Stanley Crocker

After a brief illness, Stanley “Stan” Crocker, age 88, departed this world on March 26, 2014, at home and at peace, surrounded by his loving family. Born and raised in Grand Bank, Newfoundland Canada, Stan, the eldest child of Annie and William Crocker, left home as a teenager to work on the sea after his father died. A devoted son and brother, Stan generously supported his family in his father’s absence.

As luck would have it, Stan met his future wife and the love of his life, Estelle, while working as a Head Steward on the Ocean Monarch cruise ship, which berthed in NY Harbor. After a whirlwind romance, Stan and Estelle wed and made NYC their home. Married 60 years, Stan and Estelle raised their sons, Alan and Robert, in Bayside, NY where they lived 35 years before moving to Atlantic Highlands, NJ some nine years ago. Stan spent most of his career as a professional union painter, and he considered the 1960’s restoration gild work on the NYC landmark Trinity Church his most crowning achievement. Known for his ready smile, his poetry and singing “ditties,” Stan happily settled into his retirement years enjoying travel (cruises in particular), Atlantic City junkets, and his lottery “scratch-offs” which he faithfully purchased every day, again, generously sharing his “winnings” with his family.

Stan is survived by his loving and adoring wife, Estelle, who called him, “her lover, her heart and her hero” and his sons, Alan Crocker and his wife Barbara of Atlantic Highlands NJ, Robert Crocker and his wife Barbara of Brooklyn NY, as well as his Newfoundland brothers George and Levi Crocker, and sisters Tillie Cooper and Edna Howell and all their respective spouses and children. Stan was predeceased by his parents Annie and William Crocker and his younger brother Philip Crocker. Stan will be particularly missed by niece Lynn Weinberg of Pittsfield, MA, his grand daughter Kathleen Jaccard-Pattwell and her husband Rich Pattwell of Westbury, NY and their son, Benjamin, who will always remember Stan as “Great Grandpa Wedgie,” as well as Jack and Eileen Klubnick of Howell, NJ and their daughter Jenna of Cambridge, MA and their son LCPL John, USMC, currently stationed overseas.

Services to be held on Thursday, March 27, 10:00am at Bloomfield-Cooper Jewish Chapels, 2130 Hwy 35, Ocean, NJ 07712 with interment immediately following at Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Flushing, NY. The Crocker Family invite all family and friends to Respect and Remembrance Observance starting on Saturday, March 29th in Stan’s home in Atlantic Highlands. The family requests that in lieu of any gifts or flowers, donations be made to the American Diabetes Association in Memory of Stanley Crocker.