In Memoriam: Former Longtime Rumsonite, Deane-Porter Teacher, Marilyn Wuestefeld, 80

Former longtime Rumsonite and Deane-Porter Elementary School teacher, Marilyn Showler Wuestefeld, passed away on Dec. 7 at Hackensack Meridian Nursing & Rehabilitation, Shrewsbury, after a long illness. She was 80.

“Marilyn was a devout beachgoer and spent her summers firmly planted in her chair at Ship Ahoy Beach Club at the North End, happily devouring book after book. She loved to decorate and was a talented needleworker, from sewing to needlepoint to crewelwork to knitting. She played the piano beautifully and perfected her rendition of Debussy’s ‘Claire de Lune.’ Her annual Christmas Eve cocktail party was legendary.
Ladylike and perfectly put together, her look was always topped off with her signature haircut and winsome smile.”
Loved ones of Marilyn Wuestefeld in her obituary

Marilyn was born on July 23, 1941, in Long Branch to the late John and Mary Gibbons Showler. She was raised in Long Branch and West Long Branch and graduated from Long Branch High School with highest honors in 1959. She attended Beaver College, now Arcadia University, on a full merit scholarship and graduated in 1963 after being named to the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges that same year.

Following college, Marilyn became an elementary school teacher at Deane-Porter Elementary School in Rumson.

“Over her 30-year career teaching first and third grades, she was most proud of having taught hundreds of children to read.
“In the late 1970s, she and a fellow teacher, Jeanne Heimbold Boehles, co-authored a book on the importance of sharing and cooperation, called G is for Gardenia, which chronicled the trials and tribulations of combining their two classrooms into one while the school was building a new wing.
“In her last years as a teacher, she helped develop an integrated curriculum unit about the history of Rumson; and, as a result, unearthed a trove of stories about the town, its homes and its residents.“

She married Albert Wuestefeld in 1968; they lived in Rumson and raised their daughter there. After their retirement, they split their time between Englewood, FL and Shadow Lake Village in Red Bank. They had been married almost 50 years before he passed away in June of 2018.

She is survived by: her daughter, Amy Wuestefeld, of Rumson; her sister, Kathleen Elfner (Al), of West Long Branch; her niece, Kristen Savare (Marc), of Ocean, and two great nieces.

A memorial mass will be held at Holy Cross Church in Rumson on Dec. 23 at 10 a.m.

— Edited obituary provided by family via John E. Day Funeral Home