Vilma Rose Oxenford

Vilma Ballo Oxenford passed away on March 10, 2026, just three days after her 97th birthday. Born in New York City, she met her husband David, a Rutgers student, while pursuing her college degree at Douglass University in New Brunswick. They married in 1950 and settled in Brick, New Jersey, buying a home on Carroll Fox Road in 1952. The house grew through the years and was the scene for many dinners, picnics, and gatherings of family, friends, and community groups.

Vilma was a teacher and educational administrator for the Brick School system, retiring in 1990 as the Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction. But retirement did not slow her down. Instead, she became an active member of the Brick Garden Club, was a colonial reenactor and coordinator for 4th-grade class trips to the Brick Historical Society’s Havens House, and took leadership roles at Central United Methodist Church in Point Pleasant Beach and with the Ocean County Congress of Concerned Citizens. She led a full and active life in New Jersey, as well as traveling across the country and in much of Europe and the Americas.

David passed away in 2001. By 2009, it was time for a change, so Vilma moved to Arlington, Virginia, to be near her son David, Jr., and his family. She took up residence in The Jefferson, a senior community a few miles outside Washington DC. But the move did not slow her down. She maintained an active social life with a large circle of friends and seemingly attended virtually every play, exhibit, and performance in the DC area. Eventually, she led the Jefferson’s Garden Club, its new-residents’ welcoming committee, and the twice-ayear employee gift-fund drive, and taught various workshops in their art program – right up until late last year. Vilma was often heard to remark, “I’m getting too old to keep doing all this – but what would I do if I wasn’t doing it?” It took a fall in early December (after coming home from a musical performance) to slow her down.

Vilma is survived by her sons David and Jeff, their wives Carolyn and Julie, Jeff’s daughter Alyse (a fourth-year medical student), and David’s sons Matthew (who works in economics and policy in London) and Chris (a high school teacher), as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins. She is also survived by a special member of her family, Bashir Hamid, who spent a year with the family as a foreign exchange student from Afghanistan in the late 1960s. In the early 1980s, after their country was invaded by Russia, he returned to the US with his wife, Fahima, and their children, staying with Vilma and David until they established themselves, eventually purchasing a home only blocks from the house on Carroll Fox Road.

Vilma will be remembered for her community leadership, her parties, her cookies, her plants, and her indefatigable energy.

Funeral Services will be held on April 4th, 10 am at Central United Methodist Church, 729 Arnold Avenue, Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742 Internment at Greenwood Cemetery in Brielle, NJ following the service.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in her name be sent to one of her favorite causes. These include

The Jefferson Employee Gift Fund. Send checks to Administrative Assistant- 900 N. Taylor Street Arlington, VA 22203

Brick Garden Club – Send checks to: Brick Garden Club, PO Box 134, Brick, NJ 08723

Brick Township Historical Society, Inc. P.O. Box 160, Brick NJ 08723