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July 28, 2026
Services
Friends are invited to gather with the family on Friday, July 31, 2026 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, NJ.
A Funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2026 beginning at 10 AM at Our Lady of Consolation Church, 1799 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne, NJ.
Interment will follow at Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes, NJ.
Susan J. Palinski, age 73 of Wayne, passed away on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
Sue was born the eldest of three children to George and Ruth Hock and raised in Wayne, NJ. She spent her school years playing clarinet in the Wayne Hills High School Marching Band and was active as a Girl Scout. It was also in her hometown, on the beach of Lionshead Lake, that she started a friendship with a local boy named Rich who delivered the morning paper to her street. That childhood friendship turned into young love in their early teens and then a lifelong partnership in 1973 when the young couple were married at their church, Our Lady of Consolation in Wayne.
After graduating high school, Sue began a decade-long career with Mosler in Wayne where she handled the company’s bookkeeping and accounting. Following their wedding, she and Rich moved into what was famously the smallest house in Ringwood (a home so modest it would no longer qualify as a legal residence by today’s square-footage standards). They often joked that surviving those close quarters together only proved how strong their love really was. After several years there, they settled into their lifelong home in Wayne, where they would live for more than 40 years.
When Rich’s kitchen business began to grow, Sue left Mosler to work alongside her husband full-time, and together they ran Rich’s Kitchens for 42 years. Whether it was a tiny first home or four decades of working side by side, Sue and Rich faced every challenge in life together, and they cherished those moments spent in each other’s company.
The ocean held a special place in Sue’s heart from a young age. Her family owned a bungalow in Seaside Park, and in the 1980s, Sue and Rich bought that same bungalow from her family so that it would stay a favorite gathering place for generations to come.
In 1997, Sue and Rich welcomed their daughter, Sara, into their family, raising her with love and warmth. The family was also never without a pair of Westies, most recently Bailey and Molly, who unfortunately passed within the last two years.
Outside of family and work, Sue found joy in sewing and craft projects, and she was a voracious reader. She loved feeding the birds in her yard (and kept the squirrels well fed too so they’d leave the birdseed alone). She will be remembered for her loving and caring nature, her boundless curiosity, her strong will and capacity to fight the battles life threw at her, and her deep passion for life.
Sue is predeceased by her parents, George and Ruth Hock, and her sister, Tracy.
She is survived by her husband, Rich Palinski; her daughter, Sara Tomasheski, and her husband, David; her sister, Donna; her grandchildren, Rian and Avery; and her many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial donations to the Wayne First Aid Squad
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends are invited to gather with the family on Friday, July 31, 2026 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, NJ.
A Funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2026 beginning at 10 AM at Our Lady of Consolation Church, 1799 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne, NJ.
Interment will follow at Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes, NJ.
July 28, 2026
Services
Friends are invited to gather with the family on Friday, July 31, 2026 from 4-8 PM at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, NJ.
A Funeral Mass will take place on Saturday, August 1, 2026 beginning at 10 AM at Our Lady of Consolation Church, 1799 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne, NJ.
Interment will follow at Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes, NJ.
Susan J. Palinski, age 73 of Wayne, passed away on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
Sue was born the eldest of three children to George and Ruth Hock and raised in Wayne, NJ. She spent her school years playing clarinet in the Wayne Hills High School Marching Band and was active as a Girl Scout. It was also in her hometown, on the beach of Lionshead Lake, that she started a friendship with a local boy named Rich who delivered the morning paper to her street. That childhood friendship turned into young love in their early teens and then a lifelong partnership in 1973 when the young couple were married at their church, Our Lady of Consolation in Wayne.
After graduating high school, Sue began a decade-long career with Mosler in Wayne where she handled the company’s bookkeeping and accounting. Following their wedding, she and Rich moved into what was famously the smallest house in Ringwood (a home so modest it would no longer qualify as a legal residence by today’s square-footage standards). They often joked that surviving those close quarters together only proved how strong their love really was. After several years there, they settled into their lifelong home in Wayne, where they would live for more than 40 years.
When Rich’s kitchen business began to grow, Sue left Mosler to work alongside her husband full-time, and together they ran Rich’s Kitchens for 42 years. Whether it was a tiny first home or four decades of working side by side, Sue and Rich faced every challenge in life together, and they cherished those moments spent in each other’s company.
The ocean held a special place in Sue’s heart from a young age. Her family owned a bungalow in Seaside Park, and in the 1980s, Sue and Rich bought that same bungalow from her family so that it would stay a favorite gathering place for generations to come.
In 1997, Sue and Rich welcomed their daughter, Sara, into their family, raising her with love and warmth. The family was also never without a pair of Westies, most recently Bailey and Molly, who unfortunately passed within the last two years.
Outside of family and work, Sue found joy in sewing and craft projects, and she was a voracious reader. She loved feeding the birds in her yard (and kept the squirrels well fed too so they’d leave the birdseed alone). She will be remembered for her loving and caring nature, her boundless curiosity, her strong will and capacity to fight the battles life threw at her, and her deep passion for life.
Sue is predeceased by her parents, George and Ruth Hock, and her sister, Tracy.
She is survived by her husband, Rich Palinski; her daughter, Sara Tomasheski, and her husband, David; her sister, Donna; her grandchildren, Rian and Avery; and her many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews.
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial donations to the Wayne First Aid Squad
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