Paulinskill/Owen Sturm has passed away UPDATE 11-10-2011 4PM

The following article was in today's Obituaries section of the NJ STAR LEDGER

Owen G. Sturm, Sr. Service is on Saturday

A funeral service for Owen G. Sturm Sr. will be on Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 at 10 a.m. at Pleasantdale Presbyterian Church, 471 Pleasant Valley Way (Pleasant Valley Way at Eagle Rock Avenue) West Orange, followed by the entombment service at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.

Visiting at the Quinn-Hopping Funeral Home of Livingston, 145 E. Mount Pleasant Ave will be on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m.and Friday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.

WOW! I just noticed this and it is a Real Shock! Such a Nice guy who didn't live too far from me in Long Valley! I will attempt to make the Funeral Service tonight.

Good Luck and God Speed Owen. May the wind be at your back and high ball all ahead full!

So sorry to hear this
I never had the joy of meeting Owen in person. Just from his posts here on the forum, one could tell he was a very nice guy. He was always one of the first to welcome new forum members on their intro posts.

My prayers and sympathy go out to his friends a family.
May he rest in peace.

Owen Sturm Jr. called me last night and wanted to express his thanks for the outpouring of condolences and good wishes towards Mary and the family he has been reading on the Forum. Owen saw his new grand daughter and got to know her before the accident his son told me, so that was a small blessing.

While we were on the phone, we remembered an incident decades ago when Owen was building his first layout and used real concrete to build tunnel portals. Boy, were they heavy. "Little" Owen remembered because he helped his dad build them. It was another nice memory about a truly good guy and I am glad to be able to share it with you.

Ed Boyle

I am so shocked and saddened by this news ... Owen was truly one of the nicest people I have ever met. Seeing him and Mary was like visiting family every York and just recently at the NJ Hi Railers/METCA Anniversary Banquet. I'm gonna miss talking to that tough "Baby Boomer" with all the chutzpah. Always working the room and chatting up all the folks he knew and hoped to know. What a great loss to the hobby and the world. My & Erica's sincerest condolences and prayers go out to his lovely wife of 45yrs. Mary and Family. May God Bless them during this tough time.

Devistated. There are no other words for this. I could be having a bad day from travel woes, business problems, York set-up frustrations, bad weather......

.............and then Owen would walk up smiling, and you just KNEW that your day was about to get better. My God in heaven, what a loss. Some people were just put on this Earth to make it a better place for everybody else.

Owen was one of those...

He was the best of those.

Jim Barrett

If ever OGR add another building to the Ameritowne range, how about naming it after Owen? That would be a fitting memorial.

quote:

If ever OGR add another building to the Ameritowne range, how about naming it after Owen? That would be a fitting memorial.

I think that's a wonderful idea. Thank You David.

Enjoy

Frank

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Allen:
If ever OGR add another building to the Ameritowne range, how about naming it after Owen? That would be a fitting memorial.

Sturm's Suspenders & Sundries or something like that???

Or Owen's Outdoor Supplies. He was an avid hunter, loaded his own ammo, and knew a lot about the woods and wild animals.

quote:

Originally posted by dottyperry:
Or Owen's Outdoor Supplies. He was an avid hunter, loaded his own ammo, and knew a lot about the woods and wild animals.

I'd make room on my layout for that building.

Found this in my archives...I don't think I ever saw him without that patented smile.



A big loss to us all...

That is a building I would buy, and I only normally buy Plasticville. If you do decide to do this, however, you might want to contact the family first, and get their permission.

But the building would have to be something about him (outdoors or suspenders), and of course it should have the slogan "service with a smile" on it.

All good suggestions. I'll take this up with my two partners. I think a limited edition would be a fitting tribute. My initial thoughts would be with a window graphic featuring Owen from something like the photograph of him from Chris's or others' photos.

We'll work on that as a project and contact his family at an appropriate time at some later date.

