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March 9, 2013
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 15, 2013 from 9-11 AM. A funeral service will immediately follow the visitation time and begin at 11 AM. Interment will take place at Crest Haven Memorial Park, Clifton.
Donald J. Oberg, Sr. age 75, a resident of Wayne for fifty-five years, died peacefully on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
Donald ("Don") grew up in Clifton and was the youngest of Arthur and Mabel's five children. Don attended Clifton High School and as a teenager, displayed a real affinity and talent for fixing automobiles. In 1954 he enlisted in the United States Army and while stationed in Germany, was assigned the duty of being a General’s personal driver so that if anything went wrong with the vehicle, he knew he could be confident that Don would know how to fix it. Donald served in the Army until August of 1957 when upon his honorable discharge, returned home and took a position as a mechanic in an auto repair shop in Wayne on the corner of Hamburg Turnpike and Church Lane. One day while working there, an attractive young lady pulled her father’s car into the repair shop. Don immediately noticed that the car had sustained some minor body damage and the young woman was looking quite distressed! Her name was Doris Knapp and she pleaded with Don to help with the repair before her father could find out. Dee, as everyone knew her, had no money for the parts and matching paint so Don took the money out of his own pocket to do the repairs. Don thought she was beautiful and so he asked her out on a date. On their first date they went to a restaurant called the Crystal Chandelier in Pompton Lakes only to find that it was closed. It didn’t matter to Dee. They found another place to go and soon they fell in love. Donald asked Dee’s parents for her hand in marriage and they exchanged rings on June 4, 1960 at the Advent Lutheran Church in Wyckoff as St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Wayne was still under construction. They honeymooned in Niagara Falls, New York and went on to enjoy fifty-one years of loving marriage until Dee’s passing in April of 2012.
In 1960, Don joined the Wayne Township Police Department where he served as an officer until 1965. You could say that Don’s love for cars ran through his blood like 10W-40 oil ran through an engine. In 1966, he opened his own repair shop. In 1973, he purchased a repair shop on Farmingdale Road in Wayne and named it Wayne Towing and Radiator. It was often said, that if you needed a car and especially a radiator repaired, Don was the man to call and as a result, he developed quite a reputation which caused his business to prosper. The Monroe Shock Absorber Company often gave incentives to auto repair shops to sell their shocks. Frequently, Don was one of their top selling customers resulting in prize trips awarded by Monroe. Don and Dee loved those awards and would often travel on all-expense-paid trips to Las Vegas. They also enjoyed accompanying friends that they had made through the business to auto repair trade shows. Wayne Towing and Radiator continued to do business until 1980 when Don decided it was time to try a new venture. He bought an eighteen wheeler and became an independent long-haul trucker for the better part of 1980 to 2004. During those twenty four years he owned mostly Fords and one Peterbilt. He loved the independence and spending long hours on our nation’s highways seeing the beauty of this great land. During that time, he also spent some time working for Wayne Subaru as a service manager.
In his spare time, Donald liked to go to Atlantic City and Las Vegas and loved to play poker and blackjack. He enjoyed attending car shows, especially the one in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and was an avid car enthusiast having restored numerous vehicles including his prized 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible which for him was pure f-u-n!
He loved to watch baseball and football and grew up a NY Giants fan for both. He loved to share stories of watching Willie Mays and when the Giants left for San Francisco, he became an avid Yankee fan. His lone reqret was allowing his son, Donald Jr., to become a New York Jet fan rather than a fan of his beloved Giants. More recently, he enjoyed updates on his grandchildren’s sporting activities including Tyler’s Susquehanna University baseball games, Paige’s Gettysburg College soccer games, and Amanda and Kristin’s Jersey Nightmare, Hightstown High and Kreps Cougar softball games.
Surviving is his son Donald Oberg, Jr. and wife Lynn of East Windsor, his daughter Carin Della Badia of Scotch Plains; four grandchildren: Tyler and Paige Della Badia and Amanda and Kristin Oberg; his sister Eleanor Boehm of Clifton and his brother Frank Oberg of Wayne. Donald was predeceased by his beloved wife Doris “Dee” in 2012 and his sister Joyce and brother Arthur.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 15, 2013 from 9-11 AM. A funeral service will immediately follow the visitation time and begin at 11 AM. Interment will take place at Crest Haven Memorial Park, Clifton.
