10.
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