Jim Barrett

Like many others have posted York was the last time I talked with Owen. Ever since the Orange Hall opened and I set up there he would stop by and maybe bye something or just chat for a bit. I always looked forward for him to stop by to say hello. A great guy that will be missed.
RIP Owen.
I'm going to list some items on the forums buy/sell with the money going to Owens charity that Alan Miller is collecting for.
Bob

Very sad to hear of this tragedy. It only goes to show that you never know when your time is up. I've never met Owen, but I have enjoyed his contributions on this forum; seemed to be a real class act. My sincerest condolences go out to his family in their time of loss.

Just returned from Owen's wake tonite.

So many people...literally hundreds, those waiting extended down the hall, through other family areas and out the front door at the Funeral Home. Outside were at least 7 EMS vehicles from Owen's West Orange Squad...whose members lined the hallways in full uniform.

Adjacent to the viewing area was Owen's O-gauge Western Pacific A-B-A set, a tinplate steam locomotive, some photos that appeared in this Forum thread along with many others of Owen. A binder containing all the posts to this thread was available for reading, thanks to a Forum member.

Owen's train collection expanded a bit tonite with an RMT WP boxcar, specially flown in and arriving this morning from China, that had reference to:

ASSIGNED SERVICE
PAULINSKILL MFG. CO.
RETURN EMPTY
AGENT - SOO LINE RR
OWEN, WISCONSIN

Owen had been surprised to see this as an unfinished sample at the recent York Meet last month, excitedly showing it to Mary, his wife. He wanted to get one right then but it was only a sample. They were in production but he would have to wait until they arrived in late December. Well, tonite Owen's family received that special car.

Some of the many Forum members in attendance were - Corsair 29, Galley proof, Erol, Alentown, Samtrak, Floyd, Vinnie/NJ HiRailers and quite a few that I did not remember their names.

Many, many family and friends of a truly fine man.

Owen, you are deeply missed.

Walter M. Matuch

Friends of Owen,

I just got back home from Owen's wake.

For those of you who were unable to attend tonight or tomorrow, I thought you would be interested in knowing the following; When I arrived at the funeral home at 7:20 pm, there were two ambulances and three other emergency vehicles parked out front with their lights flashing. Owen was a past president of the Board of Trustees of the West Orange, New Jersey First Aid Squad. Police officers were on Mount Pleasant Avenue directing traffic. The parking lot was full when I arrived.

The line into the funeral home was out the door. My best guess is there were about 200+ people who came to pay their respects. I waited over 1 1/2 hours to speak with Owen's family. The number of people who came and wait time attest to the fact that he was such a popular and well respected person. Its clear Owen knew everybody, and everybody knew Owen. Many of the "non-train" people I spoke with while waiting in line knew of Owen's passion for model trains.

Inside the funeral home's viewing room on a table along the wall was a Lionel pre-war tinplate locomotive in a plastic case, as well as and a Western Pacific F-3 ABA set sitting on tubular track. Owen favored the Western Pacific Railroad. In addtion, in front of the WP locos, were several train related photographs of Owen including some which appear in this thread. Two of them showed Owen in his black OGR forum shirt, while others show him at York and at the Allentown show. There was also a looseleaf binder on another table which contained all of the posts from this thread, except for the most recent from today.

Present from the OGR forum this evening while I was there were RMT by Aristocraft's Walter and Suzy Matuch, Chef Vinny from the NJ Hirailers, Chuck (Alentown) and Mary Ann Genna, Chris Schaffer (NYSubway18) and Samtrack.

Owen, you will be missed.

Erol Gurcan

Thank you for the report on Owen's wake. I am sad about his passing but happy that he is being honored & respected as such a fine individual. He has had such an impact on all of us there can be no doubt that he is surely in heaven.

Jack

Thanks Walter and Erol, nice stories for us unable to attend.

