Melody Vanderwal

Melody Jane Vanderwal, age 71, a resident of Wayne for over forty years, passed peacefully at home with the comfort of family by her side.

Melody was born in Paterson and raised at 15 Struck Avenue in Prospect Park before moving to 29 Richardson Avenue in Haledon. Throughout her years she has lived at 415 N. 9th Street, 324 N. 8th Street, and 266 N.8th Street in Prospect Park before moving to Wayne in 1977.  She was a graduate of Eastern Christian High School with the Class of 1966 and later graduated from the Passaic County Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science.

Her work history includes being a teller for the Prospect Park Bank, working at the Haband Clothing Store in Prospect Park. She began her nursing career as a nurse’s aide at the Van Dyk Manor in Ridgewood having later worked as a Registered Nurse for Saint Josephs Hospital in Paterson, Wayne General Hospital in Wayne, the Saint Josephs Health Clinic in Paterson, and finally served as the Public Health Nurse of Wayne Township for over twenty years before retiring in 2010.

Melody was devoted to her Christian faith. As a child she was brought up in the 1st Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park.  Over the years she taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir, and taught and organized the Vacation Bible School for many years. Her children remember accompanying her for two weeks during the summer when she would volunteer as the camp nurse at the Stokes Forrest Music Camp.

Melody met Paul Vanderwal at the 1st Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park just after Paul’s family moved to Prospect Park from Canada in April of 1963.  Paul couldn’t remember the particulars of their first date but he was sure of the fact that Melody asked him out. The marriage proposal came during a visit to Paul’s brother’s home in Canada when, standing in the snow, Melody asked Paul to marry her.  They married on April 1, 1967 at the 2nd Christian Reformed Church in Prospect Park, had their reception at The Paddock (now the Village Inn in Wayne) and honeymooned in Canada visiting family. Paul and Melody had a marriage of fifty-two years that was blessed with four children.

Melody will be lovingly remembered as a giving, considerate, thoughtful and genuine person. She loved to cook and was a great baker.  Her broccoli casserole, apple pie, Christmas cookies, and Oliebollen will be greatly missed. Some of her baking specialties were cream puffs and during her children’s school years they always knew mom would make all kinds of cupcakes to bring to school for holidays, special occasions, and birthdays. She used to sell Avon cosmetic products and would put the cupcakes in the top of an Avon lid as they fit in perfectly.

Melody was the loving wife of Paul Vanderwal; devoted mother of Marlyse Vanderwal and her husband Darryn Stewart of Passaic, Paul Vanderwal II of Wayne, Alex Vanderwal of Wayne, and the late Arlette Lynn Vanderwal who passed on October 6, 1980 of liver cancer at the age of eleven; she is also the loved sister of Barbara Dozhier of Twin Oaks, Oaklahoma, Debbie Wilkes of Sewell, Cyndi Cram and her husband Marc of Pompton Lakes, and the late Albert Roy Wilkes who was killed on July 4, 1974 in a tragic motorcycle accident.