George Heppel

George J. Heppel, age 87 of Wayne, passed away peacefully on Monday, October 26, 2020. George was born in New York City in 1933. The son of German immigrants, he didn’t learn to speak English until he started going to kindergarten. He grew up in New York City and was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School with the Class of 1952.

As a teenager, George was so determined to join the armed forces and enlisted in the National Guard when he was just sixteen years old. Because he was so young, he had to lie about his age to get in. After high school he worked for a year as a warehouseman at Globe Wernicke in the Bronx before enlisting in the United States Army. From 1952 to 1954 George proudly served in Korea and Japan during the Korean War. For his service to his country, he was awarded the Korean Service Medal with one Bronze Star, the United Nations Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. After his return home with the rank of Corporal, he continued to serve in the Army Reserve Infantry until being honorably discharged in 1957.

After getting out of the service, George worked as a zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo. He absolutely loved that job and would never have left the zoo if his future wife Ronnie didn’t put her foot down and have him join her at the New York Telephone Company where the pay was better and he wasn’t quite as fragrant when he came home from work. There was also less chance of getting bitten in the backside by a sea lion there, as happened during his time at the Bronx Zoo. He worked for the telephone company for almost 40 years and retired in 1993 at the age of 60.

After marrying his wife of 63 years, Ronnie, they moved to New Jersey in 1965 where they bought a house and called Wayne, NJ home. George was a loving father to his sons George and Eric. He truly enjoyed sharing life with them by doing things like taking them to the shooting range at the Sportsman Club in Pennsylvania and going on an fishing trips to Ontario Canada together. Anyone who knew George, knew how much his sons meant to him. Until…his grandson Ryan was born and they both took a backseat. Ryan and Grandpa were pals and regularly did things together. George regularly picked Ryan up from school and took him to his football practices or wherever he had to go. He attended his football games and high school graduation and was more than happy to drive to South Carolina to watch him graduate from the United States Marine Corps boot camp as well as attending his Passaic County Sheriff’s Department pinning ceremony, even though it was starting to be tough to get around. He was always there for Ryan.

Serving in the Army awoke the travel bug in George. He served part of his tour of duty in Japan and, as a result, he fell in love with the country. He and Ronnie enjoyed trips to Mexico as well as going to Europe at times to see his relatives. He also loved vacationing in Turkey and recently took a trip to Italy.

It seemed that George never came across a book that he didn’t want to read. He could often be seen with his nose in a good story and he loved to read from a wide spectrum of subjects including westerns, science fiction, and anything having to do with any type of history. He loved animals and, while dogs were a part of his life in his earlier years, it was usually one of his cats, Milo, Rusty, or Tux, who would sit by his side as he enjoyed a good book.

George generally lived a quiet, private life choosing to enjoy the blessings of spending time with his loving family. He will be dearly missed by those whose life he touched.

George is survived by his son George Heppel, Jr. and daughter in law Geri of Wayne, his grandson Ryan Heppel of Wayne, and his honorary son Mike Stubbington of Portsmouth, England. He was predeceased by his beloved wife Veronica and by his loving son Eric Heppel - both in 2019.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in George’s name are asked to consider the Alan Purcell Wayne Township Animal Shelter, 201 Pompton Plains Crossroad, Wayne, NJ 07470.