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December 16, 2010
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, December 20, 2010 from 4-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM December 21, 2010 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
William F. Geraghty, Jr., age 87 of Manahawkin, formerly of Wayne, died on Thursday, December 16, 2010.
Bill was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ and graduated from Henry Snyder High School. He began working for Western Electric Company before the outbreak of World War II. Bill enlisted in the Army in August 1942 and became an early member of the 506th Parachute Regiment of the famous 101st Airborne Division. He earned his Parachutist’s Badge after completing Parachute Jump School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, as well as his Combat Infantry Badge. Bill was among those brave men, during the D-Day Invasion, who were dropped behind enemy lines in gliders hours before the land invasion was set to begin. He fought for three days before being captured by the Germans on June 9, 1944 and taken as a prisoner of war. As the Allies continued their advance, Bill was moved from one POW camp to another, either on freight trains or in the backs of trucks. He was finally liberated from Stalag IIIC, Kristern, Germany, on January 29, 1945, three days after his twenty second birthday, by the advancing Russian Army. As was the custom of the Russian Army, Corporal Geraghty was left to his own resources to find his way back to friendly forces. Despite over seven months of minimal sustenance, and operating in enemy-occupied territory, he advanced through Eastern Germany and most of Poland, finally arriving in Odessa, Russia on February 28, 1945. Corporal Geraghty was formally received by Allied Military Control on March 1, 1945. After leaving Odessa, he arrived in Port Said, Egypt on March 17th, then went on to Naples, Italy where he stayed for ten days before shipping out and arriving in Boston on April 8, 1945, nearly ten months after being taken prisoner. With Bill’s passing, we have surely lost another brave man from the Greatest Generation.
After the war, Bill returned to Jersey City and began working at Western Electric again. He ultimately retired after forty five years of devoted service with Western Electric. He married his pre-war sweetheart, Marjorie McKenna, in 1946 and they started a family. Within a few years, they outgrew their Jersey City home and moved to Clifton and then finally to Wayne in 1962. Raising six boys was a journey full of joys and challenges. The 6 foot D-Day veteren had his hands full with his 5 foot 2 Margie. They enjoyed fifty seven years of the perfect “Irish” marriage before Marjorie passed in 2003. Bill was heartbroken and lost, to a degree, because Marjorie was the steady hand that kept everything in order for him.
Throughout life, Bill was his own man, a simple man, and content doing what he felt was right. During his working days, he had his daily ritual which included too many cigarettes for any one person, and a six pack of Piel’s Real Draft beer as he watched the New York Mets or the football Giants on his 19" Zenith TV perched on the kitchen table. He was also very happy to go fishing, especially at Lake Gerard in Hardyston, New Jersey, where his family spent many summers. His boys all have fond memories of their times at Lake Gerard and of their dad fishing and winning at horseshoes - memories only offset by those spam and scramble egg dinners on the nights Margie wasn't there.
After retiring, Bill and Margie were able to do some travelling. They went to Hawaii, Colorado, and California, but Bill was most relaxed in Manahawkin, at his home on the water, where he retired in 1985 and has lived ever since.
Bill is survived by his six sons: William and wife Susan of Nutley, Richard of Manahawkin, Robert and wife Laurie of Roseland, James and wife Rahel of Wayne, John and wife Leslie of Wayne, and Michael and wife Kelly of Denver, NC, as well as seventeen grandchildren: Gary, Ricky, Christopher, James, David, Douglas, James, Anna, Patrick, Geena, Kevin, Matthew, Danny, Michael, Amanda and Grace, four great grandchildren: Madison, Jackson, Mia, and Isabel. Bill was predeceased by his wife Marjorie in 2003 and grandson Peter Geraghty of Roseland in 2009.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 322 N. Lauderdale St., Memphis, TN 38105-2729 would be appreciated.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, December 20, 2010 from 4-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM December 21, 2010 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
December 16, 2010
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Monday, December 20, 2010 from 4-9 PM.
Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM December 21, 2010 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
William F. Geraghty, Jr., age 87 of Manahawkin, formerly of Wayne, died on Thursday, December 16, 2010.
Bill was born and raised in Jersey City, NJ and graduated from Henry Snyder High School. He began working for Western Electric Company before the outbreak of World War II. Bill enlisted in the Army in August 1942 and became an early member of the 506th Parachute Regiment of the famous 101st Airborne Division. He earned his Parachutist’s Badge after completing Parachute Jump School at Ft. Benning, Georgia, as well as his Combat Infantry Badge. Bill was among those brave men, during the D-Day Invasion, who were dropped behind enemy lines in gliders hours before the land invasion was set to begin. He fought for three days before being captured by the Germans on June 9, 1944 and taken as a prisoner of war. As the Allies continued their advance, Bill was moved from one POW camp to another, either on freight trains or in the backs of trucks. He was finally liberated from Stalag IIIC, Kristern, Germany, on January 29, 1945, three days after his twenty second birthday, by the advancing Russian Army. As was the custom of the Russian Army, Corporal Geraghty was left to his own resources to find his way back to friendly forces. Despite over seven months of minimal sustenance, and operating in enemy-occupied territory, he advanced through Eastern Germany and most of Poland, finally arriving in Odessa, Russia on February 28, 1945. Corporal Geraghty was formally received by Allied Military Control on March 1, 1945. After leaving Odessa, he arrived in Port Said, Egypt on March 17th, then went on to Naples, Italy where he stayed for ten days before shipping out and arriving in Boston on April 8, 1945, nearly ten months after being taken prisoner. With Bill’s passing, we have surely lost another brave man from the Greatest Generation.
After the war, Bill returned to Jersey City and began working at Western Electric again. He ultimately retired after forty five years of devoted service with Western Electric. He married his pre-war sweetheart, Marjorie McKenna, in 1946 and they started a family. Within a few years, they outgrew their Jersey City home and moved to Clifton and then finally to Wayne in 1962. Raising six boys was a journey full of joys and challenges. The 6 foot D-Day veteren had his hands full with his 5 foot 2 Margie. They enjoyed fifty seven years of the perfect “Irish” marriage before Marjorie passed in 2003. Bill was heartbroken and lost, to a degree, because Marjorie was the steady hand that kept everything in order for him.
Throughout life, Bill was his own man, a simple man, and content doing what he felt was right. During his working days, he had his daily ritual which included too many cigarettes for any one person, and a six pack of Piel’s Real Draft beer as he watched the New York Mets or the football Giants on his 19" Zenith TV perched on the kitchen table. He was also very happy to go fishing, especially at Lake Gerard in Hardyston, New Jersey, where his family spent many summers. His boys all have fond memories of their times at Lake Gerard and of their dad fishing and winning at horseshoes - memories only offset by those spam and scramble egg dinners on the nights Margie wasn't there.
After retiring, Bill and Margie were able to do some travelling. They went to Hawaii, Colorado, and California, but Bill was most relaxed in Manahawkin, at his home on the water, where he retired in 1985 and has lived ever since.
Bill is survived by his six sons: William and wife Susan of Nutley, Richard of Manahawkin, Robert and wife Laurie of Roseland, James and wife Rahel of Wayne, John and wife Leslie of Wayne, and Michael and wife Kelly of Denver, NC, as well as seventeen grandchildren: Gary, Ricky, Christopher, James, David, Douglas, James, Anna, Patrick, Geena, Kevin, Matthew, Danny, Michael, Amanda and Grace, four great grandchildren: Madison, Jackson, Mia, and Isabel. Bill was predeceased by his wife Marjorie in 2003 and grandson Peter Geraghty of Roseland in 2009.
In lieu of flowers, donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, 322 N. Lauderdale St., Memphis, TN 38105-2729 would be appreciated.
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