The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Leonard H. Aarons, of Somerset passed away December 24 at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville. He was 92.
Born in Orange, he was raised in Orange and East Orange, graduating from Orange High School in 1949. He was a member of the State Championship Football team and the State Championship 4 x 100 track team.
Leonard then attended and graduated from Howard University in Washington DC with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Business Administration. He attended the Supervision and Administration programs at St. Peter’s Institute in Jersey City, and the Public Administration program at Kean College in Union. He received his certificate in Social Work from Rutgers University’s School of Social Work.
He was a member of the Naval Reserves, the Air Force ROTC and he was a US Army veteran, serving in the late 1950s during peacetime. He served in the Army Infantry as a pharmacist corpsman in Germany.
Leonard met his wife, Joan McConell, in 1951 when they both worked at Bamberger’s in Newark. Leonard and Joan married on October 2, 1954. They lived in Washington, DC until Leonard graduated from Howard University and moved to Newark. In June 1965 they and their children moved to Somerset.
Upon his discharge, Leonard worked for Essex County Board of Social Services as a caseworker and Field Office Manager in various locations throughout the county. He retired after 32 years as an Administrative Supervisor. He worked part time for the US Postal Services, an investigator for the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP), a process server for Hudson County, shoe salesman, and for the Franklin Township Department of Recreation in their evening recreation program. After retirement, Leonard obtained his CDL license and drove school buses for Franklin Township Board of Education, Ryder Transportation and St. Peter’s High School in New Brunswick. He also drove charter buses for Academy Bus Lines.
Leonard and Joan traveled the world during their 59 years of marriage, visiting North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe. They sailed on over 25 cruises and had numerous stamps on their passports requiring additional pages. They attended many Broadway shows and music concerts.
Leonard was a sports nut. He’d watch football, basketball and track events all day. His favorite team was any team his family played for. He enjoyed current events, reading two newspapers daily and watching the news broadcasts. He watched Family Feud and Jeopardy nightly. His mother started him watching Jeopardy and he continued watching with his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed singing karaoke with Elisabeth, especially singing to Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Bill Withers and Frank Sinatra’s song My Way. He and his fishing buddies, Jimmy Boulin and Freddie Roberts, enjoyed many days on the water fishing for whatever was biting, from spot, trout and blue fish to salmon.
Leonard was a member of the Newark Club of Frontiers International.
Leonard was an active participant of the Parker Adult Day Program in Highland Park, where he enjoyed the company of many new friends. He would advocate for his fellow guests in the program to ensure their voices were heard and respected. He was part of the welcoming committee for new guests to Parker to help them to acclimate to the program. He would speak with college students studying Social Work to share his many experiences and offer helpful insight.
His wife, Joan Aarons died in 2013. He is also predeceased by his parents, Edgar & Irene Aarons; and sisters, Lorraine Jones and Phyllis Smith.
Surviving are his son and daughter-in-law, Leonard H. Aarons, Jr. and his wife, Catherine of Hope Mills, North Carolina; daughters and sons-in-law, Karen Aarons of Highland Park, Kim and Mark Stephenson of Somerset and Patricia and Branton Johnson Sr. of Edgewater, Maryland; brother, Cordell Aarons of Orange; eigth grandchildren Kimi, Elisabeth, Mark, Jr. and Anthony Stephenson; Maurice Wells, Leonard Aarons III, Tinesha Williams and Branton Johnson Jr., and eight great-grandchildren Nasir and Keegan Wogwugwu; Masiah and Myzaiah Stephenson; Daquan Beard Jr.; Aasiyah, Tiana and Ziana Williams.
Private cremation services have been held under the professional direction of the Gleason Funeral Home, Somerset, New Jersey.
A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.
