Jane Zierer

Jane M. Zierer, age 85, of Wayne passed peacefully on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

She was born in Paterson and graduated from Eastside High School in Paterson where she played on the basketball team.  In her youth she always enjoyed roller-skating at the roller rink in Paterson-her husband Frank thinks he still has her roller skates somewhere in the garage.  Jane lived in Clifton before moving to Wayne over fifty years ago.

Jane and Frank met through a mutual friend named Rodger Lutz.  Rodger and Frank were friends with a mutual love of motorcycles. One day when Frank and Rodger were repairing Rodger’s motorcycle they received a call to give a friend a ride home.  That friend was Jane.  Rodger and his girlfriend Ethel were in the front two seats of the car and Frank was in the back where Jane sat next to him.  Little did she know that Frank fell in love at first sight. When she heard Frank referred to as “Tonto” (his nickname because he rode an Indian motorcycle) she slide away from him.  It seems Jane’s father had warned her to stay away from this guy named “Tonto” as her dad saw him standing on the seat of his Indian motorcycle while riding down the street in Paterson.  They met on a Friday and went to Johnny & Hanges in Paterson for hot dogs.  It took Frank about a week to propose marriage.  They went to Howard’s Jewelers in Paterson and picked out an engagement ring. They couldn’t afford it and saved for two years to buy it.  On occasion they would drive by the jewelers and peer into the window to look at the safe where there ring was being held. They married on September 17, 1955 at St. Josephs Catholic Church in Paterson and took his 1949 Ford convertible on a trip North towards Canada.  They visited Howe Caverns, Niagara Falls, took the Maid of the Mist boat tour of Niagara Falls and had a beautiful meal at a restaurant called Refractor which overlooked the falls. During their two week honeymoon they spent a total of $500.00. They have enjoyed a loving and devoted marriage of sixty-five years that was blessed with a son Frank.

Here’s a little more from an open letter from Jane:

    “Tonto”

I remember the night so well; walking from 79 Alabama Ave to Ethel’s house on the corner near Wonder Bread. The date was September 4th, Friday, 1953.  My life was about to change.

    The only way Ethel could see Roger Lutz was to arrange for him to come with a buddy to drive me home.  It was supposed to be “Tonto,” whom I had heard many talk about.  Up pulls the car and out steps this six foot, slim, well-built guy, jeans and white tee shirt, blue-green eyes and our eyes met and it was love at first sight. I though “Tonto” had been left behind and this fellow filled in.  It was Friday and we went to “Johnny & Hanges” near River Street, Paterson.  I had a hot dog with mustard.  On the way Roger turned and said “hey Tonto” and I jumped to the far side of the vehicle, practically scratching at the handle.  This couldn’t be “Tonto” but oh yes it was!  In the meantime he was trying to remember if he had cursed or worse was his fly open? They must have driven me home (I was dazed) as he had already asked me for a date. At the time Ronnie Bell, a very nice boy whom I was passing time with, was in the picture. Our final date was a day later as I informed him I had met someone and wanted to be fair with him.  He said “I hope it’s not Tonto - he’s tough as nails.”  And so the story begins...

Jane will be remembered as a quiet, reserved person who loved animals and gardening.  When it came to animals their house was a veritable zoo.  Through the years they had dogs Sniffy, Cleo, and Flint; cats Foxy, Pumpkin, Shadow, and Batman.  They also had pigeons, quail, a Macaw Parrot, a parakeet, and tropical fish. When it came to gardening she was by Frank’s side clearing trees and planting all kinds of flowers.  She was even cited in the Paterson Newspaper for the sunflowers and roses she grew.  She enjoyed watching General Hospital together with Frank even though he liked the Westerns better. She also enjoyed all kinds of educational television programming and loved crossword puzzles.

Jane was a playground aide for the Wayne Board of Education for over twenty years before retiring in 1994.

She was the loving wife of sixty-five years to Frank M. Zierer; devoted mother of Frank N. Zierer and his wife Rizalina of Bergenfield; daughter of the late Leo and Mary McHale; cherished aunt of nephews the late Frank Cerrato, and surviving nephews Timothy and Steven Krumm and nieces Coleen McHale and Maureen McHale.