Obituaries

In Memoriam: Rumson-Raised Longtime Fair Havenite, Rumson High ’53 Grad, Fair Haven Fields Natural Area Pioneer, Doris Moraller, 89

Rumson-raised longtime Fair Havenite, Doris Swenson Moraller, passed away peacefully on March 11. She was 89.

Born at home in Rumson on Oct. 10, 1935, Doris was the daughter of the late Frederick L. Swenson and Anna (Petren). She grew up in Rumson and attended the Lafayette Street School leaving her with many fond memories of her beloved teachers, Miss Deane and Miss Porter.

After graduating from (then) Rumson High School in 1953, Doris attended the Wood Secretarial School in Manhattan and worked for the American Cyanamid Company at their New York City headquarters in Rockefeller Center.

“In 1956, she married the love of her life, Richard, at Holy Cross Church in Rumson, and in 1959 they moved to Fair Haven where they raised their three children, and she remained for the next 65 years. She was a member of the Church of the Nativity in Fair Haven and its Nifty Fifties group and was a longtime volunteer in Fair Haven’s Knollwood School library.

“Doris loved reminiscing about her days growing up in Rumson—winters spent ice skating on the river from Rumson to Red Bank, summer days in Sea Bright, and cheering on her beloved Rumson Bulldogs long after her cheerleading days at high school were over. An avid athlete, Doris continued playing tennis, and a myriad of other sports with her lifelong friends while raising her children.

“In the early 1970’s, Doris and friends founded the Fair Haven Girls Softball League, with each one coaching a team of middle school girls who, until then, had no league to play in.

“Doris and her husband Richard were instrumental in establishing Fair Haven Fields Natural Area as a preserve and throughout the years were its unofficial caretakers, walking the trails every day without fail. Together they designed a Fair Haven Fields Natural Area booklet, led nature walks for local school and scout troops, catalogued trees and wildflowers growing in the natural area and planted specimen trees and flowers in the seven-acre meadow in the southeast portion of the Natural Area. To honor her and her husband’s innumerable contributions the town proclaimed this seven-acre meadow Morallers’ Meadow.

“Their interest in horticulture brought them to visit many botanic gardens throughout the Northeast and to London’s Chelsea Flower Show several times over the years. Doris loved nothing more than walking along a trail and identifying whatever was blooming by its Latin name.

Loved ones of Doris Moraller in her obituary

Doris was predeceased by: her husband, Richard Kendall Moraller Sr.; her brother, Frederick “Skippy” Swenson; and her sister, Helen Swenson Litts.

She leaves to cherish her memory: her loving children and their spouses, Leslie M. Clark and Jonathan, of Rumson: Richard K. Moraller Jr., and Helen, of Greenville, TX, and James M. Moraller and Kelly, of Shrewsbury; six grandchildren, Katherine M. Marchese (Matt), Neil C. Krauter Jr. (Gabrielle), Richard Moraller, III, Christian F. Krauter III, Matthew Q. Moraller, Kendall Lily Moraller; one great grandchild, Cora M. Krauter.

Services were private.

Donations in Doris’ memory may be sent for the Fair Haven Fields Natural Area where she was a lifetime member of the Advisory Committee: Fair Haven Community Appeal, PO Box 63, Fair Haven, NJ 07704 … Memo: Fair Haven Fields Natural Area in memory of Doris Moraller. Or online: tinyurl.com/FHCAPPEAL2024 … use the contact button and indicate your donation should be earmarked “FH Fields Natural Area in memory of Doris Moraller.”

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

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