Search Archived Marriage Records
Maggie Hill
Maggie Hill, 67, of Maplewood, died March 4 in the St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston.
Hill was a dietician for the Pine Acres Nursing Home in Madison for more than 27 years before retiring.
She was a shop steward for the Hospital and Healthcare Workers Local 1199J in Newark.
Born in Clio, S.C., Hill moved to Newark in the 1960s before moving to Maplewood eight years ago.
Surviving are a daughter, Peggy Bruton; a son, Benjamin; two brothers, Robert Jr. and Freddie Bruton, and five grandchildren.
Janet Accardi
Janet Accardi, of Union, died March 6 in the Clark Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Accardi was a factory worker at Durkees in Maplewood for 10 years before retiring. Earlier, she was a button-hole operator.
Surviving are a daughter, Rosanne Caskey; a sister, Beatrice Lovello; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth S. Searles
Elizabeth S. Searles, 90, of Port Charlotte, Fla., died March 8. She was the daughter of John and Blanche Senft Smart, and was born July 31, 1915 in Detroit, Mich.
Searles lived most of her life in South Orange. She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Cayce, the Elks, and was a hospital volunteer. She was also involved in charity work for Easter Seals, and the American Heart and American Cancer Associations.
Survivors include her daughter, Susan of Port Charlotte; grandson, Shawn Foglio of Port Charlotte and two granddaughters, Wendy and Tara. She was predeceased by her husband of 45 years, Charles, and her parents.
William V. Mozek
William V. Mozek, 77, of Fairfield, died March 9 in Mountainside Hospital, Glen Ridge.
Mozek worked in finance for Louis Berger in East Orange. Before that, he worked at the Kearfott Corp. in Wayne before retiring a year ago.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University, South Orange.
Surviving are his wife of 52 years, Bella; a daughter, Ann Rizzo; three sons, William Jr., Allen and Thomas; two brothers, Adam and George, and seven grandchildren.
William Nissen
William Carl Nissen, a long-time resident of New Canaan, Conn., died peacefully on Nov. 4, 2005. He was 77- years-old.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Nissen was the son of William C. Nissen Sr., and Josephine Fairbanks Nissen of Maplewood, where he grew up, graduating from Columbia High School.
In 1950, he graduated from Yale University and went directly into the Navy, serving for three years on a destroyer and an ice breaker. His working career was spent in the plastics and chemicals division of Union Carbide Corporation. Upon retirement, he joined forces with a chemist from Russia, marketing agricultural chemicals.
Nissen is survived by his wife of 52 years, Betsey, two children; Amy Bigelow and Carl Nissen; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service was Nov. 11 at the First Congregational Church of New Canaan.
Joan Thomas
Joan Thomas of Short Hills died Feb. 27 at home. She was a secretary and director of the Wayne Steel Corp., Elizabeth, for more than 15 years.
An ardent gardener, Thomas volunteered at the Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, and was also vice president of the Rolling Hills Garden Club of Short Hills. She was a long-time member of the Canoe Brook Country Club, the Spring Lake Bath & Tennis Club and the St. Rose of Lima Ladies Auxiliary. In addition to her volunteer interests, Thomas was a former member of the Essex County Republican Committee, and vice president of the Millburn-Short Hills Republican Club.
Thomas was a co-founder of Christopher Academy in Westfield, the first Montessori School of New Jersey. Thomas was a champion equestrian who won the New Jersey S.P.C.A. championship and was the first woman to win the first three qualifying events held for the National Horse Show Championship.
Thomas was born in Newark, attended Marylawn Academy in South Orange and the Baird School in Orange before attending college at Sweetbriar College in Virginia and graduating from Finch College in New York City.
After raising her children, she returned to school at the Institute of Interior Design of New York and earned her design certificate. She lived in Short Hills for the past 47 years.
Thomas is survived by her husband of 49 years, former Millburn-Short Hills Mayor Charles Thomas Thomas; three children, Tara Coniaris, Heather Kowalczyk and C.J. Thomas; a sister, Lynn Mossey; a brother, Robert Mossey; and five grandchildren.
Virginia Branigan
Virginia Branigan, 90, of Maplewood, died March 8 at home. Branigan was a 1938 graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio.
She was a member of the Maplewood Service League, the Maplewood Womans Club, the Methodist Womens Club and the Maplewood Country Club.
Born in Oak Park, Ill., she lived in Maplewood for 60 years. She also maintained a home in Holland.
Surviving are sons, James, Michael and John; a daughter, Jane B. Occhiogross, and seven grandchildren.
George Gelman
George Gelman, 88, of Maplewood, died March 11. Mr. Gelman was a founding partner of the Gelman Lumber Co. in Newark, and worked there for 35 years before retiring in 1976.
He was a member of the Knights of Pythias Roth Lodge, the South Mountain Lodge of Bnai Brith and the Linitzer Young Men K.U.V.
