Elisabeth Kaszas

Elisabeth Kaszas passed away peacefully on March 5, 2025, at age 94, surrounded by family in her home in Brant Beach. She was beloved beyond compare - by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; her relatives throughout the United States, Canada, and Germany; her friends and neighbors; and her past employees and customers at Wida's Hotel and Restaurant, the family business that was an LBI landmark for three quarters of a century. She was known to most everyone as Oma.
She was born to Johann and Rosalia Scheer in the former Yugoslavia on July 21, 1930, but was forced to leave the country as a child during World War II. When her parents died, Elisabeth, the eldest of five, looked after her two sisters and two brothers while held in a camp in Germany. It was there she met the love of her life, Josef Kaszas. Josef was later able to emigrate to the U.S., to work at Wida's, and Elisabeth soon followed.
The couple raised their three children in Brant Beach, and worked hard to make Wida's a place where generations of Island residents and visitors would dine. Oma's cole slaw, in particular, is renowned, with the recipe now in the hands of her family.
Elisabeth was predeceased by Josef, as well as her sister Anna and granddaughter Christina. She leaves behind her children and their spouses, son Joseph Kaszas and wife Susan, daughter Dianne Felten and husband Ross, and daughter Theresa Jensen and husband David; her grandchildren and their partners, Juliet Kaszas-Hoch and Jason Hoch, Ingrid Kaszas-Jones and Joseph Jones, Erica and Mike Roessner, Janene and Jordan Bieda, Christian Kaszas and Kristin Power, Nikki and Tom Strekowski, and David Jensen and Meg Meehan; and her great-grandchildren, Greta Jones, Hudson Strekowski, Sebastian Kaszas, Mattias Jones, Marlow Strekowski, and Logan Bieda.
In Germany still is her sister, Rosi Thurner, and brothers Martin and Hans Scheer, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren - many of whom she spent a great deal of time with, on both sides of the ocean, conversing in two languages.
Elisabeth was strong in all ways. She was resilient. She was feisty, funny, welcoming, and giving. She was highly skilled with an iron. She squeezed her thumbs to give good luck to anyone facing a time of complexity or transition. Nothing mattered more to her than her people. She was beautiful, she was tough, and she was ours.
Her family is so incredibly grateful to have loved her, and to have been loved by her.
A Viewing will be held on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 from 5:00-7:00 pm at Bugbee-Riggs Funeral Home, 1119 Long Beach Blvd. (corner of 12th St. & the Blvd.), Ship Bottom, NJ 08008. A Funeral Liturgy will be offered at 11:00 am on Wednesday, March 12th at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 4700 Long Beach Blvd, Brant Beach, NJ 08008. Burial will follow at Barnegat Memorial Cemetery, West Bay Ave, Barnegat.