Obituary of Maria Konzelmann

MARIA H. KONZELMANN Certified Professional Secretary Grandmother Maria H., (nee Sellarole) age 86, died peacefully on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at Hackensack, NJ after a long illness. She was born on May 3, 1922 in Paterson, NJ and lived in the Crooks Avenue area of Clifton during her youth. Maria attended Clifton Elementary School #1 and Clifton High School while the entire country was in the throes of the Great Depression, and that hardship motivated a humble, frugal lifestyle that became her personal hallmark. She was also very active in the CYO at St. Georges Church during her high school years. On July 4, 1944, Maria married the love of her life, Paul J. Konzelmann, at St. Georges Church, and then resided in South Paterson. In July 1948, Maria and Paul relocated to Garret Drive in West Paterson with their three infant sons where she still resided 60 years later in their original home. For seventeen years following her retirement in 1982, Maria also maintained a winter residence in Hillsboro Beach, Florida that enabled her to enjoy her golf game twelve months a year. An avid golfer well into her 80s, Maria would spend several days per week on a golf course either in NJ or FL, and she made many good friends along the way. With the onset of World War II in 1941 when she graduated from Clifton High School, Maria supported the war effort by working at the Curtiss-Wright factory where airplane engines were being assembled for the fighter planes, but sought to continue her education by attending Ridgewood Secretarial School in the evenings. By the time that the war was over, she was able to pursue her dream of becoming a professional secretary. During her extensive professional secretarial career, Maria achieved success as the Administrative Assistant to the President of Art Metal, Inc. in Newark, NJ and then as the Administrative Assistant to the President of Cook Wire & Cable Corp. in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. It was during this period that Maria joined other professionals in the National Secretaries Association seeking to implement a formal professional licensure reflecting a proficiency in specific secretarial skills. Toward that end, she and others in the NSA worked to develop the national core of academic courses and the series of written examinations for the designated Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) Award that still remains the goal for many professional secretaries today. Her crowning achievement occurred in 1978 when she was elected President of the New Jersey branch of the National Secretaries Association and her portrait was painted and hung in the Augusta Burns Studio at the Bergen Mall for her entire one-year term. At the time of her death, Maria was still enjoying her skills as the Recording Secretary for the Ladies Auxiliary of the Riverside Veterans in Hawthorne and for the Ladies Auxiliary of the Our Lady of Pompeii Seniors in Paterson. Since her beloved husband, Paul J. Konzelmann, had predeceased her in October 2003, Maria leaves her three beloved sons: Paul J. Konzelmann II, and his wife Jane of West Paterson, John F. Konzelmann, and his wife Nancy of HoHoKus, and James A. Konzelmann, and his wife Susan of Verona. In addition, she leaves her seven beloved grandchildren and her two beloved great-grandchildren. Friends and family are invited to attend Marias funeral from the Santangelo Funeral Home, 635 McBride Avenue, West Paterson, NJ on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m., thence to St. Bonaventure Church, Paterson, NJ where a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery in Paterson. The family will receive their friends on Tuesday at 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Maria H. Konzelmann Scholarship Fund, a non-profit educational trust, at 9 Garret Drive, West Paterson, NJ 07424.