Rebecca Jean Schwarz

Rebecca Jean Schwarz, of Wantage, N.J., former Sussex Bureau Chief of the New Jersey Herald, passed away Friday, April 1, 2022 at her residence. She was 81 years old.

A daughter of the late H. Victor and Leona Shadd Burlock, she was born December 2, 1940 in St. Marys, Pa. Mrs. Schwarz was a graduate of St. Aloysius High School in Jersey City and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Seton Hall University in South Orange, Class of 1963. She was wed to her husband George C. Schwarz in St. Peter’s R. C. Church, Jersey City in 1964. She was a 58-year resident of Wantage Township.

In addition to her journalistic tenure at the Herald from 1967 to 1982, Rebecca was employed by The Jersey Journal in Jersey City for three years prior to her marriage. She followed her career after leaving the Herald and was a Bureau Coordinator for the Times-Herald Record of Middletown, N.Y. for 18 years, serving mainly in its Warwick, N.Y. office. Following her retirement from the newspaper business, she worked for a time at First Hope Bank in Sparta and Hope and served in the Sussex County Clerk’s office for six years. During this time Rebecca also worked as the recording secretary for the Wantage Township Committee, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment for 16 years on a part-time basis.

Mrs. Schwarz served her community well. She was a member and secretary of the Parish Council of St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church in Hardyston, as well as the church’s Rosary Society and worked at the travel table of the seniors group there, as well as being a member of St. Monica’s Leisure Group in Sussex. She was the secretary of the Friends of the Old Clove Church in Wantage for 34 years, served on the advertising and public relations committee of the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show, was an officer of the High Point Republican Club, and served as a Republican county committeewoman in Wantage for several years. She also served as a poll worker for the county Election Board.

Survivors include her devoted son, George Victor of Hamilton Township, her loving daughter, Amy Elizabeth of Kirkland, Wash.; and many cousins, nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her husband George in 2016, her brother, H. Victor Burlock III, in 1978, and her sister, Mary Kathryn Wierzbicki, in 1989.

Visitation was held Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at Pinkel Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on April 6 at St. Jude the Apostle Church, followed by interment at Immaculate Conception Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Jude’s Rosary Society in Becky’s memory.