Memorial dedicated to longtime Watsessing office aide

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — On Thursday, June 9, Watsessing Elementary School dedicated a weeping cherry tree to former office aide Rae Kiessling. Kiessling, 80, who died June 12, 2015, had worked as an office aide at the school for 41 years, beginning in 1974.

Attending the dedication were two educators whose Bloomfield school-district careers commenced at Watsessing a little after Kiessling had arrived.

Watsessing School Principal Gina Rosamilia started at the school in 1980, teaching first-grade. Salvatore Goncalves, the current superintendent of schools, had his first teaching position at Watsessing. He began teaching sixth grade there in 1976.

The ceremony was on the front lawn of the school. In addition to Rosamilia and Goncalves, speakers included Pamela Catalano, a school guidance counselor; Anthony Kiessling, a son who came from Florida; and Watsessing second-grade teacher Laura Foster.

Students taking part were Devon Genovesi, Eduardo Cordon and Trinity Odom. These children led the flag salute. Students Dannyella Lacsa and Alpha Ngagnii read personal recollections. Also attending were the fourth- to sixth-grade classes and third-graders who had experienced a close relationship with Kiessling. A plaque honoring her has been set into the ground. Benches are to be installed by the tree.

In an email, Rosamilia said most of the teachers and students identified Kiessling as a second mother or grandmother.

“She was always positive, had a smile on her face, and was a calming force,” Rosamilia said.

Rosamilia also recalled Kiessling’s home-baked cookies, family stories and punctuality: She was never late to work in spite of not having a driver’s license.

Kiessling, who resided for 57 years on Olive Street, in Bloomfield, had three children who attended Watsessing Elementary: Lisa, Anthony and Robert. The Kiesslings had a home in Ortley Beach, said her husband, Harry, in a telephone interview on Sunday, June 12. He had just returned from the Jersey Shore where a memorial Mass had been celebrated for his wife. In speaking of her, he said he had driven her to work and picked her up each day.

“She was old-school and a typical Italian girl,” he said in the telephone interview, which was conducted on the one-year anniversary of her death. “Her maiden name was Albano.”

Kiessling grew up “Down Neck,” in the Ironbound section of Newark, and attended East Side High School, he said. The couple met at the Jersey Shore and were married for 57 years.

“That job was her love, her life,” Harry said of his wife’s employment at Watsessing. “She didn’t need it to pay bills. And she touched everyone. I saw that. Who gives memorials to part-time secretaries, and a tree with benches? The school was like a family to her.”

In a telephone interview, her son, Anthony said the dedication honoring his mother was a humbling experience.

“What a great lady,” he said. “They did her right.”
In a subsequent email, Anthony remembered his mother as a woman who was proud of her family. Kiessling had four grandchildren.

“She was a kind, respectful and courteous woman with a great sense of humor and a gigantic heart,” he said. “She was a devoted Catholic and loved spending the summer at her Shore house in Ortley Beach, entertaining and feeding many of her family and friends.”

Anthony said his mother treated the children at Watsessing as if they were her own and would always have a sticker or piece of candy for them, no matter what the situation.

“She left a very good impression on a lot of kids,” he said, “the thousand that passed her desk.”