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Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, July 6, 2016 from 5-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 10:30 AM from the funeral home. Interment will follow at Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
Ellen M. Wiseman, age 100, a long-time resident of Paterson and recently of Bloomingdale, passed peacefully on Friday, July 1, 2016. Her loving family was present by her side at the time of her passing.
Ellen was born in Paterson and she lived there for 94 of her 100 years of life.
In 1916, the year that Ellen was born, a loaf of bread cost seven cents, a postage stamp was two cents, the light switch was invented, the average price of a car was $400, only 6% of Americans graduated high school and only 8% of American homes had a telephone. Ellen grew up in the great industrial city of Paterson and it had everything to offer that a young girl like her could want. She always cherished fine memories of growing up in Paterson, where she could see the latest picture show at the majestic Fabian Theatre, stop to get some just-roasted fresh Planters peanuts, then shop with her Mom and her sister at some of the city’s flagship stores of that time, like Kresges, Grants, Woolworths and Quackenbush’s. In her golden years she kept this tradition with her cousin Ruth only the town changed to Wayne with a movie and a bite to eat afterwards. She loved sunning at the beach in Atlantic City and she had a fascination with amusement parks going regularly to the former Palisades Amusement Park which opened in 1898 and closed for good in 1971.
Ellen attended Paterson’s Eastside High School where she was active on the swim team – one time taking second place in form diving, and active in the drama club. She had a part in 1933 in a play called Unseen and she still has the playbill from that night in which it’s printed “Cream-O-Pops will be sold at intermission.” After graduating in 1934, Ellen got her first job working in one of Paterson’s hosiery mills. From there, she took a job with Dumont Television and Tubes of Clifton, one of the first mass-producing television and TV parts manufacturers.
When Ellen was 23, she married the love of her life, Richard “Dick” Wiseman. They met while in high school together and, in 1939, they exchanged their wedding vows before God, family and friends at the church she had been a member of all of her life – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the corner of East 18th Street and Broadway in Paterson. Her church was only a mile from her house on 21st Street and as a young girl she loved to sing in the girls’ choir. Much to Ellen’s delight, they eventually allowed boys in the choir too. As a young woman, she also was active in the St. Paul’s Dramatic Society which suited her animated personality perfectly! She remained a faithful member of the church up until the last few years when it became too difficult for her to get there. Even so, she faithfully tithed to God’s work at St. Paul’s, right on up until the time the good Lord called her home.
After marriage Ellen took a position as a legal secretary with the Erie Railroad. She worked at its’ various locations including Hoboken, Paterson and New York City. She loved her job and stayed with the railroad for over twenty years until retiring in 1981.
In 1970, Ellen and Dick moved from Paterson to North Haledon. They were there for only four years when Dick passed away unexpectedly. She cherished many special memories of their 35-year marriage, attending plays together on New York City’s Broadway, traveling together all over the United States in their Airstream motor home as well as the trips they took to Hawaii and Canada. During the course of their marriage, they got involved in a venture purchasing two Christmas tree farms in Vermont. Eventually they sold them but they loved Vermont so much, they ended up building a summer home with a pond suitable for swimming on the property. Nothing made them happier than having their parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews visit for a few days on “the farm”. They had a big old tire swing that swung over the swimming pond and everyone had fun enjoying a relaxing time in the Vermont summer sun. When visiting Aunt Ellen and Uncle Dick’s you could always count on a good time and everyone enjoyed the day trips to the nearby Eisenhower Locks, one of seven canal locks on the St. Lawrence River leg of the St. Lawrence Seaway near Massena, NY.
A year after Dick’s passing, in 1975, Ellen moved in with her mom, back in the home she grew up in on 21st Street. There she continued traveling even across country with mom to visit relatives in California by bus and train and yes with a stop in Las Vegas. Mom would not fly. She remained there till she was 99, then moved in with her nephew Robert Klein in Bloomingdale.
