Mary Bendick

Mary Bendick passed away peacefully on April 7 at her home in Florham Park. She was 104.  Mary was born in Vojnatina, Slovakia and came to the United States with her parents when she was five years old. She grew up in the Lafayette section of Jersey City where she graduated from PS 22 and Lincoln High School.

Mary grew up in a  hard-working Slovak immigrant community in Jersey City.  She was proud of her Slovak heritage. She frequently told the story of how she arrived in America, knowing no English, but worked hard and went to summer school to learn.

After graduation from high school, Mary worked for 42 years at RCA, first in Harrison, New Jersey and later at the RCA headquarters at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. She loved her time at RCA where she participated in many employee shows and made many great friends. 

Mary loved to travel with her sister Betty.  She enjoyed telling the stories of the 92 vacations that they took together. As young women traveling solo in the 1950s and 60s, they were quite independent and adventurous. Mary saved enough money from her work at RCA to purchase a new blue 1955 Chrysler Windsor, which was the first car in the neighborhood to have factory installed the air conditioning!   She enjoyed reminiscing about the road trips she and Betty took in the car, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida. They traveled to California and Hawaii.   They went behind the iron curtain to Slovakia in the early 1960s to visit aunts and uncles and cousins. They visited many other countries in Europe, and took many Caribbean cruises together. 

Mary was predeceased by her parents, John and Anna (Salapka) Bendick, her brother Michael Bendick, and her sister, Betty Bendick. She leaves behind a loving group of relatives and friends and her beloved community at St Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church in Jersey City.

Visitation at the Leonardis Memorial Home, Inc., 210 Ridgedale Avenue, Florham Park on Tuesday, April 14th from 4-7pm.  Funeral on Wednesday, April 15th, assembling at the funeral home at 9am, followed by the funeral mass at St. Mary’s Byzantine Church in Jersey City at 10:30am, followed by the interment at Holy Cross Cemetery in N. Arlington.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mary's name to St. Mary's Byzantine Church, 231 Pacific Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07304.

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