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Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Thursday, October 22, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Friday, October 23, 2015 at 10 AM followed by burial at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa.
Helen Berardi (nee DeMarco), age 95 of Woodland Park died on Saturday, October 17, 2015 with her family at her bedside. Helen had lived in Paterson her entire life and moved to Woodland Park in 2007.
Helen grew up in the Riverside section of Paterson and she enjoyed many years there during the city’s heyday. Just a week after her ninth birthday, in 1929, the stock market crashed and she also experienced the city during some of its most difficult times. At fourteen years old, she left school and began working in one of the many mills located in Paterson. Her first job was as quill winder; tediously spinning thread onto large spools, all by hand. Soon thereafter, she took a position as a nurse’s aid at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson where she worked for several years. Helping others was something she enjoyed, and this turned into a lifelong career. All told, Helen worked for more than fifty years as a nurses aid, moving to the North Jersey Training School where she worked with handicapped people, to the Fair Lawn Memorial Hospital, and then to the Van Dyke’s Nursing Home in Ridgewood. She retired in 1987 after many years of providing loving care to countless other people.
Back in her day, Helen was a skilled bowler. She belonged to a league at the Fair Lawn Lanes and she always looked forward to joining her friends and teammates at the lanes. Helen was, by any measure, one of the happiest and most fun-loving people you could have met. She loved to make people laugh and was especially good at entertaining kids. When her family would get together for social events, Helen would often choose to play with the children; getting out a deck of cards and playing a game, or she would open up the closets and play ‘dress-up.’ Holidays were also a special time for Helen and she would host everyone at her home for Palm Sunday and Easter, her favorite holidays of the year. She was the life of the party, a very social person, and her family will all miss her dearly.
Helen met her husband Dominick when she was just a teenager. Dominick had recently emigrated from Italy and was living in their home when they first met. A romance blossomed and they were married on June 25, 1939 at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on River Street in Paterson. A brief honeymoon to New York City was just about all they could afford at the time and then they settled right there in her Riverside neighborhood. Sadly, Dominick passed away in 1959 after just twenty years of marriage and Helen has missed him dearly ever since. Surely they are reunited once again.
Helen was predeceased by her husband Dominick in 1959, and by three brothers: Dominick, Peter, and Anthony DeMarco. She is survived by her daughter; Connie Bogert and her husband Ken of Woodland Park, NJ, by her sister-in-law; Connie DeMarco, five nieces and nephews: Jimmy DeMarco and his wife Michelle, Marianne Balchan and her husband John, Joseph DeMarco and his wife Theresa, Peter DeMarco and his wife Sandra, and Mario DeMarco and his wife Maria, as well as many grand-nieces and grand-nephews whom she loved dearly.
In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to the Valley Hospice, c/o Valley Hospital Foundation, 223 N. Van Dien Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450.
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 Thursday, October 22, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Friday, October 23, 2015 at 10 AM followed by burial at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Thursday, October 22, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Friday, October 23, 2015 at 10 AM followed by burial at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Totowa.
Helen Berardi (nee DeMarco), age 95 of Woodland Park died on Saturday, October 17, 2015 with her family at her bedside. Helen had lived in Paterson her entire life and moved to Woodland Park in 2007.
Helen grew up in the Riverside section of Paterson and she enjoyed many years there during the city’s heyday. Just a week after her ninth birthday, in 1929, the stock market crashed and she also experienced the city during some of its most difficult times. At fourteen years old, she left school and began working in one of the many mills located in Paterson. Her first job was as quill winder; tediously spinning thread onto large spools, all by hand. Soon thereafter, she took a position as a nurse’s aid at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson where she worked for several years. Helping others was something she enjoyed, and this turned into a lifelong career. All told, Helen worked for more than fifty years as a nurses aid, moving to the North Jersey Training School where she worked with handicapped people, to the Fair Lawn Memorial Hospital, and then to the Van Dyke’s Nursing Home in Ridgewood. She retired in 1987 after many years of providing loving care to countless other people.
Back in her day, Helen was a skilled bowler. She belonged to a league at the Fair Lawn Lanes and she always looked forward to joining her friends and teammates at the lanes. Helen was, by any measure, one of the happiest and most fun-loving people you could have met. She loved to make people laugh and was especially good at entertaining kids. When her family would get together for social events, Helen would often choose to play with the children; getting out a deck of cards and playing a game, or she would open up the closets and play ‘dress-up.’ Holidays were also a special time for Helen and she would host everyone at her home for Palm Sunday and Easter, her favorite holidays of the year. She was the life of the party, a very social person, and her family will all miss her dearly.
Helen met her husband Dominick when she was just a teenager. Dominick had recently emigrated from Italy and was living in their home when they first met. A romance blossomed and they were married on June 25, 1939 at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on River Street in Paterson. A brief honeymoon to New York City was just about all they could afford at the time and then they settled right there in her Riverside neighborhood. Sadly, Dominick passed away in 1959 after just twenty years of marriage and Helen has missed him dearly ever since. Surely they are reunited once again.
Helen was predeceased by her husband Dominick in 1959, and by three brothers: Dominick, Peter, and Anthony DeMarco. She is survived by her daughter; Connie Bogert and her husband Ken of Woodland Park, NJ, by her sister-in-law; Connie DeMarco, five nieces and nephews: Jimmy DeMarco and his wife Michelle, Marianne Balchan and her husband John, Joseph DeMarco and his wife Theresa, Peter DeMarco and his wife Sandra, and Mario DeMarco and his wife Maria, as well as many grand-nieces and grand-nephews whom she loved dearly.
In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to the Valley Hospice, c/o Valley Hospital Foundation, 223 N. Van Dien Ave., Ridgewood, NJ 07450.
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