Pauline D. Schlager

1929 - 2019

Pauline D. Schlager

Whiting - Pauline Dorosiewicz Schlager, Paula, lived life fully and on her own terms. Pauline passed away on Thursday, February 21, 2019. She was 89 years old.

Always a Jersey girl, born in Bloomfield, Paula attended St. Valentine's Elementary School and Bloomfield High School then Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing where she completed her Registered Nurse certification, and met her future husband, Carl Wirth Alger. A lifelong learner, Paula earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in Health Education at Jersey City State College and Montclair State College respectively.

She was a school nurse in the Bloomfield Public School District before moving to Randolph and teaching at Morristown High School. She wrote the curriculum for family living. Mrs. Schlager (Mrs. Alger) taught hundreds of students not only how to balance a checkbook and apply for a loan, but also about sexuality and family planning. Pauline Schlager provided a safe space for teens to have difficult conversations. She was loved, respected, and an honored Teacher of the Year recipient.

After the death of her first husband, Paula married William Schlager (Bill), a colleague in the Morris School District. When Bill passed away and she retired from teaching, Paula moved to Brick, NJ. and then, recently, to Crestwood Manor in Whiting.

In her retirement Paula traveled extensively, making it to most places on her bucket list. It was in Italy where she was both pickpocketed at the Vatican gift shop and broke her arm while walking on a cobblestone street eating an ice cream cone. Rather than wallow in these mishaps, Paula turned them into amusing travel tales.

Paula leaves behind her son, Michael (Mike) Alger and his wife Anna Lee Stanley of Charlotte, North Carolina; her daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) Alger and husband James (Jim) Black of Somerset NJ, and their three grown children, Dillon, Hannah, and Emily Black.

A celebration of Paula's life is being planned for Memorial Day Weekend at the Jersey Shore. Please contact Betsy Alger at bets.alger@gmail.com to be included in the email invitation announcing the celebration arrangements, also to be posted in a more detailed obit at https://www.silvertonmemorial.com/obituaries/. Silverton Memorial FH is in charge of the arrangements.