Una Delaney, formerly of Montclair, died at Country Meadows Retirement Community in Bethlehem, PA on July 7, 2018.
The daughter of Thomas and May (Purcell) Delaney, she was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1930. She grew up in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Kilkenny, Ireland, where she spent the war years with extended family.
Ms. Delaney attended the Loreto Secondary School where she enjoyed playing field hockey with friends and earned first honors in piano from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She returned to the United States after the war and graduated from Lakewood High School in Ohio and went on to earn a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from Penn State University.
Ms. Delaney began her career at the Bulletin in Philadelphia, and taught English at Sayre Middle School in Philadelphia, PA. After leaving teaching to care for her four children, Ms. Delaney had a career in social services, starting as a case worker in the Department of Welfare in New York City. She served as union representative for the New York Social Services Employee Union, Local 371. She retired from the New York City Department of Social Services as an administrative staff analyst in 1990.
In Montclair, Ms. Delaney was a community advocate, leading a successful neighborhood fight to preserve the Grove Street School (now Deron School) and adjoining baseball field, which were slated to be bulldozed in the early 1990s. Over the years Ms. Delaney joined other community efforts to preserve Montclair’s green spaces and the town’s historical character, especially around the Walnut Street Station neighborhood where she lived for almost 50 years. She was also an active member of the Montclair branch of the NAACP. Ms. Delaney liked to march to her own drummer, she didn’t own a car and enjoyed walking or biking to Montclair events like May in Montclair, the Iris Gardens and the Art Museum.
Ms. Delaney is survived by her four children, Joseph Bender-Zanoni and wife Jan of Hamden of Connecticut; David Zanoni and wife Carolyn of Bethlehem, PA; Jacqueline Zanoni de los Santos and husband Tomas of Edmond, OK; and Liam Zanoni of Sykesville, MD. Also her nine grandchildren, Caitlin, Miguel, Kirsten, Heather, Michael, David, Nicholas, Regina and Dominic; her great-grandchildren: Karrington, Eli and Marley; and her extended family in Ireland.
A funeral mass will be held Saturday, July 14 at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 30 North Fullerton Ave., Montclair. Internment will immediately follow at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery, 712 Grove St., Montclair. Luncheon reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to American Red Cross. The Falk Funeral Homes & Crematory, Hellertown, PA is in charge of arrangements. To offer online condolences, visit her “Book of Memories” at falkfuneralhomes.com.