Jeanette Eleanor Boccard Siciliano, 87, passed away on February 25, 2026, following a long illness.
Born in Brooklyn on March 2, 1938, to Catherine (Cloherty) and Paul E. Boccard, her formative years were spent in her beloved neighborhood on Lincoln Place. Her mother, father and older brother, Eugene, lived in apartment that was within walking distance of Prospect Park, the Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum, where her father worked. Relatives lived close by, and Jeanette always fondly recalled family gatherings, ice-skating in the park, watching parades down Eastern Parkway, studying piano, spending enchanted hours in the library and the museum, and hearing the lions roar in the Prospect Park Zoo.
After graduating high school, Jeanette earned her bachelor of arts at Notre Dame College on Staten Island. Jeanette married Michael J. Siciliano in 1961, and they started a family while living in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Even with two young daughters, Jeanne and Lorraine, Jeanette pursued her love of learning and achieved her master of science from Long Island University in 1965 and taught at King’s College in Brooklyn. After Michael attained his PhD in molecular genetics in 1970, the family moved to Houston, where he joined M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in a postdoctoral fellowship.
Their son, Peter, was born in 1971. Jeanette joined the faculty of MDACC, where she headed up a tissue culture lab in the genetics research department. Jeanette always fostered her love of education, art, music and dance in her children. She was a devoted patron of the Houston Opera and the Houston Symphony, as well as local community theatre, where she enjoyed working behind the scenes stage-managing and organizing the box office. She was a voracious reader and lifelong expert crossword puzzle solver. She relished backpacking trips in the Rocky Mountains and the Grand Tetons with her family and a group of adventurous friends.
Upon retiring from MDACC, Jeanette taught science at local community colleges and began a serious devotion to her passion for travel. She was very close to her half sister, Geneva Tetu of Claremont, N.H., and they undertook many happy driving expeditions throughout New England and Canada to visit family. They loved “noodling” along back roads and stopping at almost every garage sale along the way. Jeanette and her siblings made a pilgrimage to their parents’ families’ home countries in Messery, France, and Galway, Ireland. Jeanette made many subsequent visits to her Irish relatives over the years on the charming island of Inish Bofin, where her mother’s family hailed from. She enabled her children and grandchildren to join her on her travels and to get to know the beautiful people and landscape of Ireland.
Jeanette’s wide-ranging interest in the sciences included archeology, and she became a valued member of the Houston Archeology Society, engaging in fieldwork and helping to publish its newsletter and plan destination trips. Her world travels included opera festivals in Germany and Machu Pichu, Peru, and many places in between. Jeanette made numerous trips back to her beloved New York City, where longtime hotel doormen became familiar friends, and she soaked up the museums and Metropolitan Opera performances.
Jeanette is lovingly remembered as leading an inspiring, accomplished and independent life. She is survived by her daughters, Jeanne (Escott) and Lorraine (Brian); son, M. Peter; grandchildren, Kyle Oakley (Natalie), Kelly (Ben), Evan Michael (Hannah) and Alexander (Blake); great-grandchildren, Owen, Elle and Mira; and many beloved nephews, nieces and cousins. Memorial services in celebration of Jeanette’s life will be held at future dates with family in locations that were dear to her. The family wishes to recognize and thank the dedicated and compassionate staff at Maple Ridge Memory Care. In lieu of flowers, and in honor of her lifelong pursuit of learning, the family suggests donations be made to a college or university in support of arts and science.
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