Long-time community leader ‘will be missed’
By:Emily Craighead
Early Tuesday morning, school board member Jeanne Golden-Nowak, who suffered a stroke in July and recently contracted pneumonia, died at the Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy. She was 70.
But many in town say her gifts to Manville will last forever.
A Manville resident since 1955, she spent 31 years as a school secretary, three years on the Borough Council, and five years on the Board of Education.
Ms. Golden-Nowak presided over the Manville Republican Club, was a member of the Manville Senior Citizens Club and a former member of the Altar Rosary Society at Sacred Heart Church.
Though her illness forced her to abandon her busy schedule and miss school board meetings, she remained alert and optimistic.
"Last week I could speak to her, but she couldn’t respond, so she wrote notes and I could read her lips," Ms. Golden-Nowak’s husband, former Mayor Rudy Nowak, said Tuesday afternoon. "Last week she said to me, ‘I’m finally on the road to recovery.’"
She even voted in the recent presidential election, her husband assisting with her absentee ballot. Mr. Nowak said his wife was thrilled with the outcome of both the election and the World Series. He took some of the blame for his wife’s enthusiasm for the Boston Red Sox.
Ms. Golden-Nowak often was unwilling to follow the mainstream or compromise on issues that mattered to her.
"She was ready, willing and able to talk to anyone. Frankly she was very opinionated, but she was very seldom wrong about anything she stood for," Mr. Nowak said.
Ms. Golden-Nowak was known on the Board of Education for her outspoken opposition to former Superintendent Francis X. Heelan and her quest to simplify school district operations to eliminate what she saw as wasteful spending.
"She’s very blunt but she always brings issues to the forefront," board President Janice Mathewson said Tuesday. "She was a pretty strong voice throughout the district."
Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting began with a moment of silence in memory of Ms. Golden-Nowak. Her late husband, Robert Golden, was also a member of the board for 13 years before his death in 1981.
Polarizing at times, Ms. Golden-Nowak was respected by those who worked with her. Even her adversaries eventually became her friends.
Democratic Mayor Angelo Corradino performed the wedding ceremony two years ago for Ms. Golden-Nowak and Mr. Nowak, both longtime Republicans.
"If you would have said that 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you," Mayor Corradino said Wednesday.
Ms. Golden-Nowak fought her battles with one goal in mind.
Shortly after her appointment to the board in December 1999, she told The Manville News, "I have no political aspirations. Working with the kids is what I enjoy."
Through her efforts, more than 500 children received hardcover books and chocolate at a Weston School Easter egg hunt in 1999. She received a mayoral commendation for the communitywide Dr. Seuss Read-Across- America Day program she described as one of the largest in the country, attracting over 1,000 people, and she also organized book sales.
"She contributed immensely to the borough. She served on so many committees, you can’t name them all, and we’re going to miss her tremendously," Mayor Corradino said.
Ms. Golden-Nowak is survived by her husband, her son, Joseph, and wife, Nancy Golden of Sparta; her daughter, Jackie Frey and husband, Michael, of Manville; and her granddaughter, Jamie Golden.
The viewing will be held today (Thursday) from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ketusky Funeral Home, 1310 Brooks Blvd. The funeral service will begin on Friday at 8:15 a.m. at the funeral home, to be followed by a 9 a.m. Mass at Sacred Heart Church. Burial will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Hillsborough.