Eileen Marie (Sheehy) Ragnoni, 90, beloved wife for 66 years and true love of Daniel Ragnoni, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family, on Friday April 29, 2022. Her legacy is love.

Eileen had a love of life, a deep faith, and a spirit of gratitude that lifted up family and friends throughout her lifetime. So many called her a dear friend and her greatest joy was when she was helping others and doing good deeds. She was affectionately known to many as the “Hen”, short for “Mother Hen”, since she lovingly cared for so many family and friends who saw her as a remarkable source of loving support, servant leadership, and life wisdom. 

Eileen was born in Hartford, CT on December 7, 1931, and was the daughter of the late John and Catherine Sheehy. She had a wonderful childhood growing up in the Parkville section of Hartford, and attending Our Lady of Sorrows School and Hartford Public High School. She was an early trailblazer for women having a newspaper route, playing sports, teaching ballroom dancing, and later becoming a sales manager at Southern New England Telephone Company. She spent 25 years of her professional career at Acme Auto holding many rewarding leadership roles where she helped grow the organization. She was beloved by customers and co-workers alike and made many lifetime friendships. She also was instrumental in Acme’s successful long-term fundraising for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Acme Merit-thon road race. 

Eileen was a “doer” and was always active in helping her community. She was on the board at the Intensive Education Academy supporting Sister Helen Dowd’s groundbreaking work with special needs students. She was also president of the St. Brigid Home School Association with her husband, Dan, and very involved with the St. Brigid Ladies Guild, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and many other activities to support her children and grandchildren. 

Eileen was intensely proud of her Irish roots enjoying the music, dance and celebrations tied to her heritage throughout her life (St. Patrick’s Day served as her unofficial second birthday). Eileen and Dan were true best friends and always “on the go”, and most loved to travel and spend time at the beach with family and friends. From Sound View, to Misquamicut, to Ogunquit, to Aruba and beyond, they lived life to the fullest and their retirement years were truly golden. Between travel, visits with friends, attending countless UConn games including trips to the Final Four, and attending their grandchildren’s school and sporting events you would rarely see their car parked in their driveway.

Eileen was blessed with many treasured friends over the years, especially, "The Knitters," a group of awe-inspiring women who, for nearly seven decades, have met every Wednesday for food, drink and many laughs. These formidable ladies journeyed through life together, celebrating the good times and easing the difficult ones. In recent years, Eileen made sure that the group continued to meet using the Fernwood as their home base.  

In addition to her husband, Dan, Eileen leaves behind her three children; Daniel Ragnoni of West Hartford, Mary Kate Eanniello and her husband Victor of West Hartford, and John Ragnoni and his wife, Elizabeth of Needham, MA. In addition, she leaves six eternally grateful grandchildren; Victor, Maximilian, and Molly Eanniello; and Jack, Michael and TJ Ragnoni. She also leaves many beloved nieces and nephews. Eileen is pre-deceased by her sister, Lillian Hussey, her brother, John Sheehy, and her daughter-in-law Victoria (Zaremba) Ragnoni.

Our family would like to acknowledge the loving commitment of Anna Sheehy, nurse, dear friend, and sister-in-law who sat lovingly by Eileen’s side during her last days easing her suffering. We would also like to sincerely thank Dr. Patrick McDermott and Dr. Jordan Kunkes, and the wonderful and compassionate hospice care team from Hartford Healthcare at Home.

Services will be Friday, May 6th. There will be a visitation hour from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM at Sheehan-Hilborn-Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., West Hartford. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church, 285 Church Street, Hartford, CT at 10:00 AM. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery, West Hartford and a reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, 6065 Roswell Road NE, Suite 505, Atlanta, GA 30328. Online condolences may be made at www.SheehanHilbornBreen.com.