Plan for the Future
Marie Regina (Gina) Coster (nee Robertson) of Chatham Township, NJ passed away peacefully after a long illness, at home and surrounded by family on February 24, 2024.
Born on October 2, 1943 in Brooklyn, NY, Gina grew up in Park Slope, graduated from St. Saviour High School and subsequently the Brooklyn campus of St. John’s University, where she started seriously dating the love of her life, Edgar Coster. While working as a Speech Pathologist, she and Ed became engaged as he attended and later graduated from St. John’s Law School and entered the Marine Reserves. They married in 1965 and began their family as it grew with the birth of their first child, Christine, in 1966. After moving to Madison, NJ in 1970, their second daughter, Cindy, was born, followed by their third daughter, Allyson, and a move to Chatham Township where they lived from 1977 until the current day.
Gina was a loving mother, very active in the then Chatham Township public schools, working to keep Mountainview School open and then later as the president of the middle school and high school PTOs, to which she devoted many volunteer hours. As her children began their college years, she became a preschool teacher at St. Andrew’s School in New Providence, making new friends and positively impacting the lives of dozens of small children before she retired.
Her love of all things British, fine literature, a good cup of tea, sports (especially her NY Jets), science-murder television shows, and CourtTV, are surpassed only by her strong love for her family. She bestowed upon them a love for the beach, strength in the face of adversity, and a wonderful sense of humor. She was an incredibly loving grandmother to four, mother to three, wife to one, and friend to countless others.
Gina is survived by her loving husband of 58 years, Edgar Coster; daughters Christine Harradine and her husband, Mark of Chapel Hill, NC; Cindy Gagliardi and her husband, Michael of Westfield, NJ; Allyson Maur and her husband, Adam of Teaneck, NJ; grandchildren Candace Beach and her fiance, Joshua Thuet of Concord, NC. Ryan Harradine of Raleigh, NC, Michael Gagliardi and Gabriela Valdes of Cranford NJ, Julia Gagliardi of Westfield, NJ. Gina was predeceased by her mother (Rita Shanahan Roberston), father, (Ernest Robertson), and brother (Edward Robertson).
Visitation will be at Wm. A. Bradley & Sons Funeral Home, Main Street in Chatham, on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 from 4:00-8:00pm. A mass of Christian burial will be held at 10:00 am on Thursday, February 29, 2024 at Corpus Christi Church, Southern Boulevard, Chatham. Entombment will follow at St. Teresa’s Cemetery, Summit.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Gina’s name to either The Chatham Emergency Squad or to Center for Hope Hospice, Scotch Plains, NJ.
