Joseph T. Corris

Joseph T. Corris, 96, of Toms River passed away peacefully on December 25th surrounded by his loving family.

Born on March 5th, 1929 in Jersey City, he grew up in Bloomfield and graduated from Bloomfield High School where he excelled in multiple sports and loved to retell the stories of his athletic days. Joe was a veteran who served as a corporal in the United States Army during the Korean War. He met the love of his life, Nancy, in a bowling league and they enjoyed 58 years of marriage, raising their family in Belleville prior to moving to Toms River later in life. While raising their young family, he worked multiple jobs, including part time bartending and playing the piano while attending night school. He earned his B.S. in accounting from Fairleigh Dickenson University, and enjoyed a career in accounting and office management, eventually retiring from Potamkin Chevrolet in North Plainfield. In his retirement, he loved to visit Atlantic City with Nancy, enjoyed crossword and jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, and attending countless events for all his grandchildren, always cheering from the sidelines for everyone. He had immense pride in his four daughters, their husbands and children, and in recent years his great-grandchildren.

Joe had a passion for music and song and was a self-taught musician, mastering the piano and accordion, while also playing the harmonica, ukulele, and banjo. He received a piano as a wedding gift from his wife, and that piano filled his home with 70 years of music and love. For nearly every family party, the accordion was requested to accompany him, and over the years he was the life of the party basking in the applause. Upon request, he could play and sing hundreds of songs from his youth, word for word from memory. He often sang in his sleep and woke up singing, which made him and those around him happy and ready to face each day. He was still singing and playing the piano at the age of ninety-six! Joe’s repeated singing of “take me out to the ball game” as his months and days drew short captured the essence of his fun-loving spirit throughout his long life: basking in the sun with song, watching a game with snacks in hand while cheering for others, and seizing the simplest of moments in life with a smile and crowd of people he loved around him.

Although his memory faded over the years, he never lost his love for life and family. He had unending joy and an infectious smile, never missing the opportunity to say ‘I love you’. He sang songs to everyone, including the doctors and nurses in the hospital. Joe complemented anyone he met, especially on their smiles, which made them smile even more. His happiness and joy brought tears to the eyes of many strangers who had never encountered someone quite like him. He had a sparkle in his eyes and was genuinely grateful for the smallest act of kindness shown to him. Joe set an amazing example to all who met him with his fierce determination, showing gratitude and embracing each day. No matter how old and tired his body became, he worked hard to do his best every day that he was given.

He was a charming, modest, humble, and wonderful man who enriched our hearts with joy, laughter, smiles and music, and he filled our souls with love. We have been blessed to be part of his journey and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Joe was predeceased by his beloved wife Nancy (Kastner), his parents Charles and Lillian (Beck) Corris, and three siblings: Charles Corris, Lillian Corris, and Evelyn Hancheck.

Joe is survived by four loving daughters and their husbands: Cindy and Pete Jacovinich of Woodbridge, Sandra and Doug Blischok of Berkeley Heights, Stacey & Jim Relyea of Rockaway, Shannon and Scott van den Berg of Toms River. He also leaves his sister Kathleen Seale of Florham Park, brother-in-law John Mauritz of Massachusetts and many caring nieces and nephews. He has nine adoring grandchildren: PJ (Ava), Stacey (Tommy), Brianna, Daniel, Savannah, Cory, Kyra, Erin, and Kimberly, and two great grandchildren Milo and Salvatore. He served as “Grandpa” to so many others who loved to visit and care for him.

Visitation will be on Monday, December 29th from 9:00 – 11:30: Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home 26 Mule Road, Toms River, NJ Mass of Christian Burial on Monday December 29th at 12:00: St. Maximilian Kolbe RC Church, 130 Saint Maximilian Lane, Toms River, NJ Burial will be private on Tuesday, December 30th at the NJ Veteran’s Cemetery, Arneytown, NJ.

The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made in his name to the South Toms River First Aid & Rescue Squad Inc. You can mail a check Payable to "South Toms River Manitou First Aid Squad" and send to: P.O. Box 57 Beachwood, NJ 08722 or via their website: South Toms River EMS

Dad's Eulogy:

Good Morning,

Thank you all for joining us today to celebrate the life of our father Joe Corris. Special thanks to Fr John Dennehy our lifelong family friend who is here today to celebrate the funeral mass, and also to our sister Shannon and her family for the many sacrifices made over the years to care for our parents, leading to the long and beautiful life of our dad.

There is a poem called The Dash by Linda Ellis. It notes the meaning of life is not the dates of birth and death on your tombstone that define you, but its the dash in-between that really matters. It states how a life should be lived with meaning and purpose focusing on kindness and love.

So what can you say in only a few minutes about a man who not only lived that DASH but one who epitomized that dash with bells and whistles, music, dancing, laughter, funny hats and a beautiful outlook on life? Someone who was an inspiration to others to live their Dash to the fullest? Lets start with a few words that defined him.

SACRIFICE

* He was born during the great Depression, and times were very tough for his family. He and his older brother Charlie used to stand on food lines for their family. His best friends mother used to send him food to take home to his family as her husband was employed. That same family loved him so much that as they got older, their mother sent all the children to take accordion lessons so they could be like Joey.

* He purchased his own accordion in his late teens and multiple times sold it to a pawn shop to get enough money to pay the rent for their family apartment. Fortunately, the pawn shop owners liked him and always hoped he would return so they never sold it to anyone and he was able to buy it back each time. He last played that same accordion at the age of 90 for hours at a family party. It was amazing to watch how he could still remember the words to songs and the motions needed to bring it to life.

