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Services
Friends may visit with the family from 4-8 PM on Friday, May 27, 2016 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9:30 AM on Saturday, May 28, 2016 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pompton Plains.
Henry J. Okken, age 76, of Wayne, passed Monday, May 23, 2016.
He was born in Paterson and raised in Pompton Plains having graduated from Butler High School with the Class of 1959.
Henry’s first job was working as a mason for his uncle John Driesse. He then served in the United States Army from 1962 – 1964. As a young man, just out of the service, he purchased an Arnold Bread Route which he operated from 1964-1999. All who knew Henry can picture him in either his Arnold Bread truck or with his Arnold Bread Jacket. After retiring in 1999 he enjoyed a few years working for his son Stephen at the Stone Hedge Growers in Fredon.
It was when Henry was just out of the service that he and Betty Hoogmoed met at church. Their first date was ice skating on the lily ponds in Franklin Lakes. They dated for a while and one day while driving on Route 23 Henry leaned over and asked Elizabeth to marry him. They married at the Free Reformed Church in Clifton on June 12, 1964 and honeymooned in Virginia. They have had fifty-one years of a loving and devoted marriage.
Henry will be remembered for his ability to easily make friends, his perpetual smile and of course his ability to talk to just about anyone. He enjoyed family time, especially when it involved his grandchildren. At home he enjoyed a cup of coffee and was always doing something to his work truck. Henry was dedicated to his Christian faith and a member of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church in Franklin Lakes.
He was the loving husband of Elizabeth (Hoogmoed) Okken; devoted father of Dorothy Kahlau and her husband Hans of Bridgewater, Robert Okken and his wife Susan of Oak Ridge, Stephen Okken and his wife Leah of Fredon, and Kevin Okken and his wife Cathy of Newfoundland; cherished grandfather of fifteen grandchildren and loved brother of John Okken and his wife Sarah, Terrie Okken of Pompton Plains, and the late: Alice Williamson, George Okken, Fred Okken and his surviving wife Barbara, Margaret Cucci, Jacobus Okken and his surviving wife Joanne, and Jacoba Okken.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church Endowment Fund, 164 Jacksonville Road, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444 would be appreciated.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family from 4-8 PM on Friday, May 27, 2016 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9:30 AM on Saturday, May 28, 2016 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pompton Plains.
Services
Friends may visit with the family from 4-8 PM on Friday, May 27, 2016 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 9:30 AM on Saturday, May 28, 2016 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in the First Reformed Church Cemetery in Pompton Plains.
Henry J. Okken, age 76, of Wayne, passed Monday, May 23, 2016.
He was born in Paterson and raised in Pompton Plains having graduated from Butler High School with the Class of 1959.
Henry’s first job was working as a mason for his uncle John Driesse. He then served in the United States Army from 1962 – 1964. As a young man, just out of the service, he purchased an Arnold Bread Route which he operated from 1964-1999. All who knew Henry can picture him in either his Arnold Bread truck or with his Arnold Bread Jacket. After retiring in 1999 he enjoyed a few years working for his son Stephen at the Stone Hedge Growers in Fredon.
It was when Henry was just out of the service that he and Betty Hoogmoed met at church. Their first date was ice skating on the lily ponds in Franklin Lakes. They dated for a while and one day while driving on Route 23 Henry leaned over and asked Elizabeth to marry him. They married at the Free Reformed Church in Clifton on June 12, 1964 and honeymooned in Virginia. They have had fifty-one years of a loving and devoted marriage.
Henry will be remembered for his ability to easily make friends, his perpetual smile and of course his ability to talk to just about anyone. He enjoyed family time, especially when it involved his grandchildren. At home he enjoyed a cup of coffee and was always doing something to his work truck. Henry was dedicated to his Christian faith and a member of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church in Franklin Lakes.
He was the loving husband of Elizabeth (Hoogmoed) Okken; devoted father of Dorothy Kahlau and her husband Hans of Bridgewater, Robert Okken and his wife Susan of Oak Ridge, Stephen Okken and his wife Leah of Fredon, and Kevin Okken and his wife Cathy of Newfoundland; cherished grandfather of fifteen grandchildren and loved brother of John Okken and his wife Sarah, Terrie Okken of Pompton Plains, and the late: Alice Williamson, George Okken, Fred Okken and his surviving wife Barbara, Margaret Cucci, Jacobus Okken and his surviving wife Joanne, and Jacoba Okken.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church Endowment Fund, 164 Jacksonville Road, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444 would be appreciated.
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