Barbara Jean Drelich

Barbara Drelich, 87, of Fredon, NJ, passed away peacefully at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice on July 12, 2025. She was the beloved wife of Edward Drelich, her high school sweetheart, to whom she was married for 65 years. She was also a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She is survived by her five children, Catherine Mills, Michael Drelich (wife Melissa Drelich), Bruce Drelich, Deborah Kratzer, and Douglass Drelich (wife Sarah Lawrence), sixteen grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.

Born to Lester and Emma (Albright) Henderson in Sussex, NJ, on February 2, 1938, Barbara sadly lost her father to tuberculosis when she was only three years old. Not long after this, she and her mother moved to Newton, NJ, where she lived throughout her growing-up years, graduating from Newton High School in 1956. During high school, she was president of her junior class, news editor of the school newspaper for two years, a member of the National Honor Society, and a National Merit Scholar, and she was voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her classmates senior year. She won several awards and distinctions, including being selected to be a delegate to the United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth, a six-day program in New York City, and being nominated by her classmates and chosen by the Newton High School faculty for the Good Citizenship Award of the Daughters of the American Revolution which included representing Newton at the Good Citizenship Pilgrimage in Trenton, NJ.

It was while she was serving as an Aide in the high school library that she met Edward when he came to do his Bookkeeping homework. Junior year they sat across the aisle from each other in the back row of their American History class and a friendship developed. Their relationship blossomed and they attended Junior and Senior Prom together. After high school, Barbara attended Douglass College, in New Brunswick, NJ, graduating in three and a half years with a BA degree in Sociology in 1960. During college summers, she worked as a counselor at Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea and then at the Sussex County Library, which included bringing books to rural locations in Sussex County with the Bookmobile. She and Edward continued their romance through her college years, primarily through letter writing with occasional visits, as Edward was serving in the Army at various locations, including Korea. They were married on January 30, 1960, and traveled to Oklahoma where they lived until September of that year when Edward was discharged from his Army duties at Fort Sill.

Barbara and Edward settled in Newton and began to raise a family, eventually purchasing a home in Fredon in 1966 where they continued to live until the present day. Barbara began volunteering in the library at Fredon Township Elementary School where her children were attending, and as time went on, she was recruited as a full-time librarian. This led to her going back to school to get her Elementary School Certification and then Certification as a Media Specialist. She spent over ten years taking night classes at William Paterson University and Fairleigh Dickinson University while also working full-time and raising her family. Over the course of her career, she worked as a librarian at Elementary schools in Fredon, Hope, Montague, Randolph, and Roxbury, sharing her love of books with the children in each school. She arranged numerous special events for them, including a Beatrix Potter program, a Teddy Bear’s Picnic, and a Dr. Seuss read-aloud, and introduced the children to many Caldecott and Newberry Award winners. She retired from teaching in June of 2011 at the age of 73.

In addition to her father, Barbara was predeceased by a son, David Alan Drelich, who passed away at three days old; her mother, Emma Washer; her stepfather, Reed Washer; and two sons-in-law, Todd Kratzer and Chuck Mills.

Barbara was a tremendous support to her children and grandchildren in their many and varied activities and important life events, and could be counted on to show up for every school program, music or theater performance, sporting event, graduation, wedding, etc. Over the years, she also spent many hours volunteering with a number of organizations, including Girl Scouts, National Right to Life, the Columbiettes, and the Retired Teachers Association, and she served in various ways in her Catholic church. She was known for the wonderful cookies she baked, and they were very popular wherever she took them. As her children grew up and moved into homes of their own, they knew they were always welcome to visit and stay for as long as they wanted. She loved babies and was delighted at the birth of each new grandchild and great-grandchild. Barbara was a great friend as well, maintaining relationships in some cases for many decades, including several high school and college friends that she still had contact with. She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Visitation will be at the Smith-McCracken Funeral Home in Newton on Friday, July 18, from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. A Funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Branchville, NJ, on Saturday, July 19, at 11:30 AM (there will be no viewing on this day). Interment will follow at the Northern New Jersey Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sparta, NJ.

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