Retired real estate broker, beloved aunt
Clara Elsie Zamponi, age 101, of Little Falls, N.J. passed away peacefully in the arms of her nephew Michael on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at the Regency Gardens Care Centre, in Wayne. She was born in Nutley, and spent the early part of her life there, acting as an air-raid warden during the Second World War, before moving to Little Falls in the mid-1960s.
Clara was a classic ‘career woman’ of the 50s and 60s, and began her working life as a secretary in a legal firm that dealt with patents, then moved on to greater challenges, most notably, as a top-level secretary at the international engineering and construction company Raymond International, in Manhattan.
During this period of her life, she was a keen amateur bowler and golfer, and won a number of tournaments. She also enjoyed going on cruises, and traveled to Mexico, Brazil and the Caribbean, including Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Haiti.
In the early 1970s she became a part-time real estate agent, and soon became a full-time broker and opened her own agency, Zamponi Realty, in Totowa, which proved to be a great success.
In addition to her professional life, she had a great interest in clothing design and sewing, and attended the Traphagen School of Design in New York City in the late 1950s. Although her professional career took a different turn, for many years she produced all kinds of beautiful clothing for herself and members of her family, and other wonderfully crafted items, such as Halloween costumes (Batman, and a fabulous witch), dolls (most famously Mary Poppins and Santa Claus) and stuffed animals (all of the characters from the Winnie the Pooh stories) for her niece Lynda and nephew Michael.
Throughout her life, Clara was a very progressive person, who was a feminist and a humanist, and encouraged her niece, Lynda, and nephews Fred, Joe and Michael to pursue higher education, and the attainment their dreams.
Without doubt, above all else, the most important thing in her life was her family, whom she adored, and she was everyone’s guardian angel, always there to help. Ever the kind, devoted, loving maternal figure, she provided moral and financial support to her parents, siblings, niece and nephews, and even to people unrelated to her.
Clara genuinely loved people and was naturally a great giver, and extremely charitable, and it has been said many times by numerous people that she would give you the last penny in her pocket, a statement that was absolutely true.
Whatever she had, she always shared. Her nephew Michael remembers the time he gave her a bag of tomatoes from his garden, and later discovered that instead of making pasta sauce with them, as he thought she would, she had gone around her entire apartment complex and handed them out to her neighbors to enjoy. The same principle applied even after she entered the nursing home where she spent her final years. If you gave her a box of candy or cookies, she would go around the dining room and share it, much to the delight of the other residents.
Clara always took a keen interest in the personal and professional pursuits of her family, and was extremely proud of their achievements, and she provided tremendous support and encouragement to everyone, and was alway full of praise for all of their various accomplishments.
We all give our heartfelt thanks to you, our wonderful Aunt Clara, for all your love and devotion, and for being a shining light in our lives. You were like a mother to us all.
Surviving and cherishing the wonderful memories of a very special aunt are one niece, Lynda F. Zamponi, and her partner, Bettina Posner, of London, England; two nephews, Joe Fazio, and his partner Sammy Hargis, of Portland, Maine; and Michael Chiaramonte, his partner John Chiaramonte, and their three children, Lauren, Olivia and Reese Chiaramonte, of Wayne, N.J
Relatives and friends will be received at the S.W. Brown & Son Funeral Home, 267 Centre St. Nutley on Saturday December 9 from 10-11 am.
A Funeral Prayer Service will also be offered at the funeral home on Saturday at 11 am followed by burial at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Lyndhurst.

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