Angela Winters

Angela “Gela” Winters (nee Kajah) age 61 of Butler passed away peacefully on Tuesday December 11, 2018 after a courageous battle with cancer and while receiving the loving care of her family.

Angela was born in the Bronx, NY and was one of four children to Horst and Magda Kajah.  When Angela was about eight years old, her family moved to Pompton Lakes where she spent the majority of her childhood.  She attended Pompton Lakes High School and was an active member of the High School Band playing Clarinet.  Participating in the band in high school generated wonderful and long lasting friendships for Angela.  She graduated with the class of 1975 and subsequent to graduation, attended William Paterson University where she earned her Bachelors of Science Degree in 1979.  Angela became a registered nurse and was offered a position at Wayne General Hospital, now known as St Joseph’s Wayne Hospital.  Angela worked there for about one year.

Angela was also a member of Jacksonville Chapel in Lincoln Park during the immediate years following her graduation from college.  One day at a young adults event at Jacksonville Chapel she was approached by a handsome young man named Brian Winters.  They went out on their first date to a concert, again at Jacksonville Chapel.  Brian and Angela hit it off immediately and dated for about a year, and as fate would have it they fell in love and were married on August 16, 1980 at Jacksonville Chapel in Lincoln Park.  Immediately after getting married, Angela and Brian moved to Wayne but for only about two years.  The couple then moved to Little Falls and lived there from 1983 till 1987.  As their family was growing and after the birth of their third child, they bought a house in Wayne in 1987.  They spent the next twenty-seven years there raising their three daughters.  Brian and Angels cherished thirty-eight years of loving and loyal marriage together.

During the years that Brain and Angela’s children were growing up, Angela put her career aside and decided to become a full time homemaker.  Angela spent nineteen years raising and nurturing her children and after they had grown, she decided she would go back to work.  Angela was offered a position as a school nurse at the Calvary Christian Academy in Wayne where she worked for ten years.  Angela left the Calvary Christian Academy and took a position at the Township of Wayne in 2007 where she also became nursing supervisor of the Public Health department in 2009.    

Even after Angela was diagnosed with cancer, and being the incredibly strong woman that she was, she continued to work up until just very recently.  Angela and Brian enjoyed traveling together to many places over the years, including South America and many countries in Europe.  Aside from all of Angela’s interests, hobbies, and her career, her greatest passion was for her family, her grandchildren in particular.  Angela was a strong, loving, and generous person who touched the lives of many people and will be sincerely missed by everyone that knew her.

Angela is survived by her husband Brian Winters of Wayne, three daughters; Rebecca Peller and her husband Jason of Pompton Plains, Courtney Winters of Wayne, and Sarah Hout and her husband Jonathan of Linchburg, PA, one sister Christine Pallo and her husband Steven of Pompton Lakes, one brother Thomas Kajah of Londonderry, VT, her parents Horst and Magda Kajah of Pompton Lakes, and seven grandchildren Liam, Noah, Caleb, Luke, Hannah, James, and Daniel, and four nieces Kerstin, Heidi, Devan, and Lily.  She was predeceased by her brother Stephan Kajah in 2006.

Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider donations in Angela’s name to The American Cancer Society – NJ Chapter, 986 Springfield Ave, Springfield, NJ 0708, www.cancer.org or Colon Cancer Coalition 5666 Lincoln Drive, #270, Edina, MN 55436, https://coloncancercoalition.org/donate