Born in Newark, he lived in Maplewood for 46 years.
Surviving are a daughter, Sandra Wolf; a brother, William, and two grandchildren.
Elsie E. Ruckstuhl
Elsie E. Ruckstuhl, 94, of Maplewood, died March 9 in Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston. Mrs. Ruckstuhl was a clerk/typist for the Prudential Insurance Co. in Newark before retiring many years ago.
Born in Newark, she lived in Irvington for 58 years before moving to Maplewood eight years ago.
Surviving are a son, William G., and two grandchildren.
Nettie Leven
Nettie Leven, 87, of West Orange, died March 9 at home.
Leven was a member of Hadassah and the Sisterhood of Temple Beth El, both in South Orange, and the Cedar Hill Country Club in Livingston. Leven was a lion of Judah with the United Jewish Appeal of Essex County.
Born in Brooklyn, she lived in Maplewood and Newark before moving to West Orange 26 years ago.
Surviving are daughters, Barbara Muriello and Renee Baritz; a son, Joseph; a brother, Leo Geller, and seven grandchildren.
Pearl Covington
Pearl Covington, 91, of Orange died March 6 in St. Mary’s Nursing Home in Orange.
Covington was a domestic for the Bussin family in South Orange for many years before retiring.
She was a member of the Dorkos Society of the Trinity Temple S.D.A. Church.
Born in Travelers Rest, S.C., Covington lived in Greenville, S.C., then Newark for five years and East Orange for 30 years before moving to Orange 15 years ago.
Surviving are sons, Harold Cruel, Lawrence Jr. and Leroy Earl.
Sara Saartje Hammer
Sara Saartje Hammer of Irvington, Va., died at the age of 92 on March 13 of natural causes.
Hammer was born May 21, 1913, in East Orange. She lived in Maplewood for 63 years until 2004 when she moved to Virginia to be near her family. She is survived by her son, Norman F. Hammer Jr. and daughter-in-law Carol Hammer; her grandson James Hammer; and her granddaughter, Sara Hammer.
Hammer was an active volunteer most of her life, beginning with the Red Cross during World War II. She was a reader for the blind for many years until moving to Virginia. She had a passion for gardening and swimming and had been a long-time member of the Maplewood Garden Club. She loved classical music, opera and baseball, pastimes she shared with her late husband of 63 years, Norman, who preceded her in death.
A memorial service is being planned for this spring in Maplewood. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations in her name be made to the YMCA of Kilmarnock, P.O. Box 1089, Kilmarnock, VA 22482.
Richard Menkes
Richard A. Menkes, 86, of Maplewood, formerly of West Orange, died at his home on March 13. Husband of the late Doris Menkes and father of Doug of Berkeley Heights and Russell Menkes of New York City.
Menkes is survived by a sister, Barbara Ellison, of Arcadia, Calif. He is also survived by two grandchildren, Danny and Russell Menkes.
In lieu of flowers, make donations in his name to West Orange Rescue Squad.
Carole Schachter
Carole Schachter, 76, of Springfield, died March 14 at home.
Schachter was a substitute secretary with the Millburn and Berkeley Heights school systems for 11 years before retiring last year. Earlier, she was a legal secretary for Stern & Weiss in Maplewood for 49 years.
Celilia Smentkowski
Celilia Smentkowski, 92, of Clark died Feb. 14 in the Delaire Nursing and Convalescent Center, Linden.
Born in Jersey City, Mrs. Smentkowski moved to Clark 30 years ago. She was a member of the Senior Citizens of Clark and the American Association of Retired Persons.
Surviving are a daughter, Claire Kempisty; two sons, John and Frank; a sister, Irene Gajewski; a brother, Edward Gajewski; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Helen Stankiewicz
Helen B. Stankiewicz 79, of Clark died Feb. 14 at home.
Born in Brooklyn, Mrs. Stankiewicz moved to Clark 59 years ago.
Surviving are three sons, Henry L. Jr., John and Frank; a sister, Frances Kesicki; six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
Nadeen Becker
Nadeen Becker, 54, of Clark died Feb. 14 in Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick.
Born in Newark, Mrs. Becker lived in West Orange before moving to Clark 32 years ago. She was vice president of finance and administration at the New Jersey Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation in Iselin for five years. Before that, she worked for Temple Emanu-el, Livingston, as an accountant for seven years.
Mrs. Becker was an accounting graduate of the University of Michigan. She was a member of the Sigma Delta Tau sorority. Mrs. Becker was a bat mitzvah as an adult in 1999. She was a member of the youth committee at Temple Emanu-el in Westfield. Mrs. Becker participated in half marathons for the Arthritis Foundation at Disney World and in Philadelphia.
Surviving are her husband, Ivan; a son, Michael; a daughter, Amy; her mother, Dorothy Klein, and a brother, Allen Klein.
