Carol Rosenkranz

Carol Priola Rosenkranz of Bloomingdale, N.J. passed away peacefully on April 13, 2020. Originally from Queens, N.Y., she retired from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals to enjoy her family, friends and interests. An avid walker, she loved tennis, badminton, scrabble, and was a lover of animals. She is survived by her husband, Paul of Bloomingdale, her daughters Michele Walker of Vernon and Susan Vermillion of Chatham, and five grandchildren, Alyssa, James, Kaitlyn, Emma and Lyndsey. Due to restrictions on gatherings, no wake or funeral Mass will be held, there will be a private cemetery service for immediate family only. Contributions in Carol's name may be made to North Jersey Animal Shelter, 23 Brandt Lane, Bloomingdale, N.J. 07405 EULOGY BY FAMILY It is with great sadness that we share the news of our moms passing. All who knew her know what a strong, tough, loving person she was. Carol Priola Rosenkranz was a true New Yorker born and bred in Queens - and despite living in Jersey she never lost that accent or edge. Carol always told stories about her pet duck Peter, which her dad brought home in his taxicab when she was 6 or 7. She loved to tell stories about living in Queens with Peter the Duck following her everywhere. In the summer Carol would go to my great grandmothers farm in Goshen with her cousins and we loved hearing her stories of working picking onions and getting into trouble there. When she was a teenager, she spent time in Brooklyn to stay with my Aunt Kathy and Aunt Annie. It was there that she met my dad Paul Rosenkranz. She was 16. They dated for years and went to my moms prom together. In May they would have been married 54 years. Carol and my dad lived in Brooklyn and Queens and she worked in Manhattan. I still laugh when I think about the stories she told of meeting my Aunt Annie on the subway on their way to business school - with my mom always eating candy bars every morning for breakfast. My mom loved working as a secretary and was great at it - she used Pitman shorthand her whole life and wrote everything down this way - there are still Post-It notes and address books and cookbooks written in shorthand all over the house. She loved it since no one could read it but her! Carol and Paul eventually moved to NJ and bought the house they still own. She used to tell me how shocking that move was to her initially! She couldnt sleep at night because it was so quiet! They settled in and had my sister and me. Mom loved our neighborhood and made great friends that shed play Scrabble and cards with all the time. She also made lifelong friends through our elementary school at St Anthonys. I still think of her and her friends laughing and hanging out helping with school lunches, doing "yard duty" and working bingo on Sunday nights. I remember when they threw her a birthday party with all the "Over the Hill" favors. Anyone who knew my mom knows she was an expert at hiding her age and it was always a question as to how old she really was! Mom was very active and played tennis, badminton, and ran for years. She loved animals more than anything. People used to bring baby birds that fell out of nests every spring to our house and she would raise them and let them go. It was a lot of work and we were constantly told to go "find worms" to feed them. She would let them go and they would live in the neighborhood but still come and land on her shoulder for a while before they became wild. She loved doing this and we learned everything about birds from helping her. Moms favorite was a blue jay and I always think of her when I see or hear one. She had compassion for the animals being cared for at the North Jersey Animal Shelter. She often bought bags of food for them and made regular contributions. Mom couldn't bring herself to volunteer there because she said she would bring animals home with her every day. Even though she was not supposed to, she would leave food out for her little wild animal backyard "friends." My dad remembers taking a picture once of 8 bowls of food lined up left for a groundhog mother and babies one spring. Mom took care of her own mother every day when grandma got sick. She was the most devoted daughter. I learned so much about what family does for one another watching her take care of my grandmother all those years. Mom continued to work as a secretary and an administrative assistant for many pharma companies in NJ and loved her job. She was very bright and often said that she wished she could have had the chance to go to college and become a doctor. She turned that passion into a hobby and would always be telling everyone all the time about nutrition and environmental toxins - everyone who knew her got those emails and phone calls! She was great at managing money and it was her tough confidence that I inherited, which prepared me to work in finance. She would recommend investments to all her friends and family and she was ALWAYS right in the end! My mom was the best grandmother to her 5 grandchildren. She would help my sister and me when our children were newborns and stay with us to get up with the babies at night so we could sleep. She was the coolest grandma who always gave her grandchildren ice cream and cookies for breakfast when they slept over there. Mom grew old with my dad and while they had good times and hard times they always returned to laughter and love. They were always the first couple to hit the dance floor at any wedding or event. She was confident, beautiful, and fiercely loyal. Mom, if love could have cured you, you would have lived forever. It comforts us to picture you arriving up there to see your mom and brother and aunts and cousins and friends and just being so happy to see them all. I know you are watching and protecting us always. Well talk to you every day and cant wait to see you again.