Barbara Akel

Barbara Akel, age 80, of Lincoln Park and a former long-time resident of Wayne unexpectedly passed Sunday, January 22, 2023.

She was born in Brooklyn, NY to Joseph and Esperance Skaff and lived at 209 Clinton Street.  Barbara graduated from Bishop McDonnell High School with the Class of 1960.

In her youth she worked as a manager in the hardware department at McCrory’s on Fulton Street in Brooklyn and later as a typist at the Western Electric Corporation in Downtown Manhattan in New York City.

Barbara Skaff lived across the street from Fred Akel, and as was customary at that time, many of the local families were invited to Barbara’s Sweet Sixteen party.  It was during this party that Fred asked Barbara to go out with him. Their first date was to the movie The Ten Commandments.  They dated for five years, two of which Fred was serving in the US Army.  He served in Germany from November 1960 until October 1962.  When he returned from military service in the fall of 1962, they planned their wedding and exchanged their vows on Saturday, February 23, 1963 at the Church of the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn with Barbara’s uncle Monsignor Elias Skaff presiding.  After a reception at the Bossert Hotel – a place where the Brooklyn Dodgers would often stay - Fred and Barbara honeymooned at the Honeymoon Haven in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  The honeymoon lasted only four days because Fred had to get back to his new job at the John Hancock Insurance Company. 

During their married years they lived at homes on Colonial Road and McKay Place in Brooklyn, NY.  Work brought them to live in the Midwest for several years. During Barbara’s time in Buffalo Grove, Illinois she was very active volunteering within her community. She was most proud of the fact that she was one of the founders of the local blood bank. In 1976, they moved to Wayne, NJ where they would live for the next forty years. When her children attended school, Barbara worked in Data Entry at a mail service company called Model Expo in Fairfield. She later worked for the IBM Corporation in Franklin Lakes for twenty years retiring in 2007.  While working at IBM she simultaneously worked for Weight Watchers Company in Wayne before fully retiring in 2020.

Barbara will be lovingly remembered for her wit, sensible pragmatic approach, seeing the good in others, incredible patience, and kind way about her. She was selfless, hosted countless family celebrations and had the door is always open policy to anyone and everyone. She was an inspiring role-model and considered by others to be their second parent. She made it look effortless as she made a house feel like a home. The ingredient of love she cooked into her Arabic dishes like grape leaves, spinach and meat pies, and kibbeh will be dearly missed. Her grandchildren liked these dishes so much they would count down the days until ThaTha made them rather than how many days until Christmas. She was also famous for her meatballs, pumpkin bread, tarts, buckeyes, and broccoli casserole. 

Barbara was a Brooklyn Dodger fan that was forced into moving her love and loyalty to the New York Yankees.  She even referred to Derek Jeter as her “sweetie.” Many were surprised by her thorough knowledge of baseball and could talk about it with just about anyone. For many years she enjoyed all kinds of word games like Scrabble, Wordle, and Crossword Puzzles to keep her mind active. She was dedicated to her Catholic faith and always volunteered her time helping Our Lady of the Valley/Holy Cross; she was a Lector for the past few  years and decorated the church for religious holidays.

Barbara was the devoted wife of fifty-five years to the late Fred Akel (d. 2018); loving mother of Christine Akel of Boynton Beach, FL, Joanne and husband Michael D’Aloia of Wayne, Michelle Antonucci of Elmwood Park, and Renee and husband Andrew Centineo of Fairfax, VA; adored grandmother of Allison, Tyler, Christopher, Alexis, Victoria, Trevor, Caitlin, Jake, and Jenna. Loving sister of Adele Bache and husband Ronald, the late Joseph Skaff (d.2022) and wife Rosemary, Mary Vasile and husband Vincent and Victoria Hansen and husband Martin. 

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Barbara’s name, are asked to consider St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959 or at www.stjude.org.