Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Calls outside of office hours? No worries! Our team will respond within 10–15 minutes.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Thursday, April 9, 2015 from 3-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9:30 AM on Friday, April 10, 2015 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 10:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
“And though she be but little, she is fierce!”
Lily LaRue Anderson, 6 years old, passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus on Monday, April 6, 2015 while surrounded by her loving family. She fought a valiant battle with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) for the past eleven months and her fight can be summed up with a quote from William Shakespeare:
“And though she be but little, she is fierce!”
Lily LaRue, unicorn and rock-star, was a student in the first grade at Ryerson Elementary in Wayne. She won a poetry contest while in kindergarten and anxiously hoped to one day be in the school show; she was a real ham on stage and loved to dance! Her cell phone has all the pictures to prove that she was a “selfie queen” and recently, while 'making more room’ on her phone, her dad found dozens of videos she had taken of herself dancing for the camera! She loved to play “Wii Party” and “Just Dance” more than anything. She was an amazing Wayne Boys & Girls Club Panthers cheerleader and was blessed with caring and supportive coaches, assistant coaches and squad. She told her parents that she wanted to go to circus school. Her Shriner's Family had a large, loving part in that career path. She was born a natural clown. She was a real thrill-seeker who loved roller coasters and had ridden many of them at Disney, Great Adventure, and Hershey Park, just to name a few. She’d been to Disney World, her favorite, most magical place in the world, on many occasions and particularly loved the Disney cruise and her Make a Wish to Aulani Resort on Maui, Hawaii was life changing for all Andersons.
Lily was passionate about animals and told her family that she wanted to be a pet-sitter and “animal doctor.”- equally. Surely she was destined to be a veterinarian. Her favorite animals were Chihuahuas, owls, monkeys and there was a special place in her heart for unicorns. In early March of this year, just about a month ago, a family friend invited Lily to their farm and she learned how to milk a cow. She was a natural, and seeing her interact with the animals was priceless. This was just one of her dreams all of which were documented on her Facebook page http://facebook.com/lilylarueanderson
When Lily was diagnosed in May of 2014, her family prepared for a desperate fight. What they could not have prepared for, or ever even imagined, was how their community and many friends would take Lily’s battle on as if it was their own and charge into that battle with them. Her school-mates, friends, teachers, the administrators at her school and church all took the fight personally, and that’s only the beginning. The Mayor had her light the town Christmas tree this past season. The Wayne Hills High School Girls Soccer Team, named her an ‘honorary senior’ and gave her a soccer jersey with her name and “#1” on it, welcoming her onto the soccer field with the team. The Steven’s Tech lacrosse teams, both men’s and women’s, championed her cause and dedicated their season to Lily this year, making her siblings honorary teammates. Many of the lacrosse players ran in the Born to Run 5K race for Lily around Packanack Lake and they recently delivered a game ball to her family from their first win of the season. During this past year, so many great people and organizations came to support Lily, many of them anonymously, making it nearly impossible to thank them all by name. However, Our Our Lady of the Valley RC Church Family, Knights of Columbus, Davey's Irish Pub and Restaurant of Montvale, Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty efforts altered the Anderson's quality of life during their travels and trials. The Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors, however, specifically, has been a beacon of light with support, love and helping the family find support via The Valerie Fund Children's Center and Goryeb Children's Hospital at Morristown Medical Center as a home away from home. We are grateful in ways words cannot ever articulate. Nevertheless, be assured that Lily’s brief time here was made better and brighter by all that you did. Her family is grateful beyond words for the love bestowed upon Lily through all of your letters, gifts, notes, art, efforts, prayers, donations, and random acts of kindness. Everyone on #TeamLilyLaRue has been absolutely beautiful.
Lily is survived by her devoted parents; Brian and Barbara Anderson of Wayne, her twin brother; Brady, sister Jasmine and big brother Daniel, her grandparents; Sophia and Eugeniusz Zak of Boca Raton, FL, grandparents Garry and Sue Anderson of Paramus, great-grandfather; Paul Anderson, four aunts; Alicia Mustain and her husband Blake of Boca Raton, FL, Gena Zak of Washington, D.C., Alexandra Zak of Washington, D.C., Christina Zak of Wayne, and one uncle; Eric Anderson and his wife Marlaina of Paramus and Barnegat, NJ, three cousins; Madison Mustain of Boca Raton, FL and Brandon and Hailey Anderson of Barnegat, NJ, and a large extended family and friends of devoted loved ones.
Donations in Lily’s memory would be greatly appreciated to the Lily LaRue Foundation, 908 13th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.
