Nancy Lynch Castellano

Nancy Lynch Castellano

AGE: 89 •

Nancy Lynch Castellano died peacefully on Sunday, July 21, 2013 at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

A wake for Mrs. Castellano will held on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Doyle Funeral Home, 106 Maple Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey. A mass will be held in her memory at 10:00 am on Thursday, July 25, 2013 at Assumption Church, 91 Maple Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey.

Nancy Lynch Castellano was born in 1924 in Belleville, New Jersey. She graduated in 1941 from Belleville High School and then became an English major at Montclair State Teachers College in New Jersey. In her senior year of College, she enlisted in the United States Navy, WAVES, which stood for Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. As a Specialist(s) 2/C, Nancy was stationed at the USS Hunter, which was the Bronx Campus of Hunter College, now Lehman College, where she was assigned to train 6,000 women recruits from all over the country. Nancy served her country with honor and fidelity and received an honorable discharge after the war. Following her military service, she became a language arts teacher of junior high school/middle school students for 43 years, in the Morris Township/Morris School District, Morris County, New Jersey. Upon retirement in 1989, Nancy became a member of the Morris County Retired Educators Association ("MCREA"), where she remained a life-long member. She was active in student scholarships and the sponsor of the Castellano-WAVES/Magliochetti Scholarship. Nancy was married to her husband of 54 years, Aloysius Joseph Castellano, who was a prominent Morristown attorney. Following their marriage, the couple moved to Morris County where they resided for the balance of their lives. After her husband's death in 2005, Nancy found a new passion and purpose with the WAVES, which she often referred to as her legacy. In 2007, she wrote and self-published a book: Looking Back at the WAVES: A Chronicle of 90,000 Navy Women of World War II. Thereafter Nancy gave countless seminars and speeches about the WAVES and their integral role in winning World War II. The culmination of these efforts and scholarship was a presentation and exhibit at Lehman College.

Nancy is survived by her cousin, Elizabeth Quinlan of New Jersey, many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews, as well as many friends whom she considered her family. She will be missed by all.

Donations in lieu of flowers should be made payable to the MCREA, Scholarship Funds, 14 Toye Street, Randolph, New Jersey 07869.