Barbara Drelich of Fredon passed away peacefully at the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice on July 12, 2025. She was 87.
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.
Born to Lester and Emma (Albright) Henderson in Sussex on Feb. 2, 1938, Barbara sadly lost her father to tuberculosis when she was only 3 years old. Not long after this, she and her mother moved to Newton, 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.
While she was serving as an aide in the high school library, 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, graduating in 3 1/2 years with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1960.
During college summers, she worked as a counselor at Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea, 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 Jan. 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, purchasing a home in 1966 in Fredon, where they continued to live. Barbara began volunteering in the library at Fredon Township Elementary School, which 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, then her Certification as a Media Specialist. She spent more than 10 years taking night classes at William Paterson University and Fairleigh Dickinson University while also working full-time and raising her family.
During 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 she introduced the children to many Caldecott and Newberry Award winners.
She retired from teaching in June 2011 at age 73.
Barbara was a tremendous support to her children and grandchildren in their many and varied activities and important life events, and she 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 with whom she still was in contact. She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
In addition to her father, Barbara was predeceased by a son, David Alan Drelich, who passed away at 3 days old; her mother, Emma Washer; her stepfather, Reed Washer; and two sons-in-law, Todd Kratzer and Chuck Mills.
She is survived by her five children, Catherine Mills, Michael Drelich (wife Melissa Drelich), Bruce Drelich, Deborah Kratzer and Douglass Drelich (wife Sarah Lawrence); 16 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at Smith-McCracken Funeral Home in Newton on Friday, July 18 from 2 to 6 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Branchville on Saturday, July 19 at 11:30 a.m. (there will be no viewing on this day). Interment will follow at the Northern New Jersey Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sparta.
Online condolences may be offered to the family at smithmccrackenfuneralhome.com