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February 19, 2017
Services
Friends may visit with the family from 4-8 PM on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
A 10 AM Funeral Service will be held Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at Calvary Temple, 1111 Preakness Ave., Wayne.
Monica Helen Lanza, age 81, of Wayne, passed peacefully on Sunday, February 19, 2017.
She was born in Passaic to William and Helen Mayerchak and raised at 25 Holden Street in Clifton. She graduated from Pope Pius High School in Clifton with the Class of 1953.
Just out of high school Monica worked as a secretary for Picatinny Arsenal in Wharton, worked as a Newspaper Reporter for the Herald & News and Suburban Trends in Passaic for over twenty years, before accepting a position as a Legislative Aide for Senator Gerald Cardinale in Cresskill where she worked for over fifteen years before retiring in 2005.
Monica will be remembered for her strong will, strong faith, and her organizational skills. She was a musician who could play the piano and accordion. She loved gardening and being outdoors and grew strawberries, blackberries, red raspberries, grapes, corn, and rhubarb in her garden. She also had a cherry tree, apple tree, and a peach tree in the yard. For over thirty years she had canaries as pets and loved to hear them sing. She was an artist who loved to paint, had a huge heart, and was a very positive person. Most of all she will be remembered as the mother of nine children. She truly had her hands full with eight boys and one girl. The wooden spoon was her utensil of choice when disciplining her children and when she broke too many of those she sent you to cut a switch from the forsythia bush in the yard.
Monica was very dedicated to her faith and was an ordained minister with the Assembly of God Church. Her positive attitude and willingness to speak in front of others also helped her as a motivational speaker. She attended the Calvary Temple Church in Wayne for over forty years and sang in the choir for a time. Monica was also involved with the Deaf Ministry at Calvary Temple and served as a sign language interpreter to the hearing impaired during Sunday Services for many years.
She met the love of her life, Daniel J. Lanza, Sr. by pure chance. Monica and her best friend Marion were walking down the street in Clifton and wandered into a soda fountain. Little did they know that Daniel and his best friend Vincent were driving around looking for girls. They spied the two pretty girls walking into the soda shop, parked the car, and ventured inside to strike up a conversation. When Daniel asked the girls what they were up to, Monica’s friend Marion replied “playing tiddlywinks with manhole covers…what’s it to you.” Well the four hit it off and wound up marrying each other. Monica married Daniel at Saint Cyril’s Church in Clifton on November 26, 1953. They enjoyed a loving and devoted marriage of forty-two years before Daniel’s passing in 1995.
She was the loving wife of the late Daniel J. Lanza, Sr. (1995); devoted mother of William Lanza and his wife Kathy of Towaco, the late Daniel Lanza(2002); the late Karen Sibilia (2011) and her surviving husband Stephen of Nutley, Leonard Lanza and his wife Lisa of Wayne, the late Stephen Lanza (1960); the late Anthony Lanza (2009) and his surviving wife Heather, Thomas Lanza and his wife Niki of Wayne, Jay Lanza of Wayne, and the late Kenneth Lanza (2011); she was the cherished grandmother of Jonathan Sibilia and his wife Carmen, Joanna Sibilia, Shaun, Jaymi, Colette, Krystian, A.J., Danielle, and Alex Lanza; she was the loving sister of the late George Mayerchak, the late William Mayerchak and his surviving wife Barbara, and the late Joseph Mayerchak and his surviving wife Dorothy; and the much love aunt to many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to Calvary Temple, 1111, Preakness Ave., Wayne, NJ 07470 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 Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
A 10 AM Funeral Service will be held Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at Calvary Temple, 1111 Preakness Ave., Wayne.
February 19, 2017
Services
Friends may visit with the family from 4-8 PM on Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
A 10 AM Funeral Service will be held Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at Calvary Temple, 1111 Preakness Ave., Wayne.
Monica Helen Lanza, age 81, of Wayne, passed peacefully on Sunday, February 19, 2017.
She was born in Passaic to William and Helen Mayerchak and raised at 25 Holden Street in Clifton. She graduated from Pope Pius High School in Clifton with the Class of 1953.
Just out of high school Monica worked as a secretary for Picatinny Arsenal in Wharton, worked as a Newspaper Reporter for the Herald & News and Suburban Trends in Passaic for over twenty years, before accepting a position as a Legislative Aide for Senator Gerald Cardinale in Cresskill where she worked for over fifteen years before retiring in 2005.
Monica will be remembered for her strong will, strong faith, and her organizational skills. She was a musician who could play the piano and accordion. She loved gardening and being outdoors and grew strawberries, blackberries, red raspberries, grapes, corn, and rhubarb in her garden. She also had a cherry tree, apple tree, and a peach tree in the yard. For over thirty years she had canaries as pets and loved to hear them sing. She was an artist who loved to paint, had a huge heart, and was a very positive person. Most of all she will be remembered as the mother of nine children. She truly had her hands full with eight boys and one girl. The wooden spoon was her utensil of choice when disciplining her children and when she broke too many of those she sent you to cut a switch from the forsythia bush in the yard.
Monica was very dedicated to her faith and was an ordained minister with the Assembly of God Church. Her positive attitude and willingness to speak in front of others also helped her as a motivational speaker. She attended the Calvary Temple Church in Wayne for over forty years and sang in the choir for a time. Monica was also involved with the Deaf Ministry at Calvary Temple and served as a sign language interpreter to the hearing impaired during Sunday Services for many years.
She met the love of her life, Daniel J. Lanza, Sr. by pure chance. Monica and her best friend Marion were walking down the street in Clifton and wandered into a soda fountain. Little did they know that Daniel and his best friend Vincent were driving around looking for girls. They spied the two pretty girls walking into the soda shop, parked the car, and ventured inside to strike up a conversation. When Daniel asked the girls what they were up to, Monica’s friend Marion replied “playing tiddlywinks with manhole covers…what’s it to you.” Well the four hit it off and wound up marrying each other. Monica married Daniel at Saint Cyril’s Church in Clifton on November 26, 1953. They enjoyed a loving and devoted marriage of forty-two years before Daniel’s passing in 1995.
She was the loving wife of the late Daniel J. Lanza, Sr. (1995); devoted mother of William Lanza and his wife Kathy of Towaco, the late Daniel Lanza(2002); the late Karen Sibilia (2011) and her surviving husband Stephen of Nutley, Leonard Lanza and his wife Lisa of Wayne, the late Stephen Lanza (1960); the late Anthony Lanza (2009) and his surviving wife Heather, Thomas Lanza and his wife Niki of Wayne, Jay Lanza of Wayne, and the late Kenneth Lanza (2011); she was the cherished grandmother of Jonathan Sibilia and his wife Carmen, Joanna Sibilia, Shaun, Jaymi, Colette, Krystian, A.J., Danielle, and Alex Lanza; she was the loving sister of the late George Mayerchak, the late William Mayerchak and his surviving wife Barbara, and the late Joseph Mayerchak and his surviving wife Dorothy; and the much love aunt to many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations to Calvary Temple, 1111, Preakness Ave., Wayne, NJ 07470 would be appreciated.
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