Edward C. Nystrom

A memorial service celebrating the life of Edward C. Nystrom, a lifelong Skillman, New Jersey resident, will be held on Saturday, September 7, 2013 at First United Methodist Church, 48 W. High Street, Somerville, New Jersey, 08876.

Ed died at home on Wednesday July 17, 2013 of natural causes.

Ed was a graduate of Princeton High School and Ohio Wesleyan University. He had a long career in survey research field operations.

A devotee of positive thinking and motivational theory, Ed was the author of the recently published The Psychology of Positive Thinking. This work represents more than 50 years of personal research and thought.

Ed was born in the British Hospital in Montevideo, Uruguay to Joel and Doris Nystrom, where his father was the International YMCA’s executive secretary for Latin America.

He came of age on the family’s Agridor Farm in Skillman and had a lifelong love of the outdoors and gardening.

He loved choral music, participating in local church choirs and The Mozart Singers at Silver Bay YMCA of the Adirondacks on Lake George in Upstate N.Y.

Ed’s kind and gentle spirit and his enthusiasm for life will be remembered by all who knew him.

Ed is survived by his wife, Anne Marie (Lee) Nystrom; his two daughters, Christine Loesser of Newtown, Pa., and Cherise Nystrom of New Brunswick; his grandson, Benjamin Loesser; his sister Christine N. Abrahams; and his brothers Bruce Nystrom and Eric Nystrom.

Donations in memory of Ed Nystrom may be made to Silver Bay YMCA, 87 Silver Bay Road, Silver Bay, N.Y. 12874.

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Suzanne Drabek

Suzanne Drabek, a long-time resident of Princeton and Hunterdon County, died July 17 in the Princeton Medical Center at Plainsboro after an abrupt diagnosis of metastatic cancer. She was 56.

Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, the daughter of Joseph and Marie Drabek (both deceased), she spent much of her childhood in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School. She was an alumna of Lehigh University and later earned a Masters Degree from Southern Methodist University and completed additional graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

One of Suzanne’s great loves throughout her life was animals. She formed an early personal and professional partnership with equestrian Thom Trout in 1983. For 12 years, as a principal of TroutBek, she was instrumental in the management, promotion, and beautification of several horse training facilities at various rural locations within Hunterdon County, the last of which was in Frenchtown. She and Thom resided in Lambertville throughout most of this period and she began her work in real estate sales during that time.

In the mid-90s she returned to Princeton where she thrived as a successful real estate broker. Licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, she was affiliated with Burgdorff in Stockton and Princeton for over 20 years. She was a member of the Leader Circle, the President’s Club, and was named the top Relocation Sales Associate in 2003. During her long career as a real estate professional she was consistently ranked in the Mercer County Board of Realtors “Circle of Excellence” and was a member of TOP PRODUCERS. She regularly served on Board committees in the areas of education, political advocacy, professional standards, among others. In later years she had been affiliated with N.T. Callaway and ERA Properties Unlimited. Suzanne was well-known within the profession and was widely recognized for the high level of expertise and experience she brought to all facets of her work in the field.

In recent years Suzanne had devoted herself almost exclusively to the care of her elderly father, Joe Drabek, who passed away in December 2012. During this time she also maintained a happy home for her adored dogs who were her constant companions: the dachshunds “Spike, Louis, and Moe,” and the Collie “Skye,” who had earlier belonged to her father, as well as her shy adopted cat “Leo.” She had many beloved friends and colleagues in the Princeton community at the time of her death.

Suzanne is survived by two brothers, Jonathan Drabek of St. Augustine, Florida, and Jaime Drabek of McAllen, Texas.

Friends may gather at the Kimble Funeral Home, 1 Hamilton Avenue, Princeton on Monday August 19 from 10 a.m. until the time of the funeral service at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in Princeton Cemetery adjacent to her parents’ graves.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to the animal rescue organization S.A.V.E., 900 Herrontown Road, Princeton N.J. 08540.

Extend condolences at www.TheKimbleFuneralHome.com.

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Lester Tibbals, Jr.

Lester “Bud” Tibbals, Jr., 97, died on June 29, 2013 at Stonebridge. He was a devoted husband for 66 years to the late Christina Freeman Tibbals, father to Roxana Tibbals Leeson and the late David Lester Tibbals, grandfather to four grandchildren, and great grandfather to three great grandchildren. He gave us all the gifts of unconditional love, joy, and laughter in abundance.

Bud was born on February 11, 1916 in Milford, Conn. to Mabel and Lester, Sr. He was a direct descendent of Captain Thomas Tibbals, an original settler of Milford. While growing up in Milford, Bud earned the Boy Scout’s highest rank of Eagle Scout and began the waterfront program in Milford. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford in 1940 where he was a member of the varsity swimming and track teams and Psi Upsilon fraternity. During World War II Bud served in the United States Navy and taught Midshipman’s School at Great Lake’s Naval Station and Columbia University.

Bud came to Princeton in 1945 to earn a Masters Degree in history at Princeton University’s Graduate College. He joined the faculty of Princeton Country Day School in 1947. Current Head of School, Paul J. Stellato, wrote, “Mr. Tibbals was an extraordinary member of our Princeton Day School community, teaching history to eager students from 1947 to 1981. He was one of the few teachers in our school’s history who taught at both Princeton Country Day School and then, after the merger with Miss Fine’s School in 1965, at Princeton Day School.”

In 2011, on the occasion of their 50th reunion, the PCD class of 1961 made Mr. Tibbals an honorary member of the class. An avid supporter of PCD and PDS athletics, Mr. Tibbals also coached tennis, hockey, skating, and football. In addition, he served as the school’s athletic director from 1958 to 1965. In 2003, he was inducted into the Princeton Day School Athletic Hall of Fame for extraordinary achievement.  Bud often said of his 34 years at PCD/PDS, “There wasn’t a day that I didn’t love going to work.”

Bud was an avid figure skater, tennis player, sailor, and fly fisherman. He loved everything football and anything “Tiger”. He was a past president of the Princeton Skating Club, a member of the Old Guard, a ROMEO (Really Old Men Eating Out), a reading teacher to prison inmates, and a volunteer at the Carrier Clinic.

A memorial service will be held on September 14 at 1 p.m. at Stonebridge, 700 Hollinshead Spring Road, Skillman, N.J.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in Bud’s memory to: The Class of 1940 Scholarship Fund at Trinity College, 300 Summit St. in Hartford, CT 06106.

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Lillian M. Bradley

Lillian M. Bradley, 93, died on Thursday, August 1, 2013 at Cadbury at Lewes in Lewes, Del. She was born on July 14, 1920 in East Orange, N.J. to the late Harvey Boeninghaus and Mary Cross Boeninghaus. After graduating from East Orange High School she graduated from the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City.

She worked at Walter Kidde & Company in New York City before moving to Princeton in 1954 where she worked for Princeton Bank and Trust and its successors.

Mrs. Bradley was predeceased by her husbands W. Arthur Ridler (1944) and Richard E. Bradley (2008), her brother Edward Boeninghaus, and stepson Paul Bradley. She is survived by her son Arthur H. Ridler and his wife Carol; step-daughters Eileen, Joyce, Jan, and Nora; granddaughters Amy and Sarah, as well as numerous step-grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The family will hold a private graveside ceremony on September 21, 2013 at Rosedale Cemetery, Montclair, N.J.

Please sign her online guest registry at www.parsellfuneralhomes.com.