RIP Mabel Smith Cordier

Collingswood's oldest resident passed away just a few days after her 110th birthday.

On April 16, 2013, just four days after becoming a super-centarian, Collingswood Manor resident Mabel Elizabeth Cordier (nee Smith) passed away. She is remembered on the Kain-Murphy website as the beloved wife of the late Lee Garfield Cordier, the loving mother of the late Lee Garfield Cordier Jr., Ray Hughes Cordier and Reid Smith Cordier, and mother-in-law to Marion D. Cordier of Ocean City, NJ. Mabel was the grandmother to Ray Hughes Cordier Jr. of Medford, NJ, David Michael Cordier (Mary) of Haddonfield, NJ, Barbara Black (John) of CA, Carol Cordier Rawlings (Gary) of CA, Kimberlee Cordier-Burgo (David) of Franklinville, NJ, Lisa Ann Veit (Carl) of Greenfield, NJ, Michelle Scoggins (Dayton) MS, Michael Reid Cordier of CA and the late …

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R.I.P. Dolores C. Bianchini, 83

Services were held on Tuesday for the 60-year Collingswood resident, who was remembered as a loving support for her 24 grandchildren.

Dolores C. Bianchini (nee Leone), 83, of Collingswood, died April 5. She was the mother of Gloucester Township Council President Glen Bianchini. She was the wife of the late Vincent J. Bianchini; mother of Deborah (Joe McLaughlin) Bianchini, Kim (Steve) Ridge, Carla (David) Deen, Joy (Michael) Jensen, Colleen (Fernando) Roque, Kelli (fiancee David Williams) Bianchini, Gary (Elizabeth) Bianchini, Glen (Lisa) Bianchini and Mark (Laurie) Bianchini; sister of Catherine Berry, Jackie Kaiser, Gene Leone and Ronald Leone, grandmother of 24 and great grandmother of two. She lived in Collingswood for over 60 years. She enjoyed her family and babysitting grandchildren, and the children in the neighborhood. Her funeral mass was Tuesday at St. Vincent…

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Former Collingswooder Dorothy Rodgers Dies

Funeral services for Rodgers, who is survived by a large family, begin April 2.

Iraq War Turns 10, Collingswood Remembers Its Own

Lance Cpl. Curtis A. Christensen Jr., gave his life in Anbar province on Jan. 11, 2008. He was a Collingswood resident.

This week is the 10th anniversary of the onset of the Iraq War, a conflict directly responsible for as many as 189,000 deaths—and that's excluding those who died from hardships caused by the fighting. (CNN has a stunning map of all casualties in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.) In all, 4,802 Americans and allies have died in the war, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, 82 of whom hailed from New Jersey. Collingswood resident Lance Cpl. Curtis Alan Christensen Jr. was one of them. Just 29 when he perished on Jan. 11, 2008—the result of "a non-hostile incident" in Ramadi, Anbar province, Iraq—Christensen had been assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Lejeune, N.C…

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Paul Hartstein Mourned by Firefighting Community [Photos]

The line for the longtime county fire marshal's viewing stretches down the White Horse Pike Friday evening.

Hundreds of firefighters from around Camden County and South Jersey turned out to remember longtime Camden County fire marshal Paul Hartstein, who died last week at 62. The line for his viewing stretched down the White Horse Pike in Haddon Heights, as mourners paid tribute to Hartstein, who also served as Audubon’s fire chief and vice president of the Audubon Fire Department. Audubon apparatus staged at the viewing was draped in black bunting, and ladder trucks from Audubon and Haddonfield flew an American flag above Healey Funeral Home as firefighters in dress uniform waited to pay their respects.

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Longtime County Fire Marshal Paul Hartstein Dies

After more than 45 years fighting and investigating fires through Camden County, Paul Hartstein passed away March 6. His fellow firefighters are paying tribute online.

Paul Hartstein, who retired in 2011 after 45 years of firefighting in Camden County, died March 6. He was 62. Hartstein had served as Camden County’s chief fire marshal until his May 2011 retirement. Before then, he was Audubon’s fire chief, vice president of the Audubon Fire Department and a New Jersey Fire Commissioner, according to a proclamation Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1) read into the Congressional record in 2011. “Try as he might, the chief cannot fully retire; he will be acting as a part-time code official for the cities of Audubon and Haddonfield,” Andrews said at the time. Hartstein’s tenure as fire marshal was marked by one of the most devastating tragedies in Camden County history—the July 4, 2002, fire in Gloucester City that …

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Perkins Center Co-Founder Was 'a Pretty Amazing Woman'

Jean Gaasch, 82, passed away at her Moorestown home last weekend. For 40 years, she helped build and strengthen the nonprofit Perkins Center for the Arts.

Jean Gaasch, one of a handful of people who led the charge to found the Perkins Center for the Arts roughly 40 years ago, died on Saturday at her home at the age of 82. Gaasch, a Moorestown resident for more than four decades, served as acting director before the Center had such a position, according to board member Patricia Finio. “She was a diligent worker for the founding and survival of Perkins,” said Finio. “We better hope her spirit remains among us ... We need people who will stand up for the enrichment of the community.” Perkins' current executive director, Alan Willoughby, said that even in her later years, Gaasch continued to have an impact on the arts center “in her own quiet way.” A couple years ago, he said, she brought in a …

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R.I.P. Sgt. Scott A. Duus (Ret.), 58

A viewing for the late Collingswood police sergeant and firefighter will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight and 9 to 10 a.m. Friday at Foster-Warne Funeral Home.

Services will be held Friday morning for the late Scott A. Duus, 58, of Maple Shade and formerly of Collingswood, who gave 25 years of service to the Collingswood Police Department and a second lifetime in hours to its fire company as well. As reported in a notice by Foster-Warne Funeral Home, Duus passed on Jan. 20: Beloved husband of Denise Duus (nee Mullen). Dear father of Melissa, Elizabeth and Charles; and grandfather of Brandon. Loving son of Jeanne and the late Charles Duus. Brother of Nancy (Arthur) Watson, Charles "Randy" Duus, Steven (Barbara) Duus and the late Keith Duus. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews. To enjoy only seven years of retirement after a 25-year law enforcement career seems an unkind end for the man …

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Collingswood Remembers Dan Trainer

Mourners packed the Collingswood High School gymnasium on Sunday to celebrate the broad impact of the late athletic organizer. He was 72.

An awkward silence fell over the Collingswood High School gymnasium as the Celebration of Life for late athletic volunteer, Dan Trainer, was about to begin Sunday afternoon. It was missing one crucial element. That silence was broken as Joy Trainer, wife of the late Dan Trainer, walked back in to take her seat, and was greeted with a huge round of applause. The stories varied when his former charges talked about the 50 years that Dan Trainer volunteered with Collingswood Little League, his 38 years of wrestling or 30-plus years of football. But they all shared common a theme: "He believed in me." "Everyone wanted to be on his team" remembered Claire Gunnison, who presented Joy Trainer with a flag once flown over the U.S. Capitol Building …

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