Raymond Zegel

Raymond Zegel was born on July 26, 1926, to Martin and Grace Zegel in Passaic, NJ. Shortly after Ray was born, the family moved to Wyckoff, NJ, where Ray fell in love with working on farms. He and his brother Marty had many friends in Wyckoff as children. As a young adult, Ray joined the Airforce during WWII and was stationed in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, where Ray became a plane mechanic specializing in the P38 Aircraft. Ray was notorious for speaking of his experiences frequently as he enjoyed his profession with the military.

After returning home from his tour, he became a partner in Zegel’s Hardware in Midland Park, NJ. As Ray settled into working life with his dad, he met his beautiful wife Trudie at a wedding. They were engaged quickly and built their home in Wyckoff, where Nancy, Patti, and Bob were born.

Years later, Ray joined Elmco Distributors as a Stihl salesman. During his career with Elmco, he discovered his extraordinary talent for carving. Ray created numerous carvings and became very fond of duck decoys, many of which were donated and sold at the Wyckoff Reformed Church holiday fair auction. In addition to his love for carving, he designed and built most of his household furniture in his basement woodshop.

After he retired, Ray took his handyman skills and volunteered daily at the church. It became his semi-full-time job in retirement. As a proud member of the Wyckoff Reformed Church Property Committee, it gave him great joy to dedicate himself to the church he grew up in. Ray always found things to be done, most of which he did without being asked. He gladly did this work for over 20 years.

After living most of their lives in their Wyckoff home, Ray and Trudie became residents of the Holland Christian Home in North Haledon, NJ.

On April 10, Ray passed away at the Holland Christian Home at the age of 95. He is survived by his wife Trudie, his daughter Nancy and her husband Jerry Mattera, their son Michael and wife Yen and his son Bob and his wife Tori Zegel, and their children Emily and Josh.

The Zegel family will receive friends and family at the Wyckoff Reformed Church, 580 Wyckoff Avenue, Wyckoff, NJ on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 10:00AM until 12:00 Noon. A funeral service will be held at the church at 12:00 Noon, followed by internment in the Wyckoff Reformed Church Cemetery. It is the request of the family that masks be worn. 

In place of flowers, donations may be made to the Holland Christian Home in Ray’s name: 151 Graham Avenue, North Haledon, NJ 07508 or details can be found online at https://hchnj.org/foundation/give-now/ 

If you cannot attend the church service, please join us on Facebook live, where the Wyckoff Reformed Church will stream it live on http://www.wrclive.orgThe service will begin at 12 ET on April 13, 2022.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Raymond Zegel, please visit our floral store.