MAZANEC, Josephine (‘Jo’, ‘Josie’), nee Quercia, died at age 90 at her home on Friday, September 2, 2011 with her husband of sixty eight years, Frank James Mazanec, at her side. Josephine was born on July 4, 1921 in Fairview, New Jersey and was a life long resident of New Jersey, residing in the towns of Fairview, West New York and Little Ferry, New Jersey until 2010 when she moved to Bridgeport, CT.
Josephine is survived by her husband, her three children and their spouses, Frank and Claudia Mazanec, Encinitas, CA, Michele and Al Meliti, Little Ferry, NJ and Carolyn and Floyd Dugas, Milford, CT and six grandchildren and two great grandchildren: Rachael, Chelsea and Chandler Dugas, Nicholas Meliti, Ashley Mazanec and Sean Mazanec and his wife Marcella and their daughters, Sophia and Emma Josephine Mazanec. She is also survived by her two sisters, Nancy Cincotta and Ray Presutti and her brother, Al Quercia, five sisters-in-law, two brothers-in-law and twenty three nieces and nephews.
Josephine is predeceased by her loving parents, Alfonso and Josephine Quercia, her sister Mary Vinci and three brothers Michael, Anthony and Jerry Quercia and three sisters-in-law, Betty Quercia, Dolly Quercia, Lorraine Mazanec and four brothers-in-law, Bart Cincotta, Gene Vinci, Jack Mazanec, and John Tribastone and one niece.
Josephine graduated from Lincoln School, Fairview, NJ and attended Cliffside Park High School. She left high school before graduating and worked at an early age at a variety of jobs to help support first her large Italian family and then her own family. She was employed in a button factory in North Bergen, New Jersey as a teenager where she met her husband, Frank, who also worked there. She was also employed as a waitress, salesperson and babysitter. In her later years, Josephine was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #809, Little Ferry, NJ and the Little Ferry Senior Center.
Josephine will best be remembered for her kind heart, beautiful blue eyes, gentle manner, and how she had a kind word for all she met. She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, wonderful cook and homemaker. She will be deeply missed.
Family and friends are invited to pay their respects at Volk Leber Funeral Home, 789 Teaneck Rd. Teaneck, NJ on Tuesday, September 6th between the hours of 1-3 pm and 6-8 pm. Funeral service to begin from the funeral home on Wednesday at 10:30 am and then to St. Margaret of Cortona RCC in Little Ferry, NJ for a 11:30 am Mass of Christian Burial. Interment to follow at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her name to: The Alzheimer’s Association, Greater NJ Chapter, 400 Morris Avenue, Suite 251, Denville, NJ 07834 or www.alz.org/nj