Dorothy Montelius passes away
By: Lacey Korevec
When Hopewell resident and Cranbury native Elizabeth Zingg remembers Dorothy Montelius, she thinks of her sense of humor and how genuine and likeable she was.
Ms. Montelius, 97, known to friends as Dot, died Oct. 6 at the University Medical Center at Princeton. She lived in Cranbury for many years and taught first grade at Cranbury School for a number of years before retiring in 1970. She raised her family on South Main Street and Ms. Zingg, who was a child at the time, lived next door.
Ms. Montelius was like a second mother to Ms. Zingg, who said she spent as much time next door playing with Ms. Montelius’ daughter, Dorsett, as she spent at her own house.
"I can remember spending rainy Saturday afternoons playing Monopoly over at her house," she said.
When Ms. Zingg grew up and eventually moved, Ms. Montelius became one of her close friends, she said.
"She was always there to talk with," she said. "I’d go over and talk to her because I was a teacher and she had been a teacher and we’d just sit out in the screened-in porch and she’d ask me about teaching and how it was going. She was always just genuinely concerned about a person."
Ms. Montelius was born in Punxsutawney, Pa. She graduated from Indiana Normal School, Indiana, Pa., before moving to Cranbury and working at The Cranbury School.
Margaret Luck, who grew up in Cranbury, remembers adoring Ms. Montelius as her first-grade teacher.
"Cranbury will miss Mrs. Montelius because she was one of a generation of stellar teachers at Cranbury School," she said. "How lucky we were to have such wonderful teachers in our little school."
Ms. Montelius’s husband, Rollin Clark Montelius Jr., her son, Rollin "Chub" Clark Montelius III, two sisters and a brother, are deceased. She is survived by her daughter, Dorsett Montelius Judd and her husband, Rodney, of Hedgesville, W.Va.; her grandchildren, Amanda Judd of Amherst, Mass., Melanie Judd and her husband, Daniel Porter, of Brooklyn, N.Y., Layton Judd and his wife Kristin, of Danville, Calif., Rollin Clark Montelius IV of Paris, and Miles Montelius and his wife, Ellen, of Turnbridge Wells, England; and eight great grandchildren.
Ms. Zingg said Ms. Montelius loved her family and was especially close with her two sisters.
"They would come over and you’d hear them on the back porch just laughing, laughing, laughing," she said.
Ms. Zingg also said she will remember Ms. Montelius’ sense of style, how she always had her nails done and wore stylish shoes.
"She was always dressed nicely," she said. "Even when she was just home."
Private interment and a memorial service were held Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury.
Ms. Zingg said Ms. Montelius was an important member of the Cranbury community.
"There may not be that many people left in Cranbury who knew Dot, or knew her very well," she said. "But those who did know her, I think will miss her because she was a very likable person. She liked to talk. She liked to have parties and she was just a very pleasant person to be around."