* He would only take one week of vacation a year. His employer had a deal to pay him for unused vacation time and he would save it up to be paid in December to use the extra money for Christmas gifts.

LUCK

* He signed up for the Army during the Korean War at age 19 and was lined up with 11 other high school buddies. They pulled him off the lineup as he had experience they needed as a supply clerk and he was sent on special projects to Europe. The other 11 were sent to the front lines and they gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

* In Atlantic City he won several thousand dollars at the slot machines - and being very generous he turned right around, shared it with his sisters.

SIMPLICITY

* He lived with the belief that Duct tape and WD40 could fix any issue in the house. Everyone was incredibly happy when his son-in-laws entered the picture to fix things the right way!

* Ate a bowl of cereal with fruit and Multiple Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every single day and treated them like gourmet meals

* He wanted to be busy and Productive. One day after finishing a jigsaw puzzle at the table he kept looking over his shoulder at the piano, and he said to me with a sly grin ‘I want to do something productive – is playing the piano productive?’, of course I said Absolutely.

* Appreciation for beauty – both in people and in nature

-Loved to sit outside in the sun

-Would ride in the car and put his hands up in the air saying what a beautiful day it is

-He loved to watch the sunset from the porch and sing to the neighbors as they walked by

LOVE

Our parents would sit on the couch at night and hold hands. They fiercely loved each other and showed us the meaning of care, compromise, and compassion. After our mom’s illness, he was at her side every day helping, holding, guiding, singing to her and simply just loving her, setting the example for all of us. There is a saying on the wall in his home ‘Family – where life begins and love never ends’. He would be eating supper, stop, read it and ponder it – repeating it many times with a smile, stating how much he loved it. He took great pride in his family.

FAITH

Our parents raised us in a family of faith, we attended Catholic school and church each Sunday and always said grace before dinner. We were taught to believe in God, to be grateful for everything, our food, our family, our health and our faith. In recent years as his memory decreased, I still sat with him to say Grace when serving him a meal. Though he didn’t remember the words, he still bowed his head in reverence and gratitude. We are grateful for the faith our parents instilled in us, as we know the single set of footsteps we see in the sand from the past few weeks was our Lord carrying dad home to the gates of heaven to meet Saint Peter.

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Besides keeping everyone entertained with music, he kept us laughing too. Here are a few of his escapades:

* Dropping not one but 2 air conditioners out of the upstairs windows at our family home on Lloyd place.

* Leaving me at 10 years old to continue tarring the flat porch roof while he went to the store to get more supplies. I proceeded to drop the brush in the tar, walk through it and make a handprint on the aluminum siding trying to get back in the window.

* He decided to fix my mothers old fashioned adding machine with WD40 and caught it on fire…

* My parents were scheduled to watch our daughter Brianna when I was in going to the hospital to deliver Daniel, however he started driving to Cindy's house instead but she wasn’t the daughter having a baby!

* He tried his hand at electrical work, replacing the end of an extension cord. However he made it a double sided female extension cord. Guess he was used to being around 5 women for too long.

…And we could tell many more here, the amazing part is that he took these antics all in stride with a lighthearted laughter.

His love of music anchored him. He wrote songs for his wife and granddaughters and he would come home from work and just sit down to play a few tunes before dinner to unwind. It was wonderful to return home and hear the music as you stepped on the porch. There are so many songs that will remind us of him but there are two that specifically that personify him:

* The first is When you’re smiling, by one of his favorites Louis Armstong. The lyrics are so simple - When your smiling – the whole world smiles with you… that was him, he wanted to smile and make people smile.

* And of course, Take me out to the ballgame – as noted in the Obituary, he sang this song on repeat, and it is all he ever asked to do. His light-hearted spirit shines thru the verses. We hope you are finally enjoying the ballgame Dad!

His vocabulary declined as he aged but he had many phrases he repeated with sincerity and I would like to share them with you. I hope they make you smile:

In his earlier years:

• I am working hard to keep myself healthy and stay strong for you 4 girls

• I am trying to use the remaining time wisely that the good Lord has given me

And these were common all through the years some more recently repeated:

• What are we doing today?

• Take me out to the Ballgame!

• Purrrrfect

• Oh, that is wonderful, wonderful indeed!

• Hey, I like your smile!

• This is delicious (even a bowl of cereal or a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich)

• I love you – said with a smile and the closing of eyes. The grandkids even taught him the sign language for it, so he would repeat it back to them

• That makes me sooooo happy

• You are beautiful

• Thank you sweetheart

• Thank you for helping me. If he were using his walker at the time, he would take one hand off, and cover your hand or try to shake your hand in thanks.

With phases like this we could all make our DASH a lot more meaningful.

In his last days in the hospital the Dr came in to explain that hospice was the best path for him. She smiled and said she had never had a patient like him, someone so grateful, pleasant and happy. He tried to sing to her but had no voice. He mouthed the words thank you and he reached out his hand to her which she held and smiled, thanking him in return and holding his hand for a long time.

As we waited with him at home to pass, just after midnight on Christmas day we had one last sing along with him. We gathered around his bed praying and singing Christmas carols. As the world celebrated the birth of a new baby on Christmas morning, heaven welcomed our dad home to the Lord, no doubt the angles had a baby grand piano waiting for him and our mom was sitting on the bench with an outstretched hand to greet him.

He was an extraordinary man who lived an ordinary life by making his DASH remarkable.

Thank you all for being here, for loving him and supporting all of us.