Irene M. (Park) Fischer, 80, of Hazlet, passed away peacefully Jan. 12, 2025, at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, surrounded by her loved ones.
She was born April 26, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Bronx. While she was a senior at Aquinas High School, Irene met her beloved husband, William. They were married Sept. 4, 1965, and started their life together in the Bronx, and shortly after relocated to Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Ultimately in 1979, they settled in Hazlet, New Jersey, where they remained to raise their family. Before her retirement, Irene worked as a secretary for the Special Services Department of the Hazlet Township Board of Education for many years.
In her spare time, Irene enjoyed gardening, baking, playing board games and card games, the beach, sewing, and arts and crafts. She loved music and loved to sing. There wasn’t much she didn’t like and was a self-described “cockeyed optimist.” Anyone who crossed Irene’s path was almost guaranteed to witness one of the biggest and brightest smiles they ever saw. She never forgot a birthday and liked sending cards in the mail. Most of all, she loved her family and being a grandmother to her five grandchildren. Our worlds will never be the same without her. She will be greatly missed, forever loved, and never forgotten.
She was predeceased by her parents, Robert W. and Rose Marie (Burns) Park, and her brother, James Park.
Irene is survived by her husband of 59 years, William Robert Fischer; her children, Marie Ascolese of Hazlet, Laura Baron and her husband Michael of Belford, and William M. Fischer of Golden, Colorado; her siblings, Barbara Hurley, Robert Park and his wife Karen, and Mary Grzesiak; her grandchildren, Aimee Ascolese and her fiancé Will Heilig, Thomas Baron, Lucas Baron, Logan Fischer and Ralph Fischer; along with many treasured nieces and nephews.
Family and friends were invited to visit Jan. 16 and 17 at Shore Point Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Hazlet. A Mass of Christian Burial was offered Jan. 17 at The Catholic Church of St. Ann, Keansburg. Interment followed at Forest Green Memorial Park Cemetery, Morganville. For more information or to send condolences to the family, visit shorepointfh.com.
The article originally appeared in the January 30 – February 6, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
