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Marie W. O'Brien, 84
Marie Wettlaufer O'Brien, 84, of
Scotch Plains died on Friday, December
19, 1997 at Ashbrook Nursing Home in
Scotch Plains.
Born in Phillipsburg, she had lived
in Easton, Pennsylvania and Jersey
City before settling in Scotch Plains in
1946.
She had been employed as a switchboard
operator for Diamond Expansion
Bolt in Garwood for 10 years,
retiring in 1978.
Mrs. O'Brien was a member of St.
Bartholomew the Apostle Roman
Catholic Church in Scotch Plains.
Her husband, Francis P. O'Brien,
predeceased her in 1988.
Surviving are a son, Scotch Plains
Police Chief Thomas F. O'Brien; a
daughter, Maureen Prints; a sister,
Claire Minder; seven grandchildren,
and four great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held on Tuesday,
December 23, at the Rossi Funeral
Home in Scotch Plains, followed
by a Mass at St. Bartholomew Church.
Donations may be made to the
Scotch Plains Policeman's Benevolent
Association No. 87 or the Scotch
Plains Rescue Squad and will be accepted
at the funeral home.
Jesus Rivera, 69
Jesus Rivera, 69, of Newark died at
Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center
in Plainfield.
Born in Puerto Rico, he had lived in
Newark since 1947.
Mr. Rivera was a machinist at Miller
Manufacturing Company in Newark
for more than 30 years.
Surviving are two sons, Michael
Rivera of Scotch Plains and Gary
Rivera of Santa Fe, New Mexico; a
brother, Michael Rivera; three sisters,
Yolanda, Miriam and Lidia, and three
grandchildren.
Funeral services were held on Saturday,
December 20, 1997 at Fairview Cemetery
in Westfield.
Arrangements were under the direction
of the Gray Funeral Home, 318
East Broad Street, in Westfield.
Afons M. Tavares, Jr., 70
Consultant; Former Township Administrator
Afons M. Tavares, Jr., 70, of
Westfield died on Friday, December
19, 1997 at home.
He was born on January 9, 1927 in
Lowell, Massachusetts.
Mr. Tavares attended Harvard University
and graduated from the University
of Vermont in 1951.
He had been employed by
Burroughs Inc. in Burlington, Vermont
before becoming a self-employed gas
dealer. In the late 1950s, he had been
employed as City Manager for Auburn,
Maine.
In 1961, he became the Business
Administrator for the Township of Clark.
After leaving the post, Mr. Tavares had
worked as a management consultant
for the Fantus Company and later with
the Naremco Company, both in New
York City, before retiring in 1986.
He was a member of the Holy Trinity
Roman Catholic Church in Westfield
for many years, and was also a member
of MENSA.
Mr. Tavares was predeceased by
his wife, Anne Barr Tavares, in 1977.
Surviving are three sons, Afons M.
Tavares, 3rd of Randolph, Thomas M.
Tavares of South Burlington, Vermont,
and Jeffrey L. Tavares of Eliot, Maine;
a sister, Marilyn Tavares of Oakland,
California; four brothers, John Tavares
of Lowell, Joseph Tavares of Dracut,
Massachusetts, James Tavares of
Lowell and Richard Tavares of
Tewksbury, Massachusetts; five
grandchildren, and a step-grandson.
Funeral services were held on Tuesday,
December 23, from the
McDonough Funeral Home in Lowell,
followed by a funeral liturgy at the
Holy Trinity Polish Roman Catholic
Church in Lowell.
Local arrangements were under the
direction of the Gray Funeral Home,
318 East Broad Street, in Westfield.
Donations, in lieu of flowers, may
be made to the Dialysis Unit at the
Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center,
Randolph Road, Plainfield, 07060.
Herbert A. Wells, 76
Patent Holder; Engineer Served With Flying Tigers
Herbert A. Wells, 76, of Westfield
died on Wednesday, December 17, 1997 at
home.
Born in Jersey City, he had lived in
Rutherford before moving to Westfield
in 1951.
Mr. Wells had been a supervising
engineer with AT&T Bell Labs in
Whippany for almost 40 years before
retiring in 1987.
He was involved with the Nike Air
Defense System, the Distant Early
Warning (DEW Line), the Ballistic
Missile Early Warning System, the
Tropo Scatter Antennas for the Arctic
and the ground station for Telstar
in both Maine and France.
He worked in the development of
buildings and antennas to resist
nuclear blast. He worked on submarine
detection systems, including the
design of ships and machinery to install
them.
Mr. Wells was a graduate of the
Cooper Union Institute of Technology,
with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He earned a master's degree
from Newark College of Engineering in
1950 and attended Stevens Institute of
Technology for doctoral studies.
Mr. Wells served in the intelligence
division with the Flying Tigers of the
United States Army Air Force in China
during World War II, and was discharged
with the rank of Captain.
He was a member of the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, and
a registered engineer in New Jersey
and New York. He was a member of the
Telephone Pioneers of America, a retired
member of the National Security
Industrial Society and Vice Chairman
of its navigation committee, and received
the Navy Award for outstanding
service for contributions to the
N.S.I.S. and the ad hoc study group.
