Obituary of Margaret "Peg" V. Sumner

Margaret (Peg) Varholy Sumner 87, of Oakland, formerly from Phillipsburg, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on Friday, October 21, 2016. Born August 23, 1929, daughter of Joseph and Leona Varholy and younger sister to Elizabeth (Libby) Bubba. She met her husband of 61 years Paul Sumner while working at Ingersoll-Rand and they were married October 15, 1955. They raised three children. Peg was involved in PTA, PTO, Junior Woman's Club and Cub Scouts in Phillipsburg, NJ while her children were growing up. They moved to Oakland, NJ in 1973. In Oakland, besides being a homemaker, running her kids around town and county for many school and recreational activities, she was also deeply involved in her community, volunteering and serving in many clubs and organizations including PTA, the Newcomers Club, the Alumni Club, the Red Hat Society and P.E.O. She delivered Meals on Wheels, raised money annually for the American Cancer Society and worked with the YES group at Valley Middle School cleaning up the community. She was also involved in many activities at her church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help: she was a member of the Rosary Society and served on the Ministry for the Poor by delivering food to parishes in Newark and East Orange. She was an active member of the Valley Hospital Auxiliary, the Republican Club, the Oakland Public and Cultural Events Committee, West Bergen Mental Health Care, the Rotary Women and her beloved Woman's Club, where she served in about every position, including secretary, vice-president and president for three years from 1987 until 1990. It was no surprise to family and friends that she was named woman of the year in 1996 and received honors and an American Flag flown over the US Capitol in Washington D.C. When asked about her involvement, she just declared "I love the people of Oakland and everything about the town. I just want to do as much for the community as I can". Peg is survived by her loving husband Paul Sumner, oldest son Curt and wife Lisa of Goshen, NY, grandson Justin and wife Dyanna, great grandson Chase and great granddaughter Vivian, grandson Tate and fiancée Mia, daughter Carla and husband Scott Trivisani, of West Milford, NJ, youngest son Mark and wife Giane of Mahwah, NJ and grandson Ryan, as well as the extended Bubba, Buday and Trivisani families. Peg's favorite project was the funding of the Program for Continuing Education through P.E.O., an international organization focusing on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide. Donations can be made to the P.E.O. "Program for Continuing Education" at the following link: https://donations.peointernational.org. Although Peg will be missed greatly she will truly live on forever in all the memories from the people's lives she touched with warmth, kindness and devotion. We love you Mom! Peg Sumner is Oakland's Woman if the Year By Ronnie Levine (as published in The Gazette Friday, April 12, 1996) It's a testimony to all the work that Peg Sumner has done in Oakland that no one was really surprised to hear that she had been selected "1996 Woman if the Year." Delighted, yes, but not surprised at all. After all, find an organization in Oakland that performs service of any kind and Sumner's name is way up on the list. Whether she's the initiator, chairperson, advisor or worker, Sumner's involved. From the boy scouts to PTA's; church activities at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church to Valley Hospital Auxiliary: from the Oakland Public and Cultural Events Committee to the Republican Club, Sumner has done them all, and what's more she's done them well. And then, of course, there's her beloved Woman's Club, admittedly the group to which she has been the "most committed." Peg, her husband Paul, and their three children arrived in Oakland from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, in 1973. "At first I wasn't going to do anything" she said. "I had been so involved in Phillipsburg that I thought I would just take one year off. But then I was invited to a Newcomers Club Tea and I thought, well that's a good way to meet people, so I went." The end result - four years of membership, three officers positions, and one additional year as Newcomers Alumni President. "Then I received a call asking me if I would collect money for the Cancer Society and I thought to myself, "Well, that's a good way to meet my neighbors. So I said, yes and I've been working for them in one capacity or another ever since. You know", she continued, "once you start you're committed." And committed she has been. In 1981 Sumner joined the Woman's' Club. "I think I've held just about every position you can think of within the Woman's Club," Sumner explained, having been secretary, vice president, a member of the Board of Trustees and president for three years from 1987 until 1990, among other things. But it was her past, and current position as Community Improvement Programs Chairperson that gave her the most pleasure. "What I really liked working on the most was the handicapped playground project. That was a community service project that took us two years to accomplish. I was president at the time the project began. I had read in an article that a mother from nearby had to go to Parsippany just to find a place for her handicapped youngster to go on a swing. So as President and Community Improvement Chairperson that became my pet project. We held little fundraisers of all sorts and then a big "Walkathon" that raised about $6,000 for the equipment and we continued to raise money for another year after the playground was installed. That project earned our club a State Woman's Club Citation. Another Woman's Club project of which Sumner is particularly proud is the "Adopt-A-Grandmother" program she began at the Oakland Care Center also when she was president. We were involved with Rose, our adopted grandmother until her death," Sumner explained, "and after she died we raised money to plant a dogwood tree in her memory. The next year we raised more money and placed a plaque in the home to make sure she was never forgotten. In the meantime, the Woman's club continues to bake cookies every fourth Wednesday for the birthday celebration at the nursing home." But if the Woman's club holds a special spot in her heart, other groups are there as well. Among the 'biggies", there's the Valley Hospital Auxiliary she joined in 1986, the Oakland Republican Club she has been involved with since 1977 (as well as the Bergen County Republican Woman), the Oakland Public and Cultural Events Committee she has served on for eleven years, the Memorial Day Parade organizing Committee she has been on for six years, and last year's 300th Anniversary Committee which she co-chaired. There are also smaller projects - the "one-time" events such as the Jail and Bail event for the March of Dimes, the Danny D'Ellia Memorial Walkathon, the Oakland Education Foundation Gold Outing volunteer and the list goes on and on. Some ask how Sumner can do so much, but Peg never questions her involvement. Rather she takes participation for granted. "I love the people in Oakland and everything about the town. I just want to do as much for the community as I can." Clearly, she is not the only one in her family to share such sentiments as her husband, Paul, has been an active member of the Oakland-Rotary Club for the past eight years. Indeed, in the Sumner family, community participation is norm. "When I organized the Walkathon for the playground," Sumner explained, "the whole family got involved. Paul and our daughter walked. Our son followed the walkers making sure everyone was ok, and all of the kids were involved in marking the routes and removing the signs. My family has always come first to me, but everyone in my family has always been behind all the work I have done."