Vivian “Joan” Breithaupt

Vivian “Joan” Breithaupt, age 87, of Wayne, passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, July 29, 2021.

Joan was born in Hackensack to Chester and Amelia Daeschler. She was raised in the family home in Carlstadt and graduated from East Rutherford High School with the Class of 1952.

After high school Joan worked for Becton Dickinson Corporation at their corporate headquarters in East Rutherford. She served there as a receptionist for four years and this is where she met her future husband Robert “Bob” Lee Breithaupt. Bob was a sales representative who was just in from Salt Lake City, Utah and he had to pass by Joan’s desk for several days. Each day he stayed to chat with her just a bit longer and soon they were dating. Bob had grown up in Phoenicia, New York where life centered around fishing, skiing, and all types of outdoor activities. Bob especially enjoyed fly fishing and soon found out that Joan’s father Chester enjoyed the sport as well. That solidified a friendship as Joan and Bob were falling in love. Bob eventually asked Chester for Joan’s hand in marriage and he enthusiastically gave his blessing.

Joan and Bob married on Saturday, April 6, 1957 at the 1st Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge. After a reception at Gene Boyles Restaurant in Clifton they honeymooned in Bob’s family’s home in Miami, Florida. Joan and Bob started their family in the Pines Lake section of Wayne and designed and built their dream home. They loved Pines Lake as it reminded them of their youth as Joan spent her formative years summering at Lake Kemah, NJ and Bob’s outdoor roots were established in Phoenicia, NY. All were involved with camping, swimming, sailing, fishing, ice skating and the many other opportunities lake living offered. Family vacations consisted of summers in Maine, skiing at Mad River Glen in Vermont and camping on the family farm in Phoenicia.  Joan and Bob had a loving and devoted marriage of thirty-five years before his passing in 1992.

Joan was a sixty-one year member of the Preakness Reformed Church in Wayne where she served as a Deacon and volunteered her time and talents to many different functions and events at the church such as decorating the church and the Van Riper Hopper House at Christmas time. She loved flower gardening and was a past-president and honorary lifetime member of the Pines Lake Garden Club. She enjoyed shopping and was always dressed impeccably. Joan loved to entertain and whether it was friends or family, she was the consummate host. Favorite family meals included pot roast, chicken fricassee, “Turkey Breithaupt”, soda bread and carrot cake.

Her house was truly a home, beautifully decorated with antiques and she hosted every holiday for family and friends.  Joan will always be known as the “hostess with the mostest”. She organized an annual Christmas cookie exchange party and for thirty years close friends would come to share their special cookies. Joan will be remembered as a beautiful, classy, witty, independent, and strong person with a wonderful sense of humor that always came through. As a child of the Great Depression she would often recount laying on the floor in the living room and listening to the radio when Pearl Harbor was attacked. She loved the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) on television, Masterpiece Theatre, and going to the Paper Mill Playhouse with friends. Most of all Joan loved and was proud of her family. She loved to attend many of her children’s and grandchildren’s sporting events through the years. She even showed up at a granddaughter’s ski race with a fur coat on! She loved visiting her granddaughters at college and taking them and friends out to dinner. She was also proud to have attended all her grandchildren’s high school, college, and Air Force graduation ceremonies.

Joan had a love for music and the “Make Believe Ballroom” was always playing on the radio in her kitchen. She also had fond memories of seeing a young Frank Sinatra at the Rustic Cabin in Englewood Cliffs. Even as of late she enjoyed listening to the satellite radio station Siriusly Sinatra while driving around in her beloved convertibles after many years of driving family station wagons. When it came to her cars, she always kept her husband’s GATE13 license plates (he was in the Acapella group, Colgate 13) which always had people asking what the plates meant. Joan loved to dance and was in the Robin Harrington School of Dance adult group back in the 1970’s. For many years she and Bob sailed the Jet 443 on Pines Lake. They never won a race but hosted many sailing club gatherings and even recently spoke of North Island parties with the “Battenkill 5.”

Later in life, Joan traveled to many parts of the world with friends.  In the summer, she would swim and spend time with friends at West Beach…also known as the West Beach Mermaids.

Joan was the loving wife of the late Robert “Bob” Lee Breithaupt (d. 1992); devoted mother of Robin Preuss (Kenneth) of Boonton, Holly Ryan (Scott) of Wayne, Allison Breithaupt of Unionville, CT, and Noel Turner (Peter) of Burlington, CT. She was the cherished grandmother of Jonathan (Michele) Preuss, Deven Yudelson, Bethany (James) Donaldson, Erin Ryan, Meryl Ryan, Sage Yudelson, Jennifer Carmody, and Staff Sgt. Heather Carmody (Jorden Crouse) and her much-loved great grandson Owen Preuss. Joan was predeceased by her brother Albert Daeschler.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Joan’s name are asked to consider Preakness Reformed Church, 131 Church Lane, Wayne, NJ 07470.