Mr. Wells was a retired member of
the American Defense Preparedness
Association and was the principal
engineer for Bell Labs in “Operation
Snowball, ” a tripartite involving the
United States, the United Kingdom
and Canada The operation involved
the detonation of 500 tons of chemical
explosives, to determine the effect of
the blasts without incurring nuclear
radiation. Mr. Wells received two patents
in his field.
Surviving are his wife of 51 years,
June R. Wells; two daughters, Carolyn
W. Partridge and Barbara W. Hotaling;
a son, Richard A. Wells, and five grandchildren.
Memorial services for Mr. Wells will
be held in the spring.
Robert K. Bowlby, 72
Robert K. Bowlby, 72, of Wall died
on Monday, December 15, 1997 in the Jersey
Shore Medical Center in Neptune.
Born in Garwood, Mr. Bowlby had
lived in Westfield before moving to
Wall eight years ago.
He had been a quality assurance
inspector for Weston Corporation in
Newark for 27 years before retiring in
1984.
Mr. Bowlby was a United States
Army veteran of World War II. He was
a former officer of the Belmar Chapter
of the American Association of Retired
Persons.
Funeral services were held on Friday,
December 19, in the Johnson
Funeral Home in Wall.
Francis B. Nelson, M.D.
July 25, 1913 - February 1, 2000
Francis Baker Nelson, M.D., a family
physician in Westfield, New Jersey
for over 40 years, died February 1,
2000. He was 86, succumbing to heart
failure at Mease Countryside Hospital
in Safety Harbor, Florida. He lived in
Whiting, New Jersey, and in Safety
Harbor, Florida.
In and around Westfield, he was a
familiar figure at the bedside in hospitals,
nursing homes, and private homes,
often caring for several generations of
family members. Several new mothers
in his practice had themselves been
brought into the world by Dr. Nelson
years before. And injured football
players, lying on the Westfield High School
field, would look up to see the same
man who had tended their brothers in
other games. He enjoyed serving for
many years as the Westfield High School
football team physician, especially
when they won the state high school
football championship in 1977. Dr.
Nelson had played on the Woodbridge
High School football state championship team in 1931.
The son of Ingvard Marius Nelson
and Esther Baker Nelson, he was born
in Rocky Hill, New Jersey and grew up
in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Upon
graduation from West Virginia University
in Morgantown, West Virginia, in
1936, he worked for three years for the
Western Electric Company in Carteret,
New Jersey to finance his medical education.
He was admitted to Jefferson
Medical College in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania in 1939, graduating in March
1943.
After graduation and a hurried internship
at Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield,
New Jersey, Dr. Nelson was
inducted into the U.S Army Medical
Corps and was assigned to the 90th
Reconnaissance Squadron of the Army's
10th Armored Division, known as the
Tiger Division. During his service, from
1943 through 1946, he saw this division
sweep through Luxembourg and France
to become one of the first of General
Patton's units to invade Germany. Dr.
Nelson saw action in the “Battle of the
Bulge.”
In 1944, Dr. Nelson received the
Silver Star Medal for pulling a dying
man from a tank under enemy fire in
Kerling, France, and saving his life.
Upon discharge as a captain, Dr. Nelson
was also awarded the European Theater
Medal with three battle stars and
the World War II Victory Medal.
Dr. Nelson returned to his wife, his
childhood sweetheart, Evelyn Belle
Howard, and was reunited with his first
child, who was by then one year old. He
joined the medical practice of Drs.
Charles T. Decker and Leo H. Salvati at
275 Orchard Street, Westfield, New
Jersey, where he remained until his
retirement in 1986. In a house a few
blocks away, the Nelsons raised four
children.
In 1970, after the death of his first
wife, Dr. Nelson married Dorothea
Grace Traynor, a life-long resident of
Westfield. The American Academy of
Family Physicians, The Medical Society
of New Jersey, and the Rotary Club
of Westfield each commended his years
of distinguished service.
In addition to his wife of 30 years, he
is survived by his two sons, Francis B.
Nelson, Jr., of Jacksonville, Illinois,
and William H. Nelson, M.D., of St.
Simons Island, Georgia; and two daughters,
Catherine E. Nelson, of Basking
Ridge, New Jersey, and Nancy Nelson
Forsberg, of Reno, Nevada; and by six
grandchildren: Karl, Francis, 3rd,
Logan, Marguerite, Leah, and Sarah.
For 75 years, Dr. Nelson was an
active member of Trinity Episcopal
Church in Woodbridge, New Jersey,
beginning as an acolyte. He converted
to Roman Catholicism in 1995 and
became a member of St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton Church in Whiting, New Jersey.
In recent years, Dr. Nelson suffered
from Trigeminal Neuralgia. His family
requests that memorials be made in his
honor to the Trigeminal Neuralgia
Association, P.O. Box 340, Barnegat Light,
New Jersey 08006.
