Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Calls outside of office hours? No worries! Our team will respond within 10–15 minutes.
December 11, 2010
Services
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, December 16, 2010, from 3-6 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM on Friday, December 17, 2010 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
Robert R. Alexander, Jr. age 85 of Wayne passed away on Saturday, December 11, 2010.
He was born and raised in Paterson having moved to Wayne in 1953.
When in the eighth grade he was told he had to walk miles to school so he opted to get a job instead. He got his first job at the Wonderbread Factory, Paterson where he commented that it took a long time to get used to handling the hot loaves from the oven.
At the age of seventeen he tried to enlist in the Navy but they rejected him because he had a few bad teeth. He proceeded to go to the dentist and have the teeth pulled. He then went and lied about his age and enlisted in the Merchant Marine. During his service he was trained in the maintenance of ship boilers. He served from November 1942 through May of 1946 on the following vessels: Thomas Johnson, Isaac Coles, Richard Henry Dana and the John M. Schofield. During his service he received the following medals: Atlantic War Zone Medal, Merchant Marine Emblem and the Mediterranean-Middle East War Zone Medal.
After his service in the military he worked at the Ford Motor Company, Mahwah, Whippany Paper Board Co., Whippany, and later the American Cyanamid Corporation, Linden where he retired from in 1995. To advance his career he attended the County College of Morris and received several boiler engineering seals.
Robert loved to walk and could often be found taking his daily two mile trip to Wolfson’s Market in Lincoln Park. On one occasion he walked all the way to the Shop Rite Supermarket in Lincoln Park which was a six mile roundtrip that had the police searching for him. He was always smiling and generous to all he met. His daughter even recalls that she couldn’t remember her father ever being in a bad mood. He loved his vegetable garden where he grew tomatoes, peppers, carrots, many other vegetables and even had an apple and pear tree. Each year his wife would tell him to stay out of the apple tree and each year he would fall out of the apple tree while pruning it. He would share his harvest for friends, family, and neighbors.
A dedicated family man, he took great pride in the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed helping each of his three children establish a home they could call their own. He also helped them maintain their homes and just ten years ago or so was thirty-five feet up on a ladder painting his daughter’s home in Morristown. One of Robert’s favorite family stories was about the Prohibition years when his family was brewing bathtub whisky in Totowa. They would drive the illegal brew to bars in Paterson, Boonton, and even to a few places in Pennsylvania.
After his service in the Merchant Marine Robert always had a love for the ocean and ships. He enjoyed watching the History Channel and documentaries about WWII. The family would make annual trips to Long Branch and stay in a bungalow or make day trips to Sandy Hook. At both beaches Robert would sit with binoculars to watch and identify the passing vessels.
He was the loving and devoted husband of fifty-three years to the late Bernice (Wilday) Alexander; loving father of the late Dennis Alexander(2000), Bernice Caravaglia of Morristown, and Robert R. Alexander III of Totowa; devoted grandfather of the late David Caravaglia(2009), Michael and his wife Therrisa, Adam, Vanessa, Joseph, Mark, and Paul Caravaglia, Daniel Alexander, Tim, and Colette Enos; much loved great-grandfather of Amanda, Kaitlin, Michelle, and Michael Caravaglia.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, December 16, 2010, from 3-6 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM on Friday, December 17, 2010 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
December 11, 2010
Services
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, December 16, 2010, from 3-6 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM on Friday, December 17, 2010 at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Laurel Grove Cemetery, Totowa.
Robert R. Alexander, Jr. age 85 of Wayne passed away on Saturday, December 11, 2010.
He was born and raised in Paterson having moved to Wayne in 1953.
When in the eighth grade he was told he had to walk miles to school so he opted to get a job instead. He got his first job at the Wonderbread Factory, Paterson where he commented that it took a long time to get used to handling the hot loaves from the oven.
At the age of seventeen he tried to enlist in the Navy but they rejected him because he had a few bad teeth. He proceeded to go to the dentist and have the teeth pulled. He then went and lied about his age and enlisted in the Merchant Marine. During his service he was trained in the maintenance of ship boilers. He served from November 1942 through May of 1946 on the following vessels: Thomas Johnson, Isaac Coles, Richard Henry Dana and the John M. Schofield. During his service he received the following medals: Atlantic War Zone Medal, Merchant Marine Emblem and the Mediterranean-Middle East War Zone Medal.
After his service in the military he worked at the Ford Motor Company, Mahwah, Whippany Paper Board Co., Whippany, and later the American Cyanamid Corporation, Linden where he retired from in 1995. To advance his career he attended the County College of Morris and received several boiler engineering seals.
Robert loved to walk and could often be found taking his daily two mile trip to Wolfson’s Market in Lincoln Park. On one occasion he walked all the way to the Shop Rite Supermarket in Lincoln Park which was a six mile roundtrip that had the police searching for him. He was always smiling and generous to all he met. His daughter even recalls that she couldn’t remember her father ever being in a bad mood. He loved his vegetable garden where he grew tomatoes, peppers, carrots, many other vegetables and even had an apple and pear tree. Each year his wife would tell him to stay out of the apple tree and each year he would fall out of the apple tree while pruning it. He would share his harvest for friends, family, and neighbors.
A dedicated family man, he took great pride in the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed helping each of his three children establish a home they could call their own. He also helped them maintain their homes and just ten years ago or so was thirty-five feet up on a ladder painting his daughter’s home in Morristown. One of Robert’s favorite family stories was about the Prohibition years when his family was brewing bathtub whisky in Totowa. They would drive the illegal brew to bars in Paterson, Boonton, and even to a few places in Pennsylvania.
After his service in the Merchant Marine Robert always had a love for the ocean and ships. He enjoyed watching the History Channel and documentaries about WWII. The family would make annual trips to Long Branch and stay in a bungalow or make day trips to Sandy Hook. At both beaches Robert would sit with binoculars to watch and identify the passing vessels.
He was the loving and devoted husband of fifty-three years to the late Bernice (Wilday) Alexander; loving father of the late Dennis Alexander(2000), Bernice Caravaglia of Morristown, and Robert R. Alexander III of Totowa; devoted grandfather of the late David Caravaglia(2009), Michael and his wife Therrisa, Adam, Vanessa, Joseph, Mark, and Paul Caravaglia, Daniel Alexander, Tim, and Colette Enos; much loved great-grandfather of Amanda, Kaitlin, Michelle, and Michael Caravaglia.
Guestbook