Obituary of Stella M. Zatwaska

VINELAND Stella Mary Zatwaska, 94, formerly of Garton Road, Deerfield Township, a previous member of township government, a Navy veteran and a longtime educator in the Bridgeton school system, died Dec. 18 at the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in Vineland. She was the first woman to be appointed to the Deerfield Township Planning Board in 1970 by Frank LoBiondo Sr. and she served for 11 years. She retired in 1981 when she moved to live with her daughter, Stephanie Loder, in Egg Harbor Township. In her youth, she worked in the quality control division of Seabrook Farms, but aspired to be an educator. She attended Drexel University in Philadelphia and received her B.A. in Education from Glassboro State College. She taught in Salem and Cumberland counties for 32 years, including at Bridgeton High School and at the Pearl Street, Buckshutem Road, South Avenue and Indian Avenue grade schools in Bridgeton. She taught home economics at the high school level and later taught elementary education. During World War II, she served from Nov. 23, 1943 to Nov. 24, 1945 as a WAVE and was chosen as one of the first WAVES to be sent to the Hawaiian Islands. She also was stationed from Aug. 5, 1950 to Nov. 2, 1951 with the Navy in Washington, D.C. during the Korean Conflict. A devote Catholic, she attended St. Mary Church in Rosenhayn where she also taught religious education. She later was a parishioner at Assumption Church in Pomona and then became a founding parishioner at St. Katherine Drexel Parish in Egg Harbor Township. She prayed the rosary daily. Stella was born on Christmas Day 1919 at 132 Gerritt Street in Philadelphia to Bertha (Olbec) and Peter Zatwaska. As a child in Philadelphia, she attended Sacred Heart School, but when her parents moved during the Great Depression to a farm in Deerfield Township, she went to Bridgeton High School where she graduated in the upper quarter of her class in 1938. She often talked about and wrote in her journals of the hardships and difficult transition from city life in Philadelphia to working as a child on the rural 39-acre farm on Garton Road. But education, hard work and saving her money eventually paid off and she was able to built her own house next to her parents' farmhouse. As a single-mother in the 1960's, Stella raised her daughter in the same country setting surrounded by fields planted with strawberries, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. She brought her elderly mother into her home and cared for her until her death in 1977. She gardened, landscaped her own yard with trees and shrubs and canned jelly each summer from grapes and raspberries grown at home. She owned and knew how to fire a shotgun, often practicing in the backyard. She was an avid newspaper reader and discussed current events until the final days of her life. Surviving are: her daughter, Stephanie (Bill) Loder of Egg Harbor Township; 4 grandchildren Jennifer (Jack) Otepka of Somers Point; Sean, Ryan, and Shane Loder, all of Egg Harbor Township and two great-grandchildren, Benjamin Rivers Otepka and Olivia Paige Otepka; a sister, Bertha (Clifford) Paff of Upper Deerfield Township and several nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, she was pre-deceased by her brothers, Alexander Zatwaska of Deerfield Township, Sammy Zatwaska and Michael Zatwaska, and a sister, Mary Brennan of Philadelphia. A private graveside service will be held at St. Mary's Cemetery in Rosenhayn. Arrangements are under the direction of the PADGETT FUNERAL HOME, Upper Deerfield Township. Written condolences may be sent to the family through the funeral home website at www.padgettfuneralhomes.com.