Obituary: Ann (Nancy) Cunningham Appert
Ann (Nancy) Cunningham Appert of Cedar Grove, formerly of Montclair, died at home on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, surrounded by her family. She was 79.
Mrs. Appert was born on March 2, 1941, to Lucy Marie Farren Cunningham and James Eugene Philip Cunningham in Kearny.
After graduating from Caldwell College in 1963, she married Richard Henry Appert. They resided in Montclair briefly before moving to Karlsruhe, Germany, for three years to complete Mr. Appert’s military service. Their son Richard was born in Karlsruhe in 1965, and their daughter Tricia was born soon after their return to Montclair in 1968.
Their brief tours of other European countries while stationed in Germany ignited her interest in travel and learning and set the stage for later civilian “engagements” while living in France and Singapore, making many enduring friendships along the way.
While in France, she taught English and learned French cooking. In Singapore she worked as an educational consultant to the Asian Women’s Welfare Association, training teachers and restructuring the organization’s school for profoundly disabled students.
Mrs. Appert, a lifelong educator, first taught GIs working to earn the U.S. Army General Equivalency Diploma and GED prep to Head Start parents, then began a long career in the New Jersey public schools as a special education/learning disabilities teacher.
In 1977 she received her master’s in communication sciences and disorders from Montclair State College. She retired from teaching in 2005, but continued traveling and volunteering as a religious education instructor for the Newman Catholic Community and as a CCD instructor and eucharistic minister for St. Cassian Roman Catholic Church.
Mrs. Appert served as vice president of the League of Women Voters and as a board member and executive board secretary for the Adult School of Montclair. She was an active member of the Teacher’s Club of Montclair, and within a meditators group.
She was a gracious host and delighted in extending warm hospitality and support to others. She cherished her friends and delighted in her family. She adored her siblings and took great pride in her grandchildren and step-granddaughters, but most of all in her son and daughter.
She is survived by her spouse of 57 years, Richard H. Appert; her children, Richard (Giselle) and Tricia (Nhan Paul); her grandchildren, Ryan and Maren Appert and Lucy, Rebekah and Rachel TonThat, and by her siblings, Francis A. Cunningham and Mary E. Sealy.
Visitation is on Friday, Nov. 13, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Moriarty Funeral Home in Montclair.
The funeral Mass will be said on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 10 a.m. at St. Cassian Roman Catholic Church in Upper Montclair, followed by interment at the Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre in East Orange.