James Thomas Reagan
August 23, 1916 - June 03, 2018
Funeral services celebrating the life of James T. Reagan, 101, of Newark, will be held at the Armitage Wiggins Funeral Home 596 Belgrove Drive, Kearny on Friday October 19, 2018 from 4 until 6 p.m. Funeral Mass will be Saturday October 20, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in Holy Cross Church, Harrison, NJ, followed by inurnment in Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington, NJ.
Jim died at the SharonBrooke Senior Center on Sunday, June 3, 2018. He was born in Kearny, NJ, on August 23, 1916, the second-oldest of the twelve children of James Thomas and Catherine (Miller) Reagan. He grew up in nearby Harrison, NJ and graduated from St. Cecelia High School in 1934. He served in the Navy in the latter years of World War II. He was a talented amateur athlete in several sports, including softball, bowling and golf. All his life he rooted avidly for favorite teams including the Cleveland Indians and the Fighting Irish.
Jim met Marie Burke when both worked for the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. They became engaged in 1945 and married in Holy Cross Catholic Church in Harrison NJ on June 1, 1946. Jim and Marie had two daughters in Harrison and three sons after moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1951.
Jim sold shipping on the Erie Lackawanna Railroad through 1962 and then for Central Truck Lines, and he was the longest tenured Secretary to the Traffic Club of Cleveland.
He knew the improved life opportunities that good schooling could create for the children and made considerable sacrifice that they got it. Jim took traditional marriage vows toward Marie and lived over 71 years exceeding them!
In 1980 Jim and Marie moved to Calabash, NC where they enjoyed an active retirement for 20 years. Jim and Marie made many new friends, golfed, hosted family - children, grandchildren, their brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews - in that beautiful seaside area, and traveled - once to Ireland and multiple times across the U.S. Jim took particular satisfaction in co-founding St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Parish in Shallotte, NC.
Jim was a thoughtful, poised, large hearted, persevering, and creative person. Jim was gifted and ahead of his times in many ways, and was giving in all areas of his life.
Jim wrote and illustrated stories for all his grandchildren. He penned poems to mark birthdays, graduations, and marriages. He created audio books so his grandchildren could enjoy bedtime stories. Jim invented several board games. He wrote a novella. He was a self-taught woodworker and indulged in many handyman projects. He took up painting, creating hundreds of distinctive pictures, all crafted in his own unique frames. He was a father who set an example by washing dishes after dinner when many men of that era left the dining room table and went directly to the living room chair. He thus demonstrated that in a good marriage spouses are partners in everything.
Jim is revered by his children and their families. He was predeceased in death by his wife Catherine Marie, parents James and Catherine Reagan, brothers Thomas and John; sisters Catherine, Claire, Eileen, Mary (Price), and Eleanor (McGarril); their spouses Sonia Reagan, Thomas Price, and James McGarril; brother-in-law Daniel Burke; niece Catherine Burke; Marie's uncles Bernard and Joseph Callery; and daughter-in-law Susan Newby Reagan. He is survived by children Catherine; Judith and her husband Richard Warner; James and his wife Elizabeth Hecker Reagan; Daniel and his wife Catherine Little; John and his wife Catherine DiNardi; six grandchildren, Benjamin James Warner and his wife Leticia Kuyumciyan; Judith Reagan Williams and her husband Tyler Williams; David, Mary, Andrew, and Jane Reagan; two great grandchildren Nolan James Warner and Elliott Michael Williams; brothers Charles (Cathy), Laurence (Joan), and Robert (Carole) Reagan; sister Violetta (Tom) French; sister-in-law Helen Varley Burke; nephews Daniel (Lisa) Burke and Patrick Burke; and numerous members of the extended families of his and Marie’s surviving and deceased siblings and their spouses.
Our family offers special thanks to all the kind, attentive, and nurturing people from Home Instead Senior Care, SharonBrooke Senior Living Center, Heartland Hospice, and St. Francis de Sales church who ministered to and lovingly cared for Jim. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Jim to Heartland Hospice 6500 Busch Blvd. Suite 210, Columbus, Ohio 43229.