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Services
Friends may visit with the family at Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Thursday, October 8, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A Funeral Mass will be offered on Friday, October 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM from Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Our Lady of the Magnificat Cemetery, Kinnelon.
William G. Broekamp, age 87 of Wayne, passed peacefully on Tuesday, October 6, 2015.
Bill was born in Passaic, the middle child of Michael William and Anna Broekamp’s three children. He grew up in Passaic and, following graduation from Clifton High School in 1946, he voluntarily joined the U.S. Army at the age of nineteen. He proudly served in Japan during World War II and, upon his return to the states in 1947 he was decorated with the World War II Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.
As a parishioner in St. Brendan’s R.C. Church in Clifton, Bill caught the eye of a young lady named Maria Campisi. She would usually see him coming out of church after the 8:00 AM Mass as she was coming to church for the next scheduled Mass. One day Maria asked Father Rugel who this young man might be. Maria remembers that Father Rugel told her who Bill was and then he offered to shoot an arrow through Bill’s heart for her. The word must have somehow gotten back to Bill that Maria was interested in getting to know him better. One day as she was leaving the church after confession, Bill pulled up in his car and beckoned to Maria by honking his horn. They talked for some time and then Bill invited Maria to a show. That was their first date together. The following Valentine’s Day it appeared that Father Rugel’s love arrow must have hit its target as Bill proudly presented Maria with some delicious dark chocolate. It turned out that Maria didn’t like dark chocolate but she sure did like Bill’s friendly, engaging personality and, of course, good looks. They continued to date which led to marriage at St. Brendan’s Church on Saturday, October 6, 1956. After the ceremony they celebrated with a reception at the Swiss Chalet in Rochelle Park, and then honeymooned through the New England States in route to Niagara Falls in Canada. After the honeymoon they settled into their house in Wayne – the same home they shared all of their married life together. Bill and Maria would have celebrated their fifty-ninth anniversary today!
During those early years, Bill and Maria were blessed with four beautiful girls. Bill took his role of providing for them very seriously. His initial worked for Dumont Manufacturing and Tungsoll Corp but both of those companies eventually closed their doors. Then Bill went to work for Westinghouse Lamp Manufacturing Corporation in Bloomfield. Westinghouse was bought out by Philips Corporation in 1984. This time Bill was given a choice; lose his job or move to Lewiston, Maine. With his girls old enough to take care of themselves, Bill and Maria moved to Maine where Bill worked for Philips Corp. from 1985 until retirement in 1990. Philips wanted him to stay but Bill and Maria wanted to go home to be with their daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. Despite choosing retirement, Bill loved his years with Westinghouse and Philips. He always found a way to weave his work years into a conversation and he always enjoyed the reunion luncheons that were held in Somerset once a year.
Bill was a man of many talents, one of which was working with wood. Throughout the years, he made many things out of wood including toys, trains, doll houses, bird houses, and furniture such as cradles, changing tables, and even a television cabinet. He also loved to spend time outdoors in his garden. He grew the usual variety of vegetables as well as flowers from seed because he always liked a burst of color around his house. His daughter Joanne lived next door and she loved to feed the deer and other four-legged creatures. Unfortunately, after dinning at Joanne’s, those animals often headed right over to Bill’s garden for a desert of vegetables and flowers! This drove Bill a little bit crazy.
Soon after Bill and Maria moved to Wayne, they learned about a new church that was going to be built. That church was the Our Lady of the Valley Roman Catholic Church on Valley Road. They were founding members and Bill faithfully served for over thirty-three years as a church trustee. In fact he was presently serving on the board of trustees and he also ushered for countless years at both the 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM masses. His church was like a second home to Bill and he treated it as well as his own home. If he saw something that needed to be fixed, he would just go ahead and fix it. The humble man he was, Bill never sought any glory for his handiwork and consequently never told anyone when he fixed something.
