Gene Montgomery

GENE MONTGOMERY



Gene Montgomery, age 84, died at Lindsay House in Pennsville, NJ on July

> 31, 2008. He is survived by his loving wife, Edyth, to whom he had been

> married for 59 years.

> Born in Philadelphia, he was the son of the late Mary (Devine) and Edwin

> Montgomery. He resided in Thorofare, NJ until 1949 and was a resident of

> Salem County since 1954.

> He left Paulsboro High School to join the US Navy in 1942, immediately

> after Pearl Harbor. He served his country as a gunnery instructor, stationed

> in Waianaw, Oahu (Hawaii) until the end of the war.

> Taking advantage of the GI Bill of Rights, he attended Temple University,

> graduating in 1953 with a BS in journalism. Gene worked for the former

> Pennsgrove Record until 1959. He received his Master’s degree from Glassboro

> State College in 1969.

> He began his teaching career as an elementary school teacher in Elsinboro

> and then continued to teach for eight years at Salem Middle School. Gene

> ended his career as a reading specialist after twenty years in the

> Pennsauken School System. His teaching skills and passion for reading

> helped hundreds of children overcome their reading difficulties. Gene’s

> love of reading continued into his retirement when he founded the annual

> distribution of Dr. Seuss books to Salem County children.

> Additionally, Gene was a member of the National Education Association,

> the New Jersey Education Association and the Salem County Retired Educators’

> Association (SCREA), of which he had been president for two years.

> Gene and Edyth traveled the world together, visiting every continent

> except two. They traveled to Gene’s beloved Hawaii seventeen times.

> Gene was predeceased by his brother Edwin Montgomery of Sebastian, FL.

> In addition to his wife, he is survived by his four children: Gene, Jr.

> and wife Carol of Baltimore, MD; Kevin and wife Connie of Park Ridge, IL;

> Mark and wife Irene Powell of Grinnell, IA; and daughter Shawn Kershaw and

> husband Michael of Chalfont, PA; five grandchildren: Mary, Kurt, Gibrilla,

> Amanda, and Erin; a sister, Barbara Simek of Gibbstown, NJ; a sister-in-law,

> Judy Montgomery of Sebastian, FL, as well as many nieces and nephews.

> Services will be held at the LAUGHREY FUNERAL HOME, Pennsville, NJ where

> friends may call Monday, evening, August 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral mass

> will be held Tuesday, August 5, at 10 a.m. at Queen of Apostles Church,

> Pennsville, NJ, followed by burial at the Salem County Veterans’ Cemetery,

> Pilesgrove, NJ.

> In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the "Gene Montgomery

> Great Kid Award" in care of SCREA, Tony Maniglia, 15 Del-A-Vue Avenue,

> Carney’s Point, NJ 08069.

>