Martha Sepede

Martha Sepede, age 96, of Wayne passed Friday, May 31, 2019. She was lovingly known as “Aunt Martha” to just about everyone.

Martha was born in the family apartment above her father’s tavern, the Dew Drop Inn, in Garfield to Gennaro and Emma Sepede. During her youth Martha lived in Paramus and later Hackensack where she graduated from Hackensack High with the Class of 1941.  She was an excellent student and was inducted into the National Honor Society.

The day after graduating high school Martha started her job as an administrative assistant at the Continental Paper Company, having also worked through the years for the Butterfield Barry Company, and the CompuScan Corporation before working for ShoeTown in Totowa retiring in 1999.  For many years after her retirement she volunteered for the Friends of Wayne Animals. For a several month period when the shelter had about one hundred kittens Aunt Martha was there every day scooping, cleaning, and especially liked holding and socializing any scared kittens.

Aunt Martha will be remembered as a dedicated, caring person that was generous to a fault. For most of her life she had a mind like a steel trap. She could recall what happened in her life years ago and tell you the date that it happened as well. She always loved people and would be in her glory when friends or family were over for a visit. She was extremely responsible, competent, had a strong work ethic and frugal. As many of the generation who have lived through a depression are; she would fix rather than buy new and was acutely aware of the value of a dollar. Aunt Martha was an awesome cook whose ingredient of love was the main and irreplaceable component of her Italian specialties.  Her Italian Christmas cookies, sauce, meatballs and sausage will always hold a special place in her family’s heart.  She was very proud of her Italian heritage and was always asking “did you eat enough?” When asked to what she attributed her long life to she would tell you her Scotch Old Fashioned must have had something to do with it.  This love of Scotch can perhaps be attributed to when her brother was shipped overseas during WWII.  Martha and her sister in law went to California to see him off to war in the Pacific, and they finished a bottle of Scotch at his send-off celebration.

Martha was the loving aunt of Mary Sepede of Wayne, Joseph (Kathleen) Sepede of Lincoln Park, Jane Sepede (Dean Arnold) of Seattle, Washington, and Linda Smith of California; dearly loved great-aunt of Michael (Kimberly) Sepede and John (Amy Gimbel) Sepede; and cherished great-great-aunt of Sean Sepede.

In lieu of flowers memorial donations to the Friends of Wayne Animals (FOWA), PO Box 3701, Wayne, NJ 07470 or the Gods Creatures Ministry, PO Box 3666, Wayne, NJ 07470 would be greatly appreciated.