Bill absolutely adored his grandchildren. When they were little, he’d play a simple game with them that he invented. He called the game Bucket Ball and it simply consisted of taking a Wiffleball and throwing into a bucket for points. He really made it a big deal for his grandkids and he’d play it with them in his basement for hours. Sometime he’d take it to a new level requiring that the kids throw the ball off the deck and into the bucket. Blessed to retire at the young age of sixty-two, Bill was always at Our Lady of the Valley School, along with all the other kid’s moms, to pick up his grandkids after school. Bill loved sports and was always at his grandchildren’s sporting events to see them compete. It’s not surprising that Bill got along so well with his grandkids. His own daughters have fond memories of what a great dad Bill was when they were growing up too. He was always out there in the street by his house with his daughters and the other kids in the neighborhood organizing ball games, and he always made it to their sporting events too.
To know Bill was to love him. He could fix anything, had a great sense of humor, and he was smart. You could say that he knew a lot about a lot! He chose to live a simple life in service to God, his family, friends, and church. He was a great example to his kids and a great friend to his wife of fifty-nine years. Other than a trip to Italy where his job with Dumont called him to be once for eleven months, Bill and Maria didn’t do a lot of traveling. They did enjoy going to Long Beach Island in October after all the summer tourist had left. There they enjoyed simple walks on the beach and just being together, enjoying each other’s friendship.
Bill is survived by his beloved wife Maria (nee Campisi); dear daughters: Judy Gorski and husband Ken of Wayne, Joanne Broekamp Hall and husband Dave of Wayne, and Eileen Sweeney and husband Mike of Wayne; son-in-law Henry Vala of Beufort, SC; cherished grandchildren: Brianne, Kelsey, Katie, Michael, Billy and Olivia; and dear sisters: Helen Purn of Pequannock and Lois Martin of Clifton. He was predeceased by his dear daughter Denise Vala in 2013 and his dear granddaughter Maddie in 1996.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Bill’s name are asked to consider St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142, www.stjude.org, or to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, (Office of Development), 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607 www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Thursday, October 8, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A Funeral Mass will be offered on Friday, October 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM from Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Our Lady of the Magnificat Cemetery, Kinnelon.
Services
Friends may visit with the family at Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Thursday, October 8, 2015 from 4-8 PM.
A Funeral Mass will be offered on Friday, October 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM from Our Lady of the Valley R.C. Church. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Our Lady of the Magnificat Cemetery, Kinnelon.
William G. Broekamp, age 87 of Wayne, passed peacefully on Tuesday, October 6, 2015.
Bill was born in Passaic, the middle child of Michael William and Anna Broekamp’s three children. He grew up in Passaic and, following graduation from Clifton High School in 1946, he voluntarily joined the U.S. Army at the age of nineteen. He proudly served in Japan during World War II and, upon his return to the states in 1947 he was decorated with the World War II Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.
As a parishioner in St. Brendan’s R.C. Church in Clifton, Bill caught the eye of a young lady named Maria Campisi. She would usually see him coming out of church after the 8:00 AM Mass as she was coming to church for the next scheduled Mass. One day Maria asked Father Rugel who this young man might be. Maria remembers that Father Rugel told her who Bill was and then he offered to shoot an arrow through Bill’s heart for her. The word must have somehow gotten back to Bill that Maria was interested in getting to know him better. One day as she was leaving the church after confession, Bill pulled up in his car and beckoned to Maria by honking his horn. They talked for some time and then Bill invited Maria to a show. That was their first date together. The following Valentine’s Day it appeared that Father Rugel’s love arrow must have hit its target as Bill proudly presented Maria with some delicious dark chocolate. It turned out that Maria didn’t like dark chocolate but she sure did like Bill’s friendly, engaging personality and, of course, good looks. They continued to date which led to marriage at St. Brendan’s Church on Saturday, October 6, 1956. After the ceremony they celebrated with a reception at the Swiss Chalet in Rochelle Park, and then honeymooned through the New England States in route to Niagara Falls in Canada. After the honeymoon they settled into their house in Wayne – the same home they shared all of their married life together. Bill and Maria would have celebrated their fifty-ninth anniversary today!
