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Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9 AM on Wednesday from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
Age 84 of Wayne died on Sunday, May 17, 2015. He had been a Wayne resident since 1962.
Robert E. Conklin age 84 of Wayne died on Sunday, May 17, 2015. He had been a Wayne resident since 1962.
Bob was born in Sloatsburg, NY in 1931, when the nation was still struggling from the Great Depression. His family included eleven children, all raised under rural and difficult conditions. Despite the difficult times and the challenges he faced, he succeeded as a wonderful Father, Husband, Grandfather, and a successful Ironworker.
Robert went to Suffern High School for two years before transferring to Stevens Institute in Hoboken where he finished high school and learned a trade. He then became an Iron Worker with International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Local 483 in Hackensack. He was always very proud of his career and the many structures he worked on throughout the years, not to mention the great camaraderie he enjoyed with his fellow iron workers. He was a registered Life Member of Local 483 and worked for his son’s company, Sun Valley Erectors in Pequannock before retiring in 1993.
Bob was a member of the Pompton Lakes Elks Lodge BPOE #1895, where he served as Exalted Ruler in 1997-1998.
Robert first spied his wife, Florentina “Flo” Templin, at the American Cyanamid Corporation in Pearl River, NY. He didn’t even know her name when he said to his fellow coworkers; “that’s the girl I’m going to marry”. Their first date was to the Palisades Amusement Park with her two boys from a previous marriage. Robert thought the world of her two young boys and he raised them as his own, avoiding such terms as “stepsons” or “stepfather.” They were his boys too and he cared for them very much. Bob and Flo married on Valentine’s Day in 1955 and he would tell you that “she was the best Valentine I ever had.” They settled in Closter and had four more children, of whom he couldn’t be more proud. Sadly, his oldest son Robert McManus was killed in Vietnam in 1968 and that heartache never left their family.
Robert is survived by his children; Gary McManus and his wife Mary of Wayne, Philip Conklin and his wife Susan of West Milford, Florentina “Tina” Iskra of Rockaway, John Conklin and his wife Vicki of Pequannock and Renee Budz and her husband Frank of Sussex; cherished grandfather of thirteen; loved brother of Eugene Conklin of NY State, William Conklin and his wife Susan of Suffern, NY, and Harriett Sargine of Ramsey. He was predeceased by his wife Florentina in 2013, and by six sisters and one brother.
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 Tuesday, May 19, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9 AM on Wednesday from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 9 AM on Wednesday from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 10 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Interment will be in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.
Age 84 of Wayne died on Sunday, May 17, 2015. He had been a Wayne resident since 1962.
Robert E. Conklin age 84 of Wayne died on Sunday, May 17, 2015. He had been a Wayne resident since 1962.
Bob was born in Sloatsburg, NY in 1931, when the nation was still struggling from the Great Depression. His family included eleven children, all raised under rural and difficult conditions. Despite the difficult times and the challenges he faced, he succeeded as a wonderful Father, Husband, Grandfather, and a successful Ironworker.
Robert went to Suffern High School for two years before transferring to Stevens Institute in Hoboken where he finished high school and learned a trade. He then became an Iron Worker with International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Local 483 in Hackensack. He was always very proud of his career and the many structures he worked on throughout the years, not to mention the great camaraderie he enjoyed with his fellow iron workers. He was a registered Life Member of Local 483 and worked for his son’s company, Sun Valley Erectors in Pequannock before retiring in 1993.
Bob was a member of the Pompton Lakes Elks Lodge BPOE #1895, where he served as Exalted Ruler in 1997-1998.
Robert first spied his wife, Florentina “Flo” Templin, at the American Cyanamid Corporation in Pearl River, NY. He didn’t even know her name when he said to his fellow coworkers; “that’s the girl I’m going to marry”. Their first date was to the Palisades Amusement Park with her two boys from a previous marriage. Robert thought the world of her two young boys and he raised them as his own, avoiding such terms as “stepsons” or “stepfather.” They were his boys too and he cared for them very much. Bob and Flo married on Valentine’s Day in 1955 and he would tell you that “she was the best Valentine I ever had.” They settled in Closter and had four more children, of whom he couldn’t be more proud. Sadly, his oldest son Robert McManus was killed in Vietnam in 1968 and that heartache never left their family.
Robert is survived by his children; Gary McManus and his wife Mary of Wayne, Philip Conklin and his wife Susan of West Milford, Florentina “Tina” Iskra of Rockaway, John Conklin and his wife Vicki of Pequannock and Renee Budz and her husband Frank of Sussex; cherished grandfather of thirteen; loved brother of Eugene Conklin of NY State, William Conklin and his wife Susan of Suffern, NY, and Harriett Sargine of Ramsey. He was predeceased by his wife Florentina in 2013, and by six sisters and one brother.
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