Laureen Bogdan, Howell Volunteer, Kimball Nurse Remembered

A chapter of Howell history came to a close on July 22, 2015. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s there wasn’t a year when a Bogdan did not attend either Newbury or Land O’ Pines school. As a result, there was an entire generation of kids from Salem Hill, Candlewood, Pinewood and beyond touched by, and to a degree raised by, Laureen Bogdan through PTA, Cub Scouts, Brownies, Farmingdale-Howell Soccer Club, or the emergency room at Paul Kimball Hospital.

Laureen grew up in the Bronx at a time when the entertainment at her friend’s Sweet 16 party was the neighborhood up-and-comers Dion and the Belmonts. During her time at St. Helena’s High School, she met Bill at Orchard Beach, which led to 55 years of marriage. They had four boys (Bill, Rob, Ken and John) in five years and a daughter (Karen) a bit later to make the set complete. She earned a practical nursing degree, and worked first at Kimball and then at Gastroenterologists of Ocean County.

As nice as Newport Drive was, it was never going to be beachfront property. Once the kids moved – out of town, out of county, and out of state -- she and Bill moved to Lavallette. Her contact with Howell thereafter was mostly vicarious through constant calls and visits from the old neighbors, though sometimes she couldn’t resist a detour after her dentist appointment to the Ivy League or Red Moon.

She was a member of the St. Pio Rosary Society, the Knights of Columbus Women’s Auxiliary and the Lavallette Seniors. Laureen never spent a day without laughter, song, and surrounded by love.

In the end, ironically, it was her big heart which did her in at just age 73. She was surrounded by her loving family, including husband Bill; sons Bill Bogdan and wife Isabelle Pafford, Robert and wife Jane Bogdan, Ken and wife Wendy Bogdan, John and wife Dyana Bogdan, and daughter Karen and husband George Paterson. Laureen was a wonderful grandmother to her 10 dear grandchildren Phil, Andrew, Claudia, Julia, David, William, Joe, Willow, Teddy and Orion.

Folks came from far and wide to say their goodbyes, even though the services were held on a traffic-clogged Jersey Shore weekend. Should you wish to remember her, please make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at http://www.stjude.org.