PrintNereide Sherwood, an owner and operator of the printing and design firm The Sherwood Co. and before it, Albuquerque Printing Co., died Thursday. The city resident was 85.
"She was (a part of ) the day-to-day operations even though several years ago she was diagnosed with macular degeneration and she was told she was legally blind," Lisa J. Davis, a daughter, said about her mother's involvement in The Sherwood Co.
Not to be deterred, Sherwood brought to the office devices that could aid her ability to see and continue working.
Sherwood ran the Menaul NE business until last year, when she suffered a stroke, Davis said.
"What I remember most about my mom was her sense of humor and her ability to laugh at herself and enjoy life," Davis said. "She laughed with her family, which was really, really great."
Nereide Padalino was born in Torremagg iore, Italy, and lived in the boot-shaped country until age 6, when her mother, who was already in America, arranged to bring her over.
She grew up in Paterson, N.J., until she was 18, when she moved to Manhattan.
"And she was serendipitously discovered by J.J. Shubert of the Shubert Theatre," Davis said.
Sherwood auditioned privately for the theater owner, operator and producer and his piano man, and got placed.
"She got to pick whatever shows she wanted to be in, and she picked Gilbert and Sullivan."
Along with acting, Sherwood modeled - before she crossed paths with a man clad in a crackerjack suit: her future husband, Joe.
"They met in Times Square. He asked her for directions, and that's how they met," Davis said. "She was with Gilbert and Sullivan for about a year-and-a-half before she married my dad, who was in the Navy."
Joe Sherwood's military career took them to stops that included Panama and eventually Albuquerque, where he retired from the service.
Albuquerque Printing Co. was started in the family garage in 1960, Davis said. Early on "he made the rubber stamps, and she ran the business." The company was sold in 1982, and The Sherwood Co. was opened thereafter. It is still operating today.
Called professional, fair, honest and thrifty, Nereide Sherwood was also said to be a businesswoman of generosity.
"She gave to a lot of nonprofits," said Mimi Larimore, another daughter.
Among her beneficiaries was the Salesian Sisters religious order, which oversaw the Catholic boarding school Sherwood had been in when she was new to the country, knew no English and felt isolated, Davis said.
"She donated to that order of nuns because she felt like they were the only ones who really rescued her at her time of need," Davis said.
Sherwood was a member and supporter of The Catholic Daughters Association, the Catholic Charismatic Association, the New Mexico Right to Life Foundation and Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church and Parish.
The rosary will be recited at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Our Lady of Assumption, Lomas and Tennessee NE. Mass will be celebrated immediately after. Following the Mass, friends can pay their respects at Glory Hall, 2421 Wyoming NE.
