Walter Stelzenmueller

C. Walter Stelzenmueller, age 89, of Wayne, passed away peacefully on Monday morning, April 8, 2024.

Born Carl Walter Stelzenmueller, he was known to all as Walt Stelzenmueller. Walt was the first born of German immigrants Carl H. and Paula (Wurley) Stelzenmueller.

Walt's early years were spent growing up in the Bronx, NY. During high school, his family moved to Fair Lawn, NJ and Walt graduated from Fair Lawn High School with the Class of 1951.

After high school, Walt entered the workforce starting in the library at the Paterson News newspaper publication. Eventually he took advantage of a two-fold opportunity – joining the union and becoming a driver. His duties involved dropping off bundles of daily newspapers to local stores and to a small army of boys and girls whose job was to deliver the newspapers to their customers on their paper routes. Walt’s territory included much of the lower half of Wayne spanning also into Pequannock, Towaco and Lincoln Park. In the 1980’s there was a union lockout at the Paterson News. This prompted Walt to pick up shifts on Saturdays at the New York Daily News and New York Times and eventually lead to full-time work at the New York Times in New York City where he soon was promoted to Foreman. Walt remained in this position until retirement in 1997. His entire career, which spanned 46 years was in the newspaper business.

Early in his career, while working at the Paterson News, Walt had the pleasure of meeting an editor at the newspaper named Elaine Possien. They went on a few dates, liked what they saw in each other and eventually fell in love. That love led to marriage with the wedding ceremony taking place on Saturday, April 21 at the Pequannock Reformed Church in Wayne. After enjoying a honeymoon in Virginia Beach, Virginia, they started life as husband and wife in an apartment in Paterson. After a year Walt and Elaine purchased a home with Walt’s parents and sister Emilie in Wayne. There they enjoyed many happy memories raising their three children.  They remained there until 2001 when they moved one more time to the Packanack section of Wayne.

Walt was certainly never a guy who suffered from boredom. He was always on the go and up to something. In high school he embraced the thrill of victory and accepted the occasional agony of defeat participating in gymnastics. As a grown man he turned his attention to bowling. He competed with and against his coworkers in the industrial league at T-Bowl in Wayne where he one time even bowled a perfect 300. Walt also loved to go fishing. For many years he’d get together with his father and father-in-law and go freshwater fishing in any of the waters that made up the Newark Watershed. Salt- water fishing was primarily done while vacationing with his family every summer on Assateague Island in Maryland. The campground where they stayed would hold weekly fishing tournaments and one year Walt emerged as the winner when he landed a four-pound blue fish. When he proudly announced this accomplishment to one of his buddies, unimpressed, the guy just laughed at him and told him he’d take him real fishing. He took Walt out on his boat in the Long Island Sound. The first time Walt dropped his line in, he caught a fifteen-pound blue fish! Walt liked that a lot and the two of them fished weekly for many years, after a couple of years Kurt joined the ‘fishing team’ and spent many fun Mondays fishing with Dad & Sonny in the Long Island Sound. Walt inherited a wonderful gift from his father who was a master carpenter. Walt’s father made beautiful wood carvings and passed on the skill to his son. Walt loved spending time in his shop making various wood furniture pieces. One year he also made a beautiful Christmas nativity scene and, being the New York Giants and New York Mets fan that he was, he made Mr. Met figurines out of wood. In fact, they were so popular that he made several of them for family. One of Walt’s other hobbies was photography. He always kept a camera in the glovebox of his car, so it was always ready to capture a special moment. Besides photos, Walt enjoyed videotaping. Consequently, he left his kids a treasure trove of film chronicling their childhoods. 

A longtime member of Pequannock Reformed Church in Wayne and later at First Reformed Church in Pompton Plains, Walt enjoyed the early service which started 8:30 AM at First Reformed Church. He loved the outdoor services in the summer and attending the senior teas. After the height of the covid era, it became increasingly difficult for Walt to attend services in person so he was very grateful that he could watch the services from home. His last service was as recent as this past Easter. Now he is with the Lord whose resurrection he had the privilege of just celebrating.

Walt’s greatest pride and joy was his family. Family vacations and trips with his children were frequently designed to be as educational as they were fun. Day trips with his grandchildren were great times for bonding. Walt and Elaine would have so much fun taking them to various destinations up north in High Point State Park, down south to Sandy Hook, and to all the local zoos in-between. They enjoyed many a winter picnics shivering or having a car picnic, if it was too cold. When Walt and Elaine purchased a permanent camping trailer and a pontoon boat at a campground in Delaware, the whole family would come down to spend a few days or vacation there and go for boat rides or to the beach. That boat ultimately ended up on Greenwood Lake in New York and New Jersey. With the boat closer to home, the grandchildren would come up for the day and have a blast with “Pop” on his boat. When home, Walt loved spending time in his swimming pool and loved it when the family stopped by for a dip. He loved game nights and his favorite game to play was BalderDash. Walt also coached his daughters in the Wayne P.A.L. girls’ softball league. Their team was called The Flamingos.

Walt was a real character. He had a really sharp wit and had a knack for changing the words of a well-known song to something truly funny to fit a given situation. A bit of a flirt he’d talk to anyone that would listen. He had a great voice, and his family will always have fond memories of him singing Sinatra or show tunes in the car. He also sang a couple of years in the church choir. This was especially fun because he got to do this with his wife Elaine and his two daughters Lisa and Lori.

Walt was the beloved husband of Elaine (Possien) Stelzenmueller, blessed in marriage for 64 years until Elaine’s passing in 2021. He was the loving father of Lisa Mackey and husband Darren of Wayne, Lori Osborne of Wayne, and Kurt Stelzenmueller and wife Lori of Fayson Lakes; cherished grandfather of: Ryan Mackey, Trevor Mackey and wife Nicole, David Mackey, Devon Mackey and fiancé Bianca Scheer, Emilee Osborne and fiance’ Nick Knight, Korina Stelzenmueller, and Kylee Stelzenmueller; adoring great-grandfather of Sterling Mackey; dear brother of the late Emilie Peer and her late husband Frank; and dear uncle to 3 surviving nieces and 2 nephews.

As an expression of sympathy in Walt’s name, memorial contributions to First Reformed Church, 529 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444  would be greatly appreciated.