June Schaaff passed away peacefully on April 15, 2024 at Complete Care in Severna Park, Maryland. Our family would like to thank the caring staff at Complete Care for providing excellent care to June in her last weeks.

She was born June 30, 1928 in Englewood, New Jersey to Martha and Frederick Schaaff.  She grew up in Teaneck, but spent most of her life in nearby Dumont, NJ.  June was the 3rd of 4 children and was predeceased by her parents, her brother Fred Schaaff and his wife Mickey, sister Ann and her partner Jimmy Tighe, and most recently, her sister Carol Reinhold.

The words that describe June best are accomplished, caring, and generous.  After graduating from Teaneck High School, she took an entry-level job at Liberty Mutual Insurance in New York City.  Her intellect, perseverance and commitment at Liberty Mutual led her to become the Assistant the Senior Vice President in charge of their NYC offices.  Each day, she would take the bus from Dumont into Manhattan, then walk to her Rockefeller Center office for over 40 years.  She was proud of the fact that she had photographed and documented the raising of the famed Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree every year during her tenure.

Outside of work, her primary focus was family and friends.  June was always at the center of family gatherings.  Though she never had children of her own, she loved and cared deeply for her nieces and nephews, and then again with all of her many grand nieces and nephews.  To all of them, she was simply Auntie June, an almost surrogate mother in many ways.  Every Holiday and more Sundays then not found Auntie June either hosting a family gathering or pulling up in her treasured Mustang coupe at relatives homes in River Vale, Lake Kanawauke, Green Pond or Rockville.  Often she would be accompanied by her mother, Nana Schaaff and Auntie Ann, but the constant was Auntie June.  There would always be fresh baked cookies, treats, and presents.  A Sunday ritual of hers with the Reinhold boys was for everyone to hop into the Mustang and head for Carvel.  A sweet ritual indeed!.  These were very special times, both to her and certainly to the rest of us.

June truly enjoyed traveling.  She traveled extensively throughout the US and Canada, but was particularly fond of New England.  An avid skier, she spent many winter weekends and vacations hitting the slopes in Vermont and New Hampshire, and memorably traveled west with friends to ski Aspen.  The trip provided June with lifelong memories, not the least being that she broke her leg on the last run of the last day there.   After that, her skiing days may have wrapped up, but the travel did not.  Along with her good friends, June traveled extensively throughout North America and many parts of Europe.

When not traveling, June enjoyed playing bridge and other card games, working in her greenhouse, yard and gardens, baking, and knitting.  Christmas gifts from her often included homemade fruitcake or a handmade sweater or afghan with the label, "From the needles of June Schaaff" sewn in.  Special gifts from a very special person!