Obituaries

 Douglas J. Spitz of Rumson, N.J. passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on the evening of August 19, 2022 at the age of 56. During the last year of his life, Doug bravely battled brain cancer with the support of his loving family.  He embraced life with kindness, integrity, generosity and adventure.

Doug was born March 15, 1966, in Trenton, N.J. to Phyllis and John Spitz. He was raised in Long Branch, N.J, where he enjoyed playing football and picked up his life-long hobby of fishing. Doug graduated from Long Branch High School class of 1984 and continued his education at The College of New Jersey class of 1988. 

Ryan Thomas Talbot was born in 1985, leaving us on August 19, 2022   Following graduation from Red Bank Catholic, he joined the Army to serve his country, including a 15-month tour in Iraq. Most recently, Ryan served in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, selflessly defending vulnerable citizens. 

Ryan loved music, attending concerts, and took joy in playing guitar. Ryan adored all animals, most notably his Boston Terrier, Ralphie – who he regarded more as family than a pet.            

Ryan possessed an unrelenting wit, managing to lighten grave situations. His big heart and sense of humor were evident to all who knew him. He was honest to a fault, treating everyone with the utmost care and warmth. He went out of his way to care for those around him, even when he was struggling the most. This was the purest reflection of his true self.

Edward J. Aumack entered his eternal life on August 21, 2022, surrounded by his devoted, loving family. Edward was born in Long Branch, NJ, in 1936, and resided in Shrewsbury for the past 50 years. Edward was employed for 32 years with the US Postal Service, working various positions at the Red Bank Post Office and retired in 1992 as Postmaster of Matawan, NJ.

Edward loved and cared for his family, always “there” for everyone in need of his wisdom and guidance. Serious, fair, kind, helpful, competitive, faithful and loving was Edward. He was a lifetime fan of Notre Dame, the Yankees and the Chicago Bears.

Richard W. Jesmajian left a void in our hearts when he departed this earth on 8/20/22. He was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1947 and grew up in Valley Stream, NY, attending Valley Steam Central High School. He earned his BS degree from Union College, KY, an MS degree in Computer Science from Fairleigh Dickinson U. and an MBA in Accounting and Finance from Monmouth University. As an adult he lived in Bergen County, Middletown NJ and most recently in Tinton Falls.

He retired from AT&T Labs after 25 years, having also been a part of AT&T long Lines, Bell Labs, and AT&T International. His specialization was in designing distributed application architectures and negotiating domestic and international telecommunication standards. After that he did contract work for Bell South, Tektronics and AT&T Labs. He was currently an Adjunct Prof., teaching computer science courses at Brookdale Community College and Monmouth University.

Bridget “Breeda” Gillen was born on April 14, 1932 to Brigid and Daniel O’Connell, the fifth of six children in Glanmire, County Cork, Ireland. She grew up on Templesque farm with her siblings William, Helen, Mary, Patrick and Donal. Bridget immigrated to NYC from Cobh, Ireland on a transatlantic steamship in 1955. She was joined later by her brother Patrick and her best friend Patricia who married Patrick.

William Gillen from Red Hook Brooklyn proposed to Breeda in 1962. They were married at Church of the Holy Family in the Bronx and they honeymooned in a rose covered cottage in Nantucket. Their first home was a winterized bungalow in Breezy Point and later a house in Belle Harbor, New York where they raised their four children Maureen, Eileen, Kevin and Brian. Many Sunday dinners were shared with her brother Patrick's family. Although Breeda could not swim she loved the ocean and made sure all her children became strong swimmers. They all served as lifeguards in Rockaway Beach rescuing many lives over the years.

Robert Leonard Boyle, Sr. passed peacefully on Friday, August 12^th amid the prayers of many.

Bob was born on September 22^nd, 1935, to John and Katherine Boyle of Jersey City and Allenhurst, New Jersey. After attending The Peddie School and Seton Hall University, Bob took on leadership positions in The Hudson Dispatch Newspaper Corporation, Union City and the John F. Boyle Box Company, Jersey City and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Commercial Trust Company, UJB Financial and Summit Bancorp for over twenty years.

Always civic and community minded, he served on many Boards as a Trustee and officer including Monmouth Medical Center Foundation, St. Peter’s University, Visiting Nurses Association Health Group, The Catholic Advocate, Rumson Country Day School, New Jersey Press Association, Supreme Court of New Jersey Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct, Oceanic Free Library, Parents Support Group of New Jersey among them.

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.