Jean Elizabeth (Bishop) Neugold, 91, passed away peacefully on April 27, 2020. She was an only child, born in Buffalo, New York, to Morris Earl Bishop and Dorothy Oyer Bishop. Her father’s job as an engineer with DuPont moved the family to Waynesboro, Virginia, where Jean spent most of her childhood. The family moved to Oakridge, Tennessee and then Richland, Washington, during Jean’s high school years because of DuPont’s work on the Manhattan Project. She graduated from Richland High School in 1945 and was a proud Bomber alumna who kept up with her classmates through their Facebook page.
Her parents moved back to Waynesboro and Jean attended Wilson College, a women’s college in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where she majored in math. After graduation, Jean moved to Greenwich Village and worked in the insurance industry. After a brief career, she met Harry Neugold, Jr. on a blind date. They married on November 15, 1952, at the Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro. They had a brief honeymoon in Washington, D.C. on their drive to New Jersey. They moved to the Ivy Hill Apartments in Newark, NewJersey, to be close to Harry’s job in Belleville.
After the birth of their first child, they relocated to Livingston, New Jersey, and their family continued to blossom until they had five children. Jean concentrated on providing a loving environment for her family and took pride in each of her children. She volunteered as a Girl Scout Leader to help develop other young girls in addition to her four daughters. She opened her home to friends and strangers alike. The family often welcomed friends and acquaintances at holidays and hosted a family of refugees from Indonesia as well as a medical student from Africa and a seminary student from Ohio. Everyone who knew her appreciated her sweetness, thoughtfulness and generosity.
As her children grew older, Jean became more involved in outside activities. She worked at the voting polls and was the financial secretary at the Presbyterian Church of Livingston, and through the church, tutored children from Newark. The family developed a lifelong relationship with one of the tutoring students and his mother, whom Jean supported financially until her passing. She also enjoyed traveling, including annual vacations to Damariscotta, Maine, and Waynesboro and trips to California and Europe with Harry.
Jean supported several institutions, including the Papermill Playhouse, the Livingston Public Library, and Wilson College. She attended performances at the Papermill with Harry and ...
