Barbara Preston Berger
Wall, New Jersey
Barbara Preston Berger, 90, of Wall, NJ, passed away peacefully on the morning of July 18, 2018. “Bobbie” Berger was born in Philadelphia and raised in Wyncote, PA. She and her husband Bill raised their three children in Montclair, NJ before moving to Manchester, NJ. Bobbie was known for her wit and sense of humor. She was loved by all who met her. Bobbie loved to bowl, swim, sing and dance. She spent every summer of her life, swimming in Lake Champlain while staying at a Vermont cottage built by her grandfather. Bobbie sang with The Knollairs and The Tonettes while living at Leisure Knoll in Manchester, NJ. She often”rocked out” at Sunnyside Manor where she spent her final years. Bobbie was very involved in the Episcopal Church as a Lay Reader, member of the choir and Eucharistic Minister. As a close friend of Bill W., Bobbie was involved with the National Council of Alcoholism, speaking and sharing her story at various venues. Bobbie was a trustee and helped with fundraising for the Association of Hunterdon Development Center. She volunteered at several hospitals while living in Montclair then later for a community program at Leisure Knoll called “Helping Hands”. Most of all, Bobbie loved spending time with her family.
She was a proud mother to Janet Mazza and her fiancé Jeff Clock from Willsboro, NY, Carrie Szeliga and her husband John, from Spring Lake, NJ and her son, David Berger, from Clinton, NJ. She leaves behind her beloved grandchildren, Kirsten DeLaCruz, Preston Hall, Brian Messenlehner and Gretchen Sharp. She was blessed, as well, with fourteen great-grandchildren. Bobbie was predeceased by her parents, Robert and Florence Preston, her loving husband of sixty years, Carl William “Bill” Berger and her sisters Suzanne Prickett and Virginia Revell.
Services will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, 213 Madison Avenue, Lakewood NJ, on August 4, 2018 at 10:30 AM. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation, in her name, to Association for Hunterdon Developmental Center (AHDC) C/O Susan Thompson 275 Shepherd Avenue Bound Brook, NJ. Arrangements under the care of Oceanside Memorial Home, Lake Como.