Loretta D. Vessey, 73, most recently of Mahwah NJ, passed away on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. She was born on August 4, 1945, the daughter of Joseph McTiernan and Mary McTiernan née Reilly. She is survived by her husband of 52 years, Bob, and three children, her daughter Jean, her son Bob, and her daughter Trish.
Ret, as she was known to everyone, also leaves 3 grandchildren, Ethan, Zachary, and Nathaniel, her sister Beth, and her brothers Joe, Dennis, and Peter. She was a 1963 graduate of Aquinas High School in the Bronx, NY, and attended Rockland Community College. Ret worked at Western Electric, where she met Bob in 1963.
They married and started a life together in Hillcrest, NY, where they spent 45 years. After having three children, who she very much enjoyed raising, Ret returned to the workforce in the early 1980s, finding a job with Beckerle Lumber in Spring Valley, NY. Ret worked with the Beckerle family for 31 years, counting many of them as close friends.
Their home became a gathering place on summer weekends and most holidays. She welcomed family, neighbors, and friends equally. Everyone has a good story about a gathering at Bob’s & Ret’s place, and the better you got to know them, the funnier the stories became.
Ret was a woman of independent spirit. Traveling and seeing new people and new places were a large part of Ret’s and Bob’s lives. Whether it was the annual road trips with the kids packed in the station wagon, or just the two of them traveling to the Galapagos, she enjoyed them all.
This was a passion that she and Bob explored later in life, enjoying their trips to Europe as well as river and ocean cruises. Through it all, Ret collected friends, like the lifelong friends they raised their kids with, the great couples they met on cruises, or their wonderful neighbors in the Ridge Gardens community and the Mahwah Senior Center, everyone who met Ret left smiling. Visitation will be held on Sunday, February 17, 2019 from 3-7 PM and Monday, February 18, 2019 from 3-7 PM with a service being conducted at 6 PM at Van Emburgh-Sneider-Pernice Funeral Home, 109 Darlington Ave, Ramsey.
Cremation will be private. Please bring a story about Ret to share. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, 912 Killian Hill Road, S.W., Lilburn, GA 30047 or securely online at www.
lbda.org/donate. Please sign the online guestbook and share your memories of Ret on this memorial. To plant a tree in memory of Loretta Vessey, please visit our Tribute Store.
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