Madeline K. Mancini, Long Beach Island's First Lady

By Patricia A. Miller

Madeline K. Mancini - wife of the late longtime Long Beach Township Mayor and Ocean County Freeholder James J. Mancini - had two wishes she asked her nine children to honor.

"Don't take away my keys," her son Henry J. Mancini said at a recent council meeting.

Madeline Mancini died peacefully at 86, on Oct. 11 at Southern Ocean Medical Center, surrounded by her family. She died in the hospital her husband helped found.

She remained independent into her 80s. She lived alone in a little Cape Cod in Beach Haven Terrace and still drove.

"She lived by herself," said Mancini, who is the Stafford Township Council President. "She still had fun. She was very independent and still had a very active social life."

Mancini shared memories of his mother at the Nov. 12 council meeting and thanked the police departments in Long Beach Island who escorted his mother's funeral procession up and down the island.

"I'd like to thank everyone who reached out for their support," he said. "It was very kind of them to do that."

At her wake, the Mancini children made sure they fulfilled their mother's first wish. They placed her car keys in her hands, said Mancini, who is Stafford Township's Council President.

Her second wish was to get back to her home in Beach Haven Terrace as soon as possible after Superstorm Sandy. The house on Indiana Avenue took in four feet of water during the storm, Mancini said after the meeting.

"The storm took a toll on Mom," her son said. "She was determined to come back."

So in March, after her children gutted and repaired her battered house, Madeline Mancini got to come home.

"She got to spend the summer there," he said.

She developed an infection the last month of her life, which progressed into pneumonia, Mancini said.

Mrs. Mancini was born in Jersey City and lived in Elizabeth and Union before moving to Beach Haven Terrace in 1954. She was a communicant of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, a past member of the Rosary Society and a past member of the Soroptimist Club of Long Beach Island, from 1985 thru 1989. She was a real estate agent on Long Beach Island.

Madeline was predeceased by her husband of 55 years James J. Sr., who died in 2003 and her parents Henry and Mary Klaas. Surviving are nine children; three sons, Joseph H. of Beach Haven Terrace, James J. Jr. of Port St. Lucie, FL, Henry J. of Cedar Run; six daughters Susan A. Fieger of Collingswood, Nancy M. Mancini of Berkley, CA, Annmarie Robey of Deerfield Beach, FL, Jane M. Mancini of Berkley, CA, Joan M. DeFalco of Mobile, AL and Madeline Mancini of Dania, FL; one brother Henry Klaas of Beach Haven Park. Also surviving are 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren and beloved nieces and nephews.

Her funeral mass was celebrated at St. Thomas Aquinas R.C. Church in Beach Haven. She was buried next to her husband in Greenwood Cemetery in the Cedar Run section of Manahawkin.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations be made to either St. Francis Community Center 4700 Long Beach Blvd., Brant Beach, NJ 08008 or Southern Ocean Medical Center Foundation 1140 Route 72 West Manahawkin, NJ 08050 in Madeline's memory.