Ellen was always up for a good time. In her younger years she was an excellent bowler, maintaining an average in the 160’s. As she got older, her love of amusement parks never waned. Palisades Park closed but there were many other parks with roller coasters to conquer. From Asbury Park, Seaside Heights, Wildwood, and Great Adventure, Ellen rode them all and she and Dick would take their nieces and nephews to them a couple of times every summer. She loved the Atlantic City beach as a girl and she loved the city’s casinos as an adult. With an insatiable thirst for fun and friendship, it seemed that there wasn’t a senior citizen club in Passaic County that Ellen wasn’t a member of. Those groups were always testing their luck at the casinos in Atlantic City as well as the ones like Mt. Airy Lodge and the Sands Casino in Pennsylvania and you could bet that Ellen would be on the bus with a pocket-book full of quarters. If the seniors weren’t taking an organized trip, it was no problem for Ellen. She would just call her friend Vera and a few others, or take a local bus tour to one. Of course there might even be overnight trip to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods Casino with a side trip to Mystic Seaport.
Ellen always held a special place in her heart for her family, and since she loved them so much, she found it easy to pour herself into their lives. Whether it was shopping in Paterson with her mom, sister and nieces, or visiting her brother Jimmy and going for a ride on his family boat in Connecticut, or spoiling her niece and nephews or fawning over her great-nieces and nephew and great-great nieces and nephews, Ellen was consistent good company and a lot of fun to be with.
Always good with a joke, she could dish it out but she could take a good ribbing too. She had a heart of gold and would give the needy stranger on the street the coat off her back. Her youthful approach to life enabled her to ride on the back of a quad ATV when she was just one year shy of being a centenarian. Even in her attempt to get out of bed a couple of days before God called her home, Ellen was quoted as saying “I’ve got this!”
Ellen is survived by her older sister Florence Klein of Butler, her two nephews: Robert Klein, Sr. and wife Sandra of Bloomingdale, and James Goodridge of Stamford, CT; one niece: Beverly Risden of Butler; great-nieces and nephew: Sherri and husband Joseph Hahn, Christine and husband Alan Villano, and Robert Klein, Jr. and wife Marianna; and seven great-great nieces and nephews: Robert, Nicholas, Madison, Sophia, Zoey, Dallas, and Brody. In addition to her husband Dick, she was predeceased by her brother James Goodridge.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Ellen’s name are asked to consider: Make-A-Wish Foundation - Samuel and Josephine Plumeri Wishing Place, 1347 Perrineville Road, Monroe Township, NJ 08831, or online at nj.wish.org
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 Wednesday, July 6, 2016 from 5-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 10:30 AM from the funeral home. Interment will follow at Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, July 6, 2016 from 5-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 10:30 AM from the funeral home. Interment will follow at Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
Ellen M. Wiseman, age 100, a long-time resident of Paterson and recently of Bloomingdale, passed peacefully on Friday, July 1, 2016. Her loving family was present by her side at the time of her passing.
Ellen was born in Paterson and she lived there for 94 of her 100 years of life.
In 1916, the year that Ellen was born, a loaf of bread cost seven cents, a postage stamp was two cents, the light switch was invented, the average price of a car was $400, only 6% of Americans graduated high school and only 8% of American homes had a telephone. Ellen grew up in the great industrial city of Paterson and it had everything to offer that a young girl like her could want. She always cherished fine memories of growing up in Paterson, where she could see the latest picture show at the majestic Fabian Theatre, stop to get some just-roasted fresh Planters peanuts, then shop with her Mom and her sister at some of the city’s flagship stores of that time, like Kresges, Grants, Woolworths and Quackenbush’s. In her golden years she kept this tradition with her cousin Ruth only the town changed to Wayne with a movie and a bite to eat afterwards. She loved sunning at the beach in Atlantic City and she had a fascination with amusement parks going regularly to the former Palisades Amusement Park which opened in 1898 and closed for good in 1971.
Ellen attended Paterson’s Eastside High School where she was active on the swim team – one time taking second place in form diving, and active in the drama club. She had a part in 1933 in a play called Unseen and she still has the playbill from that night in which it’s printed “Cream-O-Pops will be sold at intermission.” After graduating in 1934, Ellen got her first job working in one of Paterson’s hosiery mills. From there, she took a job with Dumont Television and Tubes of Clifton, one of the first mass-producing television and TV parts manufacturers.
When Ellen was 23, she married the love of her life, Richard “Dick” Wiseman. They met while in high school together and, in 1939, they exchanged their wedding vows before God, family and friends at the church she had been a member of all of her life – St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the corner of East 18th Street and Broadway in Paterson. Her church was only a mile from her house on 21st Street and as a young girl she loved to sing in the girls’ choir. Much to Ellen’s delight, they eventually allowed boys in the choir too. As a young woman, she also was active in the St. Paul’s Dramatic Society which suited her animated personality perfectly! She remained a faithful member of the church up until the last few years when it became too difficult for her to get there. Even so, she faithfully tithed to God’s work at St. Paul’s, right on up until the time the good Lord called her home.