Just returned home from Owen's wake myself. No other testament needed to the incredible person Owen was and how many people he positively affected than the seemingly unending line of people that wound thru 4 different rooms and all of the available hallway space just to get a chance to say goodbye to a dear friend and have a quick moment with his wonderful wife and kids. So many people from so many different walks of life that Owen knew, many of whom traveled a great distance to say good-bye. A truly touching night, that just left me wishing I had had the chance to get to know that man even better.

quote:

Present from the OGR forum this evening while I was there were RMT by Aristocraft's Walter and Suzy Matuch, Chef Vinny from the NJ Hirailers, Chuck (Alentown) and Mary Ann Genna, Chris Schaffer (NYSubway18) and Samtrack.

Owen, you will be missed.

Erol Gurcan

I must have missed you guys with the exception of Chuck (Alentown) and Chris Schaffer (NYSubway18) as I "Brought up the Markers" on that long line. I never been to a funeral that had soo many people. Truly Owen you are missed by Many!

Walter, Erol & Chris. Thank you for the wake information.

I had a few chats with Owen at York and trainstock, very friendly and approachable. He recently posted something in the scenery threads about using Sedum as tree material and that he had no access to these plants. I woke up today with yard clearing chores to do and was going to collect some plant material for him and suprise him at Trainstock this January.

truly saddened

What a shock to discover this thread after a short absence from the forum.

Jean and I will miss Owen greatly and wish the best to Owen's family.

Oh my god. I couldn't believe it when I read this. Owen came to my house several times to run his engines on my layout. We also had a mutual interest in cars as he was a retired GM employee. I used to kid him about the possibility that he assembled my 69 Chevelle.
What really saddened me was the fact that I read about the fellow who had been killed by the falling tree in the local paper. There was no name mentioned but I thought what a tragedy. And now I find out it was Owen.

Gary Emmich

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Barrett:
All good suggestions. I'll take this up with my two partners. I think a limited edition would be a fitting tribute. My initial thoughts would be with a window graphic featuring Owen from something like the photograph of him from Chris's or others' photos.

We'll work on that as a project and contact his family at an appropriate time at some later date.

Perhaps it could be a small manufacturing company called PAULINSKILL MFG. CO. to match up with the car RMT is doing (see Walter's post on this page).

I would also like to thank Walter and Erol and Chris for reporting on the wake. The numbers attending certainly testify to Owen's character, but then again, we all knew what a good man he was already.

Andy

At the viewing last night, I had a chance to chat a bit with Owen's son, Owen Jr. I shared with him just a bit of what was written here on the forum. He said that while they were driving, his wife accessed the forum on her smartphone and was reading a few of the posts, things people had written about Owen. In his words, "I was blown away" by all the people Owen touched and the things they said about him.

Please keep his widow, Mary, in your thoughts and prayers. The days ahead will be difficult; hopefully, the many people who paid their respects to Owen will continue to help and support her.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be driving to Allentown . . . by myself.

I hadn't seen this thread, I guess I tend to ignore the stickies.... my jaw hit my desk when I saw it. I never met the man, but from his interactions here you could really tell he was a special person.

I am envious of those of you who were able to meet and spend time with him. It's hard to read all of the nice things you have all said about him with dry eyes. He obviously had some great friends and I am sure he cherished the times he had with you. Certain themes keep coming up here... "positive", "always smiling", "caring". I hope we can all strive to be a little more like Paulinskill as the ultimate way to honor his memory.

My condolences to all of you who knew him and especially to his family.

Ben

I just wanted you to know that Owen was a great ambassador for OGR trains

Owen was a life long friend of mine. The past 10 years we stayed very close.


Owen often chatted with my grandson Marky over trains and shop tools. they both enjoyed each other's company. They were both "chat heads" and I loved it.


Here's a note left on my kitchen table by my daughter and 6 yr old grandson.



Dad & Mom

We are sooo sorry for your loss. We know how special Owen is
and how you appreciated his friendship.

Marky is very worried about you and Owen's trains. He is not sure
how train life will go on and wants to get a job to help.

He too appreciated the time together with "the guys".
Let us know if there is anything we can do.

