JUNE BEVERLY (LIGHT) FRECK – Obituary
June Beverly [Light] Freck, Lanoka Harbor, NJ, formerly of Clayton, NJ, passed away peacefully at home on February 8, 2022 at age 93.
June was born in Barnesville, Schuylkill County, Pa. on June 17, 1928, the 7th of 10 children born to coal miner and furniture upholsterer Earl Sylvester Light [d. 1958] and wife Hattie Mae Hartung [d. 1984, age 91]. She is predeceased by brothers and sisters Ronald, Mildred, Arnold, Thelma [Dolly], Earl [Jim], Harold, Anson, David and Delmont. She is also predeceased by her husband of 56 years, former Clayton Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Albert Freck Jr., and their firstborn child, Albert III [Buddy].
June’s childhood was centered in the Mahanoy City environs, including nearby swimming and amusement park attractions in Barnesville at Lakeside Park, which dated to 1880, and Lakewood Park, a more lavish competition opened in 1916. The little boat rides, along with carnival rides and games, were part of June’s fond memories, as was the local roller skating rink frequented in her teen years. While attending Mahanoy City High School, she was a mellophone player in the marching band, gaining an affinity for music that was passed down to her children and grandchildren. The marching band often performed in parades at Mahanoy City and nearby Tamaqua, Pa.
June worked in Whalen’s Drug Store, Mahanoy City, and later full-time as a telephone switchboard operator.
June met her future husband in the 1940s when her friend Barbara ‘Cookie’ Freck suggested her brother Albert would be interested if June wrote him a letter. Later, Albert, a company bugler, served in a U.S. Army unit deployed to the Philippines in 1945 until the end of World War II. Albert and June were married in July 1950, and later settled in Clayton, NJ, raising their three children, Buddy, Diane and Carl. While Albert volunteered with the town fire company for decades, June volunteered with the Clayton Vol. Fire Co. Ladies Auxiliary, most prominently at the summer carnival and hoagie sales fundraisers at the firehouse. Another civic role was her periodic work at the borough election polls.
Albert and June were members of First Baptist Church in Clayton, where their children attended Sunday School and teen youth groups. Their daughter’s 1982 marriage was held at First Baptist, with reception in the firehall. Years later, family and friends met at the firehall in July 2000 to congratulate Albert and June at a surprise 50th Anniversary celebration.
After Albert passed away in 2006, June remained at their house on North New Street in Clayton with their son Carl. She continued faithfully attending Sunday School and church services at First Baptist; in later years, friend Sue Newell provided Sunday transportation.
In November 2018, illness and injury required a temporary stay at a rehabilitation center in Deptford. June moved to her daughter’s home in Ocean County in December 2018, and on Christmas Eve, began attending Manahawkin Baptist Church, where she was warmly welcomed by special senior friends including Mary Ellen Hauge of Manahawkin and Joyce Tissiere of Warren Grove. Joyce picked up on June’s affinity for cats, and selected the cat-theme for numerous “just-because” gifts over the months. At her new home, June resumed her longtime pastime of card games, 500-piece puzzles and dominos, plus new appreciation for birds, chipmunks and squirrels sharing the back deck bird feeder. Sharing this joy also was home health aid Diana Bayer of Manahawkin, whose resilient good nature always lifted June’s spirit twice a week. It never ceased to amaze Diana and June’s son-in-law how often June just happened to come up with the winning card in UNO.
New to June’s late-life experience was almost weekly outings to local restaurants, movie theaters, and sometimes just for sunset admiring, with her daughter and son-in-law throughout 2019, throughout 2020 (no-Covid19-panic!), and throughout 2021. They especially enjoyed the mask-free breathing once again… finally! She probably saw 30 movies her first 30 months in Ocean County [some films twice; a few good ones, three times]. As for eating, there was never a plate-full, at home or dining out, that June could not finish; boxing some to take home from restaurants was her daughter’s advice or her son-in-law’s prompt. One amusing 2021 moment at the Fortune Buffet in Toms River was June’s cookie “fortune”: You will be hungry again in an hour. “Ain’t that the truth!” her family laughed. She never gained a pound; only a satisfied gleam in her eye at the “end” of dinner as she sipped her coffee mug to the last drop.
June will be missed and most lovingly remembered by daughter Diane Beverly Roberts and husband Neal Roberts of Lanoka Harbor; son Carl D. Freck of Clayton; niece Barbara (Hinderliter) and husband Steven Butler of Clayton; grandson Brian D. Roberts of Asilah, Morocco; and granddaughter Rebecca M. Roberts and boyfriend Kyle Sheehan of Old Bridge, NJ.
Relatives and friends are invited to her viewing on Friday, February 11, 2022, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM and again on Saturday, February 12, 2022, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at the BARCLAY FUNERAL HOME, 208 Maple Street, Clayton, NJ 08312. Funeral service on Saturday at 11:00 AM at the funeral home. Interment at Cedar Green Cemetery, Clayton. Donations in June’s memory are appreciated for Clayton Vol. Fire Co. Ladies Auxiliary, 107 W. High St., Clayton, NJ; or First Baptist Church, 110 S. Delsea Dr., Clayton, NJ 08312.
Sign the guestbook at BarclayFuneralHome.net.__________________________________________