Livingston news

Deborah Gill, formerly of Livingston, died on December 15 at Community Medical Center in Toms River. She was 70 years old.

Born in Newark in 1951, Ms. Gill grew up in Livingston and graduated from Livingston High School. She later resided in Wharton and Manchester.

She earned associate’s degrees from Chamberlayne Junior College in Boston and the County College of Morris, and worked for Chubb Insurance Company for 30 years. She was also a photographer for local newspapers.

Surviving are her brother, David; and her nephews, James (Shumaila) and Thomas.

A memorial service will take place at the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home on Saturday, January 8. Visitation will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m., with the service beginning at 10:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Ms. Gill’s memory to the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, or the Alzheimer’s Association.

John F. Schaedel, 75, who grew up in Livingston, died on December 30. He most recently resided in Springfield.

Mr. Schaedel was educated at St. Philomena’s School and the Delbarton School. He attended Scranton University and received his MBA from New York University.

He was vice president and chief auditing officer at Tiffany and Company for over 30 years.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Patricia (Dengel) Schaedel; his two daughters, Jennifer Leigh and Laura Elizabeth; his son-in-law, Kai Olson-Sawyer; and his three granddaughters. He is also survived by his seven siblings, Joan Schaedel, Tom Schaedel (Denise), Geoff Schaedel, Gene Schaedel (Nancy), Garry Schaedel (Patty), James Schaedel (Steve) and Philip Schaedel (Barbara).

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated at St. James the Apostle Church in Springfield on Tuesday, January 4.

Dear Editor:

I read with interest the well thought-out letter from Keith Covan-Rodriguez a few weeks ago and fully expected letters of praise and support to appear in the weeks that followed. I know that everyone was busy with holiday and end-of-year preparations, and even more time is being devoted to avoidance of the COVID virus. But this young person and the group of students show wisdom beyond their years and should be taken seriously by the Board of Education and administration and the entire community.

We are in the midst of our second (or third, depending on how one frames March of 2020) pandemic winter. Due in large part to the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19, cases are higher than they have ever been on a local and national level. Hospitalizations in New Jersey have reached a point they haven’t seen since May of 2020, with daily case records being broken with each new update.

While there was optimism that we would be further along in the pandemic’s cycle at this point, instead, it feels like more of the same; that we are repeating ourselves; that little, if any progress has been made. But that is simply untrue.

As we embark on a new year, there is much to look forward to in town. We hope to see the return of many annual celebrations in 2022, including the Memorial Day Parade and the Fourth of July fireworks. We also eagerly anticipate the progress and conclusion of some business matters that have been topics of discussion in recent years.

We are long overdue on building the new Department of Public Works building. The current building has been in disarray for years and is undersized. Last year, this led to issues during a snow storm that forced schools to close for a day, as we did not have space to house an adequate salt supply. This land on Industrial Parkway was selected as the location of the new DPW facility years ago. Though we understand that COVID-19, costs of materials, and supply chain issues have delayed construction, the fact of the matter remains that another year has passed without a new building. We hope to see a groundbreaking come this spring.

Robert S. Fershing, 79, of Livingston, passed away at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center on November 30, 2021, following a long illness.

Bob grew up in Newark and Maplewood and graduated from Columbia High School in 1960 and Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1966. He worked for Phoenix Mutual Insurance Company for many years.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Susan (nee Heilig); and his brother, Albert Fershing of Watchung, and his wife, Jane, and their four daughters and their families.

Bob and Sue were active volunteers for the Township of Livingston and especially loved delivering Motor Meals for over ten years. They were also active volunteers with AFS USA and hosted many foreign exchange students over a 35 year period.

Long-time Livingston resident Barbara H. Grady passed away peacefully in her sleep at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C., on December 30, according to her children. She was 97.

Mrs. Grady and her husband, the late John H. Grady, Jr., a former member of the Livingston Township Council and two-term mayor, had lived in Livingston for 43 years.

The Gradys raised five children, all of whom attended Livingston High School, and all of whom went on to receive college and advanced degrees.

Barbara H. Grady was a teacher, high school guidance counselor, and law school dean of students. Born in 1924 in Youngstown, Ohio, Mrs. Grady, the youngest of three daughters, excelled in school, graduating valedictorian from Rayen High School and at the top of her class from Seton Hill College in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

At 4:08 p.m. on Monday, January 3, a North Drive, Livingston, resident received a RING camera activation notice about movement in the driveway of his home. Upon checking the video, he saw that someone had attempted to steal an Audi that had been parked in his driveway. The Audi was locked, and after trying the door, the suspect ran back to a gray Mercedes sedan which was waiting at the curb. The incident was not reported to the Livingston Police Department until 5:25 p.m.

A second car theft attempt report was called in by a Rosewood Court resident at 5:41p.m. The resident stated that at about 4:37 p.m., he started his car in an open garage to allow it to warm up. He then saw a matte gray four door car pull up in front of his house and saw his car being backed out of the garage.

While Livingston Public Schools opened to students on Tuesday, January 4, superintendent of schools Matthew Block called the staffing situation “tenuous” at the January 4 Board of Education meeting. He referred to transportation, food service, and instructional staff.

“I’m hopeful that we can stay open,” he said, adding that faculty, “in the face of a significant shortage of staff, continue to take extra duties to keep the schools open.”

He specifically cited the school nurses who are working “above and beyond their regular job after the break,” due to the return from the winter break and the increase in COVID cases.

“Our school nurses literally worked from 6 a.m. yesterday [Monday, January 3] to 1 a.m. this morning contact tracing as much as possible and continued at that same pace today,” he said. “We have deployed a number of our office staff, administrators, directors and supervisors to assist them.”

The 2021-22 Livingston High School Ice Hockey team started its season at 9-0, one of the best starts in the program’s long history. Playing in the very competitive New Jersey Interscholastic Ice Hockey League’s (NJIIHL) McInnis Division, the team’s current record stands at 11-1.

The Lancers are ranked number 11 in the state in a category encompassing both public and private schools, and are number two among just public schools in the state. With recent wins over 15th-ranked Middletown South, 12th-ranked Westfield, and ninthranked Morris Knolls, the Lancers look to join the top ten ice hockey rankings and become the number one public school in the state.