Mae Conley Lester

Born in Jersey City, NJ to Raymond and Emma (nee Eilers) Conley, Mae was adventurous and ambitious. Blessed with beauty and determination, Mae graduated from William L. Dickinson High School (June 1950) and became a popular print and television model. Mae was a 1955 Breck Shampoo girl, captured in portraiture by the famous illustrator Charles Sheldon.

Mae was smart and industrious, too. In her twenties and still single, she purchased the house in Englewood (NJ) in which she hosted her marital reception, and eventually raised her four children. At various times in her life, Mae owned homes in Point Pleasant Beach (NJ), Sarasota (FL), Brielle (NJ) and Pacific Palisades (CA).

A lifelong practicing Catholic, Mae firmly believed in religious education, and the intertwined principles of love, responsibility, discipline and accountability. Mae's four children - Mary Ann, Chuck, Chris and Beth - all attended St. John the Evangelist grammar school (Leonia, NJ). Mae's daughters went on to attend St. Cecelia High School (Englewood, NJ) and her sons went on to attend Bergen Catholic High School (Oradell, NJ). For the past twenty-five years, Mae was a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church (Bay Head, NJ).

Mae married Fred Radloff just shy of her seventieth birthday, and they navigated the US Intracoastal Waterway System four times, from Brick (NJ) to Marathon Key (FL) on Fred's Mainship trawler 'Tangent.' Their maritime adventures together continued on the 'Champlain Loop' - a two-month, 1,000 mile journey through the New York State canal and lock system up to the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada, and back via Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. Mae and Fred also traveled extensively in the USA, Europe, and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

Mae sponsored family reunions with her children and their families on multiple cruise line trips to the Caribbean and Bermuda, as well as an inside passage voyage to Alaska and Canada. Possessing strength of mind, body and spirit, Mae swam, skied, and played tennis well into her eighties.

Mae was unapologetically patriotic; her father was a wounded and decorated WWI US Army infantryman, and her brother Raymond was a US Marine. During the Christmas holidays (1957), Mae was part of a USO music and dance ensemble led by Burt Bacharach that entertained American troops stationed at military bases in North Africa. Mae was a long-time contributor to Disabled American Veterans (https://www.dav.org/).

Mae was predeceased by her parents, her first husband Charles McLane Lester, Jr. (1985), her brother Raymond (2011), her beloved daughter Mary Ann (2022), and her dogs Peaches, Bibi, Bunny, and David. Mae is survived by her husband Fred, son Chuck (and his wife Iwona), son Chris, daughter Beth (and her husband Richard), her grandchildren Julia, Nicole, Richie, Zoe and Will, her nieces Janet, Suzie, Patty and Jude, and her nephew Ray.

Funeral ceremony will be held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, September 3 at Queen of Peace Church in North Arlington, NJ. Burial service will be held at Holy Cross Cemetery immediately thereafter.