Plan for the Future
Miss Rosemarie Therese Brodeur, formerly of Springfield, passed away at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston on March 5, 2021. She was 88.
Born in Hackensack Hospital on November 9, 1932, along with her twin brother Wilfred, who died at birth, she lived in North Arlington, South Orange, Newark, East Orange, and Irvington before moving to Springfield in 1983 where she resided until moving to Arden Courts of West Orange.
Miss Brodeur taught in the Newark School System for 29 years at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School (formerly South Eighth Street School). She served as a Title I Projector Coordinator for 25 of those years and was a member of the Newark Teachers Union Retiree Chapter.
Before teaching in Newark, she was employed by the American Insurance Company, the Newark Eye and Ear Infirmary as a Medical Secretary, and The Catholic Advocate Newspaper.
Miss Brodeur received her BA and MA Degrees from Seton Hall University followed by further post-graduate studies receiving her Supervisors, Principals, and Administrators Certificates.
She was also an Adjunct Professor, Lecturer in Education, in the College of Education at Seton Hall University and FOCUS in Newark. She received several Awards from the University and Alumni Association and was recognized by her students for “her dedication and devotion to the bilingual Program and Students”. She was a Charter Member and Officer of Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society and served as President, Vice President, Secretary, Historian, and Chapter Counselor. She was also a member of Phi Delta Kappa Montclair Chapter.
Miss Brodeur was a member of St. Patrick’s Pro-Cathedral, Newark and St. James the Apostle Church, Springfield.
She served as Eucharistic Minister, Lector, and Rosary Society Member at St. Patrick’s and St. James and also volunteered at Overlook Hospital in the Chaplain’s Office. She taught Religious Education classes at St. Patrick’s, St Michael’s Hospital, and Blessed Sacrament Church, Newark.
Miss Brodeur was an active volunteer starting at the age of 12 years. As an eighth grade student, she started volunteering at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Newark Eye and Ear Infirmary until it closed. During her high school years, she volunteered in the Emergency Room of the old Newark City Hospital.
As a Girl Scout Leader in Newark, Miss Brodeur and her mother took many girls camping, especially at the South Mountain Girl Scout Oval, retaining life-long friendships. She was a member of the Girl Scout Council of Greater Essex and Hudson Counties for over 60 years. She received the Thanks Badge and served on the Board of Directors and as Board Secretary receiving numerous Council and Archdiocesan Girls Scout Awards, including the Mater Dei, Marian, and St. Anne Award. Miss Brodeur also served on the Archdiocesan Girl Scout Committee following the path laid down by the late Mary E. McDonough, Msgr. John J. Kiley, and many other giants in Newark Girl Scouting
Having started an early career of Volunteerism, it became a “way of life”. While still in elementary school, she started to visit her former retired teachers at St. Anne’s Villa in Convent Station and became an active volunteer there upon her own retirement. Visiting the Villa Sisters gave her a sense of “great joy and peace”.
She had a great devotion to the cause for the canonization of Sister Miriam Teresa and never lost an opportunity to “spread the word”.
Miss Brodeur was a Third Order Franciscan and Seton Associate of the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth’s, Convent Station, NJ.
Miss Brodeur believed in the children of Newark and all children. She enjoyed travel, her home, her country, friends, Rosary making, and had a very special place in her heart for animals and their welfare.
She was also a Lifetime member of the New Jersey Parent Teacher Association, the New Jersey Essex County Education Association, and the Girl Scouts USA. She was a member of the Nocturnal Adoration Society at St. John the Apostle Church, Linden, the Rosary Makers of St, James the apostle Church, a promoter of Retreats for the Religious of the Cenacle nuns, a Retreatant at Loyola Retreat House in Morristown, and was also a member of the Cursillo Movement of the Newark Archdiocese.
She was the daughter of the late Wilfred J. and Marie H. Brodeur.
