Harold W. “Hal” Anton, Jr.

Harold W. "Hal" Anton, Jr., of Wayne, N.J., retired Wayne Hills High School guidance counselor and tennis coach, died on August 12.  He was 86.

Harold was born in Teaneck, N.J. and raised in Ridgefield.  He graduated from St. Cecilia High School in Englewood in 1950 and St. Peter’s College in Jersey City in 1954.  He later obtained a master’s degree from Seton Hall University.  He began his teaching career as a business education teacher at Our Lady of the Valley High School in Orange.   He was a guidance counselor at Lakeland Regional High School in Wanaque from 1962-68 and at Wayne Hills High School in Wayne from 1970-95.  He also was the boys’ tennis coach at Wayne Hills for fifteen years.  He retired in 1995.

Harold was a 1st Lt. U.S. Army veteran. He was accepted into the flight training program at the Gary Air Base in San Marcos, Texas, where he would eventually fly solo.  He did not finish the flight training program, but completed his service at Ft. Stewart in Georgia.

On July 4, 1958, he met the love of his life, Dorothy King, at Manasquan Beach.  They were married one year later and moved to Packanack Lake in 1962 where they raised their three sons and became life-long members of the community.  Harold coached football, basketball, and baseball teams for the Packanack Lake youth programs for many years.  He was a member of the Packanack Lake Tennis Club for more than 50 years and also participated in the Boy Scouts of America as a Life Scout and Treasurer of Troop 102 in Wayne.  He was a parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Wayne.  He enjoyed reading history books, playing tennis, and travelling with his wife.

Harold is survived by Dorothy Anton, his wife of 60 years, his three sons, Hal Anton of Wayne; Gregory Anton of  Provincetown, Massachusetts; and John Anton of Red Bank, N.J.; his brother, Bob Anton, of North Carolina; his sister, Jane McDevitt of Michigan; and many nieces and nephews.  He was predeceased by his brothers Arthur Anton and Jan Anton.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in his name to Smile Train https://my.smiletrain.org/donation/donate/givenow or St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959, https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html?sc_icid=header-btn-donate-now.