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, April 9, 2015 from 3-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9:30 AM on Friday, April 10, 2015 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 10:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Thursday, April 9, 2015 from 3-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9:30 AM on Friday, April 10, 2015 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 10:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
“And though she be but little, she is fierce!”
Lily LaRue Anderson, 6 years old, passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus on Monday, April 6, 2015 while surrounded by her loving family. She fought a valiant battle with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) for the past eleven months and her fight can be summed up with a quote from William Shakespeare:
“And though she be but little, she is fierce!”
Lily LaRue, unicorn and rock-star, was a student in the first grade at Ryerson Elementary in Wayne. She won a poetry contest while in kindergarten and anxiously hoped to one day be in the school show; she was a real ham on stage and loved to dance! Her cell phone has all the pictures to prove that she was a “selfie queen” and recently, while 'making more room’ on her phone, her dad found dozens of videos she had taken of herself dancing for the camera! She loved to play “Wii Party” and “Just Dance” more than anything. She was an amazing Wayne Boys & Girls Club Panthers cheerleader and was blessed with caring and supportive coaches, assistant coaches and squad. She told her parents that she wanted to go to circus school. Her Shriner's Family had a large, loving part in that career path. She was born a natural clown. She was a real thrill-seeker who loved roller coasters and had ridden many of them at Disney, Great Adventure, and Hershey Park, just to name a few. She’d been to Disney World, her favorite, most magical place in the world, on many occasions and particularly loved the Disney cruise and her Make a Wish to Aulani Resort on Maui, Hawaii was life changing for all Andersons.
Lily was passionate about animals and told her family that she wanted to be a pet-sitter and “animal doctor.”- equally. Surely she was destined to be a veterinarian. Her favorite animals were Chihuahuas, owls, monkeys and there was a special place in her heart for unicorns. In early March of this year, just about a month ago, a family friend invited Lily to their farm and she learned how to milk a cow. She was a natural, and seeing her interact with the animals was priceless. This was just one of her dreams all of which were documented on her Facebook page http://facebook.com/lilylarueanderson
When Lily was diagnosed in May of 2014, her family prepared for a desperate fight. What they could not have prepared for, or ever even imagined, was how their community and many friends would take Lily’s battle on as if it was their own and charge into that battle with them. Her school-mates, friends, teachers, the administrators at her school and church all took the fight personally, and that’s only the beginning. The Mayor had her light the town Christmas tree this past season. The Wayne Hills High School Girls Soccer Team, named her an ‘honorary senior’ and gave her a soccer jersey with her name and “#1” on it, welcoming her onto the soccer field with the team. The Steven’s Tech lacrosse teams, both men’s and women’s, championed her cause and dedicated their season to Lily this year, making her siblings honorary teammates. Many of the lacrosse players ran in the Born to Run 5K race for Lily around Packanack Lake and they recently delivered a game ball to her family from their first win of the season. During this past year, so many great people and organizations came to support Lily, many of them anonymously, making it nearly impossible to thank them all by name. However, Our Our Lady of the Valley RC Church Family, Knights of Columbus, Davey's Irish Pub and Restaurant of Montvale, Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty efforts altered the Anderson's quality of life during their travels and trials. The Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors, however, specifically, has been a beacon of light with support, love and helping the family find support via The Valerie Fund Children's Center and Goryeb Children's Hospital at Morristown Medical Center as a home away from home. We are grateful in ways words cannot ever articulate. Nevertheless, be assured that Lily’s brief time here was made better and brighter by all that you did. Her family is grateful beyond words for the love bestowed upon Lily through all of your letters, gifts, notes, art, efforts, prayers, donations, and random acts of kindness. Everyone on #TeamLilyLaRue has been absolutely beautiful.
Lily is survived by her devoted parents; Brian and Barbara Anderson of Wayne, her twin brother; Brady, sister Jasmine and big brother Daniel, her grandparents; Sophia and Eugeniusz Zak of Boca Raton, FL, grandparents Garry and Sue Anderson of Paramus, great-grandfather; Paul Anderson, four aunts; Alicia Mustain and her husband Blake of Boca Raton, FL, Gena Zak of Washington, D.C., Alexandra Zak of Washington, D.C., Christina Zak of Wayne, and one uncle; Eric Anderson and his wife Marlaina of Paramus and Barnegat, NJ, three cousins; Madison Mustain of Boca Raton, FL and Brandon and Hailey Anderson of Barnegat, NJ, and a large extended family and friends of devoted loved ones.
Donations in Lily’s memory would be greatly appreciated to the Lily LaRue Foundation, 908 13th Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.
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