March 9, 2013
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Friday, March 15, 2013 from 9-11 AM. A funeral service will immediately follow the visitation time and begin at 11 AM. Interment will take place at Crest Haven Memorial Park, Clifton.
Donald J. Oberg, Sr. age 75, a resident of Wayne for fifty-five years, died peacefully on Saturday, March 9, 2013.
Donald ("Don") grew up in Clifton and was the youngest of Arthur and Mabel's five children. Don attended Clifton High School and as a teenager, displayed a real affinity and talent for fixing automobiles. In 1954 he enlisted in the United States Army and while stationed in Germany, was assigned the duty of being a General’s personal driver so that if anything went wrong with the vehicle, he knew he could be confident that Don would know how to fix it. Donald served in the Army until August of 1957 when upon his honorable discharge, returned home and took a position as a mechanic in an auto repair shop in Wayne on the corner of Hamburg Turnpike and Church Lane. One day while working there, an attractive young lady pulled her father’s car into the repair shop. Don immediately noticed that the car had sustained some minor body damage and the young woman was looking quite distressed! Her name was Doris Knapp and she pleaded with Don to help with the repair before her father could find out. Dee, as everyone knew her, had no money for the parts and matching paint so Don took the money out of his own pocket to do the repairs. Don thought she was beautiful and so he asked her out on a date. On their first date they went to a restaurant called the Crystal Chandelier in Pompton Lakes only to find that it was closed. It didn’t matter to Dee. They found another place to go and soon they fell in love. Donald asked Dee’s parents for her hand in marriage and they exchanged rings on June 4, 1960 at the Advent Lutheran Church in Wyckoff as St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Wayne was still under construction. They honeymooned in Niagara Falls, New York and went on to enjoy fifty-one years of loving marriage until Dee’s passing in April of 2012.
In 1960, Don joined the Wayne Township Police Department where he served as an officer until 1965. You could say that Don’s love for cars ran through his blood like 10W-40 oil ran through an engine. In 1966, he opened his own repair shop. In 1973, he purchased a repair shop on Farmingdale Road in Wayne and named it Wayne Towing and Radiator. It was often said, that if you needed a car and especially a radiator repaired, Don was the man to call and as a result, he developed quite a reputation which caused his business to prosper. The Monroe Shock Absorber Company often gave incentives to auto repair shops to sell their shocks. Frequently, Don was one of their top selling customers resulting in prize trips awarded by Monroe. Don and Dee loved those awards and would often travel on all-expense-paid trips to Las Vegas. They also enjoyed accompanying friends that they had made through the business to auto repair trade shows. Wayne Towing and Radiator continued to do business until 1980 when Don decided it was time to try a new venture. He bought an eighteen wheeler and became an independent long-haul trucker for the better part of 1980 to 2004. During those twenty four years he owned mostly Fords and one Peterbilt. He loved the independence and spending long hours on our nation’s highways seeing the beauty of this great land. During that time, he also spent some time working for Wayne Subaru as a service manager.
In his spare time, Donald liked to go to Atlantic City and Las Vegas and loved to play poker and blackjack. He enjoyed attending car shows, especially the one in Carlisle Pennsylvania, and was an avid car enthusiast having restored numerous vehicles including his prized 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible which for him was pure f-u-n!
He loved to watch baseball and football and grew up a NY Giants fan for both. He loved to share stories of watching Willie Mays and when the Giants left for San Francisco, he became an avid Yankee fan. His lone reqret was allowing his son, Donald Jr., to become a New York Jet fan rather than a fan of his beloved Giants. More recently, he enjoyed updates on his grandchildren’s sporting activities including Tyler’s Susquehanna University baseball games, Paige’s Gettysburg College soccer games, and Amanda and Kristin’s Jersey Nightmare, Hightstown High and Kreps Cougar softball games.
Surviving is his son Donald Oberg, Jr. and wife Lynn of East Windsor, his daughter Carin Della Badia of Scotch Plains; four grandchildren: Tyler and Paige Della Badia and Amanda and Kristin Oberg; his sister Eleanor Boehm of Clifton and his brother Frank Oberg of Wayne. Donald was predeceased by his beloved wife Doris “Dee” in 2012 and his sister Joyce and brother Arthur.
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