Patricia Rantowich

Patricia Rantowich, age 76 of Toms River and formerly of Oak Ridge, died suddenly on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018.

Pat was raised in South Paterson and graduated from Central High School in 1959, when she was just sixteen years old.  She began working as a secretary at the Passaic Valley Water Commission and remained there until becoming a full-time mother. When her children went to school, she began her career in banking, working at New Jersey Bank, PNC Bank, and later retiring from 1st Constitution Bank in Cranbury, NJ.

Pat was young at heart and pretty hip in the eyes of her grandchildren.  She was pretty tech savvy and keeping in touch with her grandchildren required that she learn how to use her smartphone well.  Texting was easy, and soon she became hopelessly addicted to Candy Crush!  It became a competitive obsession for her, challenging others to try and best her score of 2316!  She had a strategy to play on multiple devices at the same time, earning her extra lives and inflating her score!  Needless to say, she was not your typical bingo-playing grandma!  She did Zumba to keep in shape, ate well, and generally kept herself active.  She loved going for a drive in her Lincoln, which she nicknamed “Ruby”!  She wasn’t just an ordinary aunt to her nieces and nephews either, oh no! She was affectionately known as “The Great Aunt Pat” to all of them!  She loved her family and any time spent with them would make her the happiest.

Pat is survived by her two daughters; Paula Dougherty and her husband Michael of Oak Ridge, Sandi Cusick and her husband Peter of Oak Ridge, eight grandchildren; Melissa Llewellyn, William Bailey, Jr., Ryan, Allison and Caitlyn Dougherty, Mark and Zachary Cusick, her great-granddaughter; Janel Llewelyn, her brother; John Scala, and an extended family from her second marriage, including stepson Joseph Rantowich and his wife Ann Marie, another stepson; Jack Rantowich , two step-grandsons; Anthony and Nicholas Rantowich, who were all very dear to her.  Pat was predeceased by her husband Joseph W. Rantowich in 2015, by her ex-husband; Arthur Bailey in 2014, by her son; Bill Bailey in 2010, and by her grandson; Michael Dougherty in 2014.