During those early years, Bill and Maria were blessed with four beautiful girls. Bill took his role of providing for them very seriously. His initial worked for Dumont Manufacturing and Tungsoll Corp but both of those companies eventually closed their doors. Then Bill went to work for Westinghouse Lamp Manufacturing Corporation in Bloomfield. Westinghouse was bought out by Philips Corporation in 1984. This time Bill was given a choice; lose his job or move to Lewiston, Maine. With his girls old enough to take care of themselves, Bill and Maria moved to Maine where Bill worked for Philips Corp. from 1985 until retirement in 1990. Philips wanted him to stay but Bill and Maria wanted to go home to be with their daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. Despite choosing retirement, Bill loved his years with Westinghouse and Philips. He always found a way to weave his work years into a conversation and he always enjoyed the reunion luncheons that were held in Somerset once a year.
Bill was a man of many talents, one of which was working with wood. Throughout the years, he made many things out of wood including toys, trains, doll houses, bird houses, and furniture such as cradles, changing tables, and even a television cabinet. He also loved to spend time outdoors in his garden. He grew the usual variety of vegetables as well as flowers from seed because he always liked a burst of color around his house. His daughter Joanne lived next door and she loved to feed the deer and other four-legged creatures. Unfortunately, after dinning at Joanne’s, those animals often headed right over to Bill’s garden for a desert of vegetables and flowers! This drove Bill a little bit crazy.
Soon after Bill and Maria moved to Wayne, they learned about a new church that was going to be built. That church was the Our Lady of the Valley Roman Catholic Church on Valley Road. They were founding members and Bill faithfully served for over thirty-three years as a church trustee. In fact he was presently serving on the board of trustees and he also ushered for countless years at both the 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM masses. His church was like a second home to Bill and he treated it as well as his own home. If he saw something that needed to be fixed, he would just go ahead and fix it. The humble man he was, Bill never sought any glory for his handiwork and consequently never told anyone when he fixed something.
Bill absolutely adored his grandchildren. When they were little, he’d play a simple game with them that he invented. He called the game Bucket Ball and it simply consisted of taking a Wiffleball and throwing into a bucket for points. He really made it a big deal for his grandkids and he’d play it with them in his basement for hours. Sometime he’d take it to a new level requiring that the kids throw the ball off the deck and into the bucket. Blessed to retire at the young age of sixty-two, Bill was always at Our Lady of the Valley School, along with all the other kid’s moms, to pick up his grandkids after school. Bill loved sports and was always at his grandchildren’s sporting events to see them compete. It’s not surprising that Bill got along so well with his grandkids. His own daughters have fond memories of what a great dad Bill was when they were growing up too. He was always out there in the street by his house with his daughters and the other kids in the neighborhood organizing ball games, and he always made it to their sporting events too.
To know Bill was to love him. He could fix anything, had a great sense of humor, and he was smart. You could say that he knew a lot about a lot! He chose to live a simple life in service to God, his family, friends, and church. He was a great example to his kids and a great friend to his wife of fifty-nine years. Other than a trip to Italy where his job with Dumont called him to be once for eleven months, Bill and Maria didn’t do a lot of traveling. They did enjoy going to Long Beach Island in October after all the summer tourist had left. There they enjoyed simple walks on the beach and just being together, enjoying each other’s friendship.
Bill is survived by his beloved wife Maria (nee Campisi); dear daughters: Judy Gorski and husband Ken of Wayne, Joanne Broekamp Hall and husband Dave of Wayne, and Eileen Sweeney and husband Mike of Wayne; son-in-law Henry Vala of Beufort, SC; cherished grandchildren: Brianne, Kelsey, Katie, Michael, Billy and Olivia; and dear sisters: Helen Purn of Pequannock and Lois Martin of Clifton. He was predeceased by his dear daughter Denise Vala in 2013 and his dear granddaughter Maddie in 1996.
In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Bill’s name are asked to consider St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148-0142, www.stjude.org, or to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children, (Office of Development), 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607 www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.
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