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June 5, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday June 9, 2014 from 4-8 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at the funeral home.
Emil J. Benzenhoefer, age 82 of Wayne, died peacefully on Thursday, June 5, 2014. He had been a Wayne resident since 1958.
Emil was raised in Weehawken, NJ and graduated from high school there in 1950. He was an outstanding athlete in high school, playing both basketball and baseball. He even earned a baseball scholarship to Wake Forest University but his father, a very traditional German, believed that Emil had enough education and it was more important to learn a trade and start working. Emil began as an apprentice sheet metal fabricator with Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 13 in Weehawken and he became a skilled craftsman working for Blickman & Sons. He eventually opened his own shop in the early 1970’s and he operated “Universal Metalcraftsmen” for many years before retiring in 2009. Of course, even after retiring, Emil could be found working in the shop.
In high school, Emil not only excelled academically but also on the basketball court and baseball field. An avid sportsman, he enjoyed almost any sporting event. He was extremely proud of the years he spent as a coach with the Wayne Little League and has always cherished the memories.
Emil met his wife Arlene (Schmidt) when they were in the third grade. Although they knew each other throughout their childhood, they didn’t begin dating until after high school. Emil proposed and they were married on September 13, 1953. They enjoyed a honeymoon together at Niagara Falls and toured around Upstate New York in a car they had borrowed from his father. They settled down in their hometown of Weehawken and often visited family living in Erskine Lakes. Their route up to the lake took them right through Wayne which was still mostly farms then, with many new homes being built. They found one they liked and moved to Wayne in 1958. They have enjoyed more than sixty years of marriage together.
Emil is survived by his loving wife of sixty years; Arlene (nee Schmidt) of Wayne, his daughter Lynda Benzenhoefer and her spouse Bernadette Fiore of Lyndhurst, his son; Paul Benzenhoefer and wife Denise of Wayne, a grandson; Matthew Benzenhoefer of Wayne, and his longtime employee and dear friend Wanda Seda of Palisades Park.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Emil’s memory to the Foundation for the Handicapped, 30 Woodridge Terrace, Wayne, NJ 07470 would be greatly appreciated.
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 Monday June 9, 2014 from 4-8 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at the funeral home.
June 5, 2014
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday June 9, 2014 from 4-8 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 AM on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at the funeral home.
Emil J. Benzenhoefer, age 82 of Wayne, died peacefully on Thursday, June 5, 2014. He had been a Wayne resident since 1958.
Emil was raised in Weehawken, NJ and graduated from high school there in 1950. He was an outstanding athlete in high school, playing both basketball and baseball. He even earned a baseball scholarship to Wake Forest University but his father, a very traditional German, believed that Emil had enough education and it was more important to learn a trade and start working. Emil began as an apprentice sheet metal fabricator with Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 13 in Weehawken and he became a skilled craftsman working for Blickman & Sons. He eventually opened his own shop in the early 1970’s and he operated “Universal Metalcraftsmen” for many years before retiring in 2009. Of course, even after retiring, Emil could be found working in the shop.
In high school, Emil not only excelled academically but also on the basketball court and baseball field. An avid sportsman, he enjoyed almost any sporting event. He was extremely proud of the years he spent as a coach with the Wayne Little League and has always cherished the memories.
Emil met his wife Arlene (Schmidt) when they were in the third grade. Although they knew each other throughout their childhood, they didn’t begin dating until after high school. Emil proposed and they were married on September 13, 1953. They enjoyed a honeymoon together at Niagara Falls and toured around Upstate New York in a car they had borrowed from his father. They settled down in their hometown of Weehawken and often visited family living in Erskine Lakes. Their route up to the lake took them right through Wayne which was still mostly farms then, with many new homes being built. They found one they liked and moved to Wayne in 1958. They have enjoyed more than sixty years of marriage together.
Emil is survived by his loving wife of sixty years; Arlene (nee Schmidt) of Wayne, his daughter Lynda Benzenhoefer and her spouse Bernadette Fiore of Lyndhurst, his son; Paul Benzenhoefer and wife Denise of Wayne, a grandson; Matthew Benzenhoefer of Wayne, and his longtime employee and dear friend Wanda Seda of Palisades Park.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Emil’s memory to the Foundation for the Handicapped, 30 Woodridge Terrace, Wayne, NJ 07470 would be greatly appreciated.
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