After marriage Ellen took a position as a legal secretary with the Erie Railroad. She worked at its’ various locations including Hoboken, Paterson and New York City. She loved her job and stayed with the railroad for over twenty years until retiring in 1981.
In 1970, Ellen and Dick moved from Paterson to North Haledon. They were there for only four years when Dick passed away unexpectedly. She cherished many special memories of their 35-year marriage, attending plays together on New York City’s Broadway, traveling together all over the United States in their Airstream motor home as well as the trips they took to Hawaii and Canada. During the course of their marriage, they got involved in a venture purchasing two Christmas tree farms in Vermont. Eventually they sold them but they loved Vermont so much, they ended up building a summer home with a pond suitable for swimming on the property. Nothing made them happier than having their parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews visit for a few days on “the farm”. They had a big old tire swing that swung over the swimming pond and everyone had fun enjoying a relaxing time in the Vermont summer sun. When visiting Aunt Ellen and Uncle Dick’s you could always count on a good time and everyone enjoyed the day trips to the nearby Eisenhower Locks, one of seven canal locks on the St. Lawrence River leg of the St. Lawrence Seaway near Massena, NY.
A year after Dick’s passing, in 1975, Ellen moved in with her mom, back in the home she grew up in on 21st Street. There she continued traveling even across country with mom to visit relatives in California by bus and train and yes with a stop in Las Vegas. Mom would not fly. She remained there till she was 99, then moved in with her nephew Robert Klein in Bloomingdale.
Ellen was always up for a good time. In her younger years she was an excellent bowler, maintaining an average in the 160’s. As she got older, her love of amusement parks never waned. Palisades Park closed but there were many other parks with roller coasters to conquer. From Asbury Park, Seaside Heights, Wildwood, and Great Adventure, Ellen rode them all and she and Dick would take their nieces and nephews to them a couple of times every summer. She loved the Atlantic City beach as a girl and she loved the city’s casinos as an adult. With an insatiable thirst for fun and friendship, it seemed that there wasn’t a senior citizen club in Passaic County that Ellen wasn’t a member of. Those groups were always testing their luck at the casinos in Atlantic City as well as the ones like Mt. Airy Lodge and the Sands Casino in Pennsylvania and you could bet that Ellen would be on the bus with a pocket-book full of quarters. If the seniors weren’t taking an organized trip, it was no problem for Ellen. She would just call her friend Vera and a few others, or take a local bus tour to one. Of course there might even be overnight trip to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods Casino with a side trip to Mystic Seaport.
Ellen always held a special place in her heart for her family, and since she loved them so much, she found it easy to pour herself into their lives. Whether it was shopping in Paterson with her mom, sister and nieces, or visiting her brother Jimmy and going for a ride on his family boat in Connecticut, or spoiling her niece and nephews or fawning over her great-nieces and nephew and great-great nieces and nephews, Ellen was consistent good company and a lot of fun to be with.
Always good with a joke, she could dish it out but she could take a good ribbing too. She had a heart of gold and would give the needy stranger on the street the coat off her back. Her youthful approach to life enabled her to ride on the back of a quad ATV when she was just one year shy of being a centenarian. Even in her attempt to get out of bed a couple of days before God called her home, Ellen was quoted as saying “I’ve got this!”
Ellen is survived by her older sister Florence Klein of Butler, her two nephews: Robert Klein, Sr. and wife Sandra of Bloomingdale, and James Goodridge of Stamford, CT; one niece: Beverly Risden of Butler; great-nieces and nephew: Sherri and husband Joseph Hahn, Christine and husband Alan Villano, and Robert Klein, Jr. and wife Marianna; and seven great-great nieces and nephews: Robert, Nicholas, Madison, Sophia, Zoey, Dallas, and Brody. In addition to her husband Dick, she was predeceased by her brother James Goodridge.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Ellen’s name are asked to consider: Make-A-Wish Foundation - Samuel and Josephine Plumeri Wishing Place, 1347 Perrineville Road, Monroe Township, NJ 08831, or online at nj.wish.org
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