Obituaries

Laura C Hardy (nee Whary) 52, passed away peacefully August 7th at JSUMC, Neptune NJ surrounded by close family, culminating a wonderful and fulfilling life of service on behalf of New Jersey’s endangered shore and woodland birds and plants. Her love of the outdoors was infectious, and her remarkable dedication to our state’s endangered shore birds such as the Piping Plover, lead her to important positions as a Lifetime Member and Program Monitor for the NJ Audubon Society, the Monmouth County NJ and Atlanta Georgia Audubon Societies, as well as volunteer posts with the Monmouth County Parks System and the Atlanta Beltline Arboretum.

Laura was fond of gardening, taking great pride in caring for her African Violets and her black Labrador Retriever Blackberry. She received her Master Gardener certification from Rutgers University Cooperative Extension in 1999. She was also a talented nature photographer and authored the highly regarded blog “Somewhere in New Jersey.”

Back on dry land, Laura worked most recently as a Technical Account Manager for Yardi Systems Inc., and National Housing Compliance, Tucker GA, reporting on housing compliance. She also worked as a social worker for the Monmouth County Public Housing Authority and served as a Human Services Specialist, Bilingual, for Monmouth County Division of Social Services.

John P. “Smokey” Felsmann passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on August 5, 2022. John was a life-long resident of Fair Haven, a community he was proud to serve for 59 years.

He graduated from Red Bank Catholic in 1960 and served in the Coast Guard from 1963-1968. He retired from his position with the Red Bank Post Office in 1997. In 1965, John was married to Trudy Boehme of Little Silver and the couple raised their three children in Fair Haven.

John had a deep love for the Navesink River and spent his life boating, fishing and crabbing. After his retirement, John and Trudy became avid travelers having taken 41 cruises together to ports all around the world.

Robert “Poppy” Roberto passed away peacefully on August 6th with his family by his side. Poppy grew up in Newark NJ and moved to the jersey shore with his family in his early teens. He attended Long Branch High School and excelled in football being All State and received a scholarship to Gettysburg College. In college he was nominated as an All American Football player and his love for football would remain with him for the rest of his life. He met and married the love of his life Patricia Goodwin and lived, worked and raised his family in Rumson before moving to Monmouth Beach in 2000.

Poppy had a successful real estate business that allowed him to have the freedom to never miss a Pop Warner, high school or college football game for his sons. In his later years you could find poppy at the practice field 5 days a week watching his beloved grandchildren practicing every day for their football, basketball or baseball games. The true loves of his life were is 10 grandchildren who adored him as much as he adored them.

Irene E. Piskovics, a long-time resident of Red Bank, passed away peacefully on August 5, 2022.

Irene was a Managing Executive Director at Bell Labs/ATT in Holmdel until her retirement in 1994.

She was a true lover of animals.

Irene is survived by her long-time companion Carl T. Peterson.

Rachael Twigg, 42 of Highlands, NJ born June 3, 1980 passed away Thursday July 28, 2022 of Breast Cancer. She is survived by her husband, Christopher Moran, and their children Scottie and Clancy. She was the daughter of Barbara Johnson Twigg of Red Bank, and the late Robert Scott Twigg of Little Silver. Rachael is also survived by siblings, a sister, Jennifer Spagnuolo of Monmouth Beach; brothers, Lee Hoagland of Long Branch; Shawn Hoagland of Fair Haven, along with 5 nieces, 1 nephew, a bunch of aunts, uncles and first cousins.

Rachael was born in Miami Beach, FL although lived most of her childhood in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ. Rachael attended Red Bank Regional H.S. and was a starter on the Girls Basketball 1998 D3 State Champion Team that was later inducted into the RBR Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2003 she graduated UNC, Charlotte with a BA degree in Literature. Rachael went on to Patterson Teaching Academy 2004-2006, then taught at Lakewood High School 2006-2012, then at Neptune City Middle School from 2012-2022. During her tenure Rachael coached girls basketball. Rachael had a strong passion for reading and writing. She is described as a teacher who gained respect from her students through being an active listener to their specific needs for them to be able to learn.

Anthony Thomas Bruno, age 85, died peacefully Friday, July 22, 2022 at Opis Bridgeview Center in Ormond Beach, Florida. He was born at Riverview Hospital in Red Bank, NJ to Thomas and Lucia Bruno and resided in Little Silver for most of his life. After graduating Red Bank High School (RBHS) in 1951, Anthony attended the University of Notre Dame where he graduated with magna cum laude honors in 1960 and completed law school in 1961. While at Notre Dame, Anthony met his beloved wife, Claudia, and they were married on September 28, 1963.

Over the next 35 years, Anthony built his law practice at the firm of Reussille, Mausner, Carotenuto, Bruno, Barger Esq. During that time, Anthony volunteered in multiple capacities for Little Silver including councilman, mayor, and as a life member of the Little Silver Volunteer Fire Co. He served on various boards including the Monmouth County Mental Health Association, the NJ Association for Mental Health and the Center for Vocational Rehabilitation. After serving Little Silver’s local government for decades, Anthony was appointed in May 1996 to be a New Jersey Administrative Law Judge until his retirement in 2005.

A certain sparkle on this good earth dimmed on July 26^th when Patrick J. Farmer passed on while under Hospice at Riverview Medical Center. He was born in the living room of his newly immigrated parents’ Newark, NJ home on April 22, 1944. Pat’s 78 years brought to many his unselfish gifts of laughter, kindness, enthusiasm, song, dance and knowledge. Pat, a graduate of Walsh College in Canton, Ohio, personally brightened thousands of lives within his 44-year tenure as a teacher of Spanish at Red Bank Catholic High School. Not only did he instruct the language, but conveyed his first-hand knowledge of the many facets of Spain and Mexico to his students. He had studied the history and cultures, in addition to extensive travels in the countries. His grateful former students are now living around the world.

Pat had a curious side to him which prompted his life-long learning of the English language, and the many gifts of nature found in flowers, the sea, and birds, about which he had an extensive knowledge of species.

Mary Torrisi Cole, age 75, passed away peacefully at her home in Neptune, NJ on July 25, surrounded by her family.

Mary was born in New Brunswick on July 23, 1947 to the late Angelo Torrisi and Jennie Anastasi Torrisi.   In addition to her parents, Mary is predeceased by her son Jonathan Cole.

Mary received a St. Elizabeth’s Nursing School degree, and later continued her studies at Georgian Court, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Psychology.  She combined these studies in her passionate work as a Psychiatric Nurse, serving the Monmouth County community for many years until her retirement.

Stephen Surico, 71, beloved husband of the late Sandra Abouzeid Surico, passed away at their home in Little Silver on July 21, in the loving care of his grand-daughter Lucia Abouzeid and her partner Josh Kim. Although he had no children of his own, he was cherished as a father and grandfather to the many members of his extended family and will be deeply missed by all.

He was born in Italy, and grew up in Syosset, New York, with his brother John and sister Margo. He was a professional electrician and loved to tell stories of the grand buildings in New York City that he helped to wire. Stephen’s passion, however, was art. He was an accomplished sculptor and painter, and an avid art historian. He credited his high-school art teacher with encouraging him to pursue what turned out to be a life-long journey of creativity that touched everyone who met him.