Gloria Patane

Gloria A. Patane, age 98, of Butler and a former long-time resident of Pompton Lakes, passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 7, 2026.

Gloria was born in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, but spent only the first year of her then short life there before she, her parents, older sister Iris, and oldest brother Robert packed up and moved to New York City. After a while, the family relocated to Brooklyn, and that is where Gloria spent her formative years.

As a young lady, Gloria attended the Women’s Garment Trade School in Brooklyn. There she learned about women’s fashion and, more particularly, garment design and sewing—both with a machine and by hand. While attending school, Gloria landed her first job at the then-famous Abraham & Straus (A&S Straus) Department Store in Brooklyn. She worked a couple of hours after school to reinforce the skills she was learning, then headed home for homework and dinner.

A mere three days after graduating, Gloria began her first full-time job as a draper for a small factory in New York’s garment district. She would recall getting up in the morning, taking the train to the 42nd Street station, and then completing her commute by walking in her excellent walking shoes down to 37th Street. As a draper, her job was to place a partial outfit on a mannequin, mark the garment with tailor’s chalk to indicate where alterations needed to be made, pin the parts of the garment together, add accessories such as belts and bows, and then hand her work off to a sewer whose job was to stitch together what Gloria had created. She loved the imaginative aspects of her work, though the industry’s competitive nature often made for a stressful atmosphere. After a while, Gloria’s father used his connections to help her obtain a job in a whole new environment, working for a bank in her hometown of Brooklyn.

In those days, as a young woman, Gloria especially loved feeding her appetite for good music and great movies, often frequenting New York’s Paramount Music Hall and Movie Theater. There, along with her sister Iris, she would enjoy a fun night with one of the great big bands of the era (including her father’s Latin band, named “RM Ritmo Tropical”) or taking in a blockbuster picture show.

She eventually settled down with a handsome Army soldier just back from service in World War II named Rosario “Pat” Patane. They met at a gathering and soon hit it off, having their first official date a brief time later at a famous restaurant in New York City where they shared a meal out on the veranda. Gloria and Pat fell in love and, one night, Pat asked Gloria, “If I ask you to marry me, would you marry me?” As she looked into his eyes and smiled adoringly, she exclaimed, “Yes!”

Gloria and Pat exchanged their wedding promises before God, family, and friends on Saturday, April 15, 1950, at St. Stephen R.C. Church in Brooklyn. Afterwards, they enjoyed a simple reception at a local hall where sandwiches and coffee were served. Their honeymoon followed in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Gloria and Pat were just two days shy of 65 years of blessed marriage when Pat passed away on April 13, 2015.

Brooklyn became the place where Gloria and Pat began their married life. Soon after welcoming baby Diane, their first of five daughters, Gloria left the workplace to assume a new role as mother and homemaker. Diane was followed by little baby sister Patricia. The family of four continued to live in Brooklyn, but with Pat working as an insurance agent across the river in New Jersey, it became increasingly obvious that a move to New Jersey would be logistically advantageous.

The Patane's eventually found a home on Washington Avenue in Pompton Lakes. There, Gloria and Pat added three more daughters to the posse - Joann, Lisa, and Terry. In 1969, the family moved from Washington Avenue to Riverdale Boulevard in Pompton Lakes, where Gloria remained until moving to Butler in 2015.

Gloria was a great cook. She made the best lasagna, chicken soup, and rice and beans with pork chops. She maintained a time-honored tradition of making sure there were delicious meals on the table each day, with Sunday dinners served at 2:00 PM—always with a cake made from a box (Gloria loved her sweets)—and soup later that night.

The family will never forget their station wagon vacations all over the place. On a few occasions they traveled to destinations such as Gettysburg and Hershey Park, Pennsylvania, but most of the time the station wagon carried them to ocean destinations including the Saint Lawrence Seaway, Brielle, Point Pleasant, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Fishing and crabbing were the pastimes of choice, and many wonderful memories were made. Annual apple-picking trips to Warwick, New York ushered in the autumn season, when the family would tailgate in true Italian style by eating lasagna while sitting on the back of the car. The kids fondly remember squirreling apples under the seats of the car to avoid having to pay for all the ones they picked. There were also trips to Disney World after its opening in 1971, visits to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and memorable Christmas outings to Santa’s Workshop in North Pole, New York—including the time Lisa got her tongue stuck on a frozen pole on a dare.

When Gloria’s youngest daughter, Terry, reached high school age, Gloria returned to the workforce. She took a job as a customer service representative at Anchor Bank on the corner of Valley Road and Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne. Over the years the bank was acquired several times, so Gloria eventually moved on to Valley National Bank in Wayne, where she worked three days a week. She enjoyed this job a great deal and got along wonderfully with her coworkers, especially Flo, her good friend. From the time she returned to work, an astounding thirty-three years passed until her retirement at the even more astounding age of eighty-five.

In more recent years, Gloria found relaxation wearing paths to various local libraries. She had a deep love for reading, especially James Patterson murder mysteries and suspense novels by Mary Higgins Clark. She also cherished time spent with her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and occasionally attending Mass at St. Mary’s R.C. Church in her hometown of Pompton Lakes.

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Gloria was predeceased by her beloved husband, Rosario “Pat” Patane.  She is survived by her five daughters: Diane Schmiedhauser of Butler; Patricia Patane of Montclair; Joann and her husband Kevin Maurer of Little Falls; Lisa and her husband Rich Rayment of Lincoln Park; and Theresa “Terry” Patane of Butler; nine cherished grandchildren: Melissa, Eric, Chris (Carly), Kim, Katie (Hasan), Kyle (Jayme), Andrea, Shawn, and Noel; and ten great-grandchildren: Mia, Caleigh, Michael “Mikey”, Gabriella, Cole, Hale, Miles, Calvin, Riley, and Walker.

Gloria was also predeceased by her brother and sister, Robert Sbert, and Iris Gomez; by her son-in-law, Michael Schmiedhauser; and by her great-grandson, Ryan.

The family would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to VITAS Hospice for the extraordinary care and compassion shown to their mother during her final days. Your team went above and beyond to ensure she was comfortable, dignified, and surrounded by kindness and brought comfort not only to her but their family.  

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In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Gloria's name are asked to  consider: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959.