XOXO
Jen and Marky

It is not a coincidence that Marky knows trains and is an outdoors-kid.
He also checks out buildings and homes and how they are being built

Thanks Owen

Floyd

Just a reminder re: a post I made earlier in this thread:

quote:

If forum participants would like to make a donation to the West Orange First Aid Squad, in accordance with the wishes expressed in Owen's obituary, you can send a check to me, made out to West Orange First Aid Squad, and with "In memory of Owen Sturm" on the notation line. I will gather them all together over the next 10 days or so and send them to the Squad, along with an appropriate letter recognizing all the contributors from his OGR Online Forum family.

Send to:

Allan Miller
OGR Publishing
33 Sheridan Rd.
Poland, OH 44514

If you wish to send a donation directly to the squad instead, here is the address:

West Orange First Aid Squad
25 Mt. Pleasant Place
West Orange, N.J. 07052

Either way, this is a most fitting way to commemorate Owen by supporting a group he loved.

quote:

Originally posted by NYSubway18:
Found this in my archives...I don't think I ever saw him without that patented smile....

...or his trademark "retro" engineer's cap! We'll all miss him.

Elliot

Just received an update about yesterday evening...even though the stated viewing hours were 7PM to 9PM, due to the amount of people, doors closed at 10PM.

One of the mourners was Owen's friend Billy who flew in from California.

Miss you Owen.

Walter M. Matuch

quote:

Originally posted by railfare:

quote:

Originally posted by NYSubway18:
Found this in my archives...I don't think I ever saw him without that patented smile....

...or his trademark "retro" engineer's cap! We'll all miss him.

Elliot

That's what I said at the wake as it was laying next to him. Turns out it was not a train hat - but some sort of welder's cap I believe. Possibly from his days at GM. Chuck or someone close may be able to fill in more details.

quote:

Originally posted by Allan Miller:
Just a reminder re: a post I made earlier in this thread:

quote:

If forum participants would like to make a donation to the West Orange First Aid Squad, in accordance with the wishes expressed in Owen's obituary, you can send a check to me, made out to West Orange First Aid Squad, and with "In memory of Owen Sturm" on the notation line. I will gather them all together over the next 10 days or so and send them to the Squad, along with an appropriate letter recognizing all the contributors from his OGR Online Forum family.

Send to:

Allan Miller
OGR Publishing
33 Sheridan Rd.
Poland, OH 44514

.

I mailed mine to you on Thursday.

Owen's hat is a welder's hat. On their visit to us in the Boston area, Owen, Mary and I researched them on the web. His current hats were getting old and he wanted to find a store or company that carried them so he could replace his old ones. We didn't find any, but we found a place we could order the fabric online. At York I told him I finally found my old denim hat pattern, altered it accordingly, and was planning on making some hats for him when I started my winter sewing projects. Needless to say, I will think of him whenever I make a hat.

quote:

Originally posted by Allan Miller:
Just a reminder re: a post I made earlier in this thread:

[QUOTE]If forum participants would like to make a donation to the West Orange First Aid Squad, in accordance with the wishes expressed in Owen's obituary, you can send a check to me, made out to West Orange First Aid Squad, and with "In memory of Owen Sturm" on the notation line. I will gather them all together over the next 10 days or so and send them to the Squad, along with an appropriate letter recognizing all the contributors from his OGR Online Forum family.

Send to:

Allan Miller
OGR Publishing
33 Sheridan Rd.
Poland, OH 44514

Sue and I are mailing ours tomorrow. Thank you for doing this Allan.

-Aric

I was heart warming to see the attention given by everyone there that Owen was a part of something much bigger, our large OGR Family. The family and friends at the viewing had no idea that there where so many people that had an association with him. Many read the binder with this thread.

My reason for writing is I'm on the way to "First Frost" and I had a thought about how I would NOT see the Ol' boy today. I want to share with all, the words from Owen's Funeral card;

"A Beautiful Life"

A beautiful life that came to an end, he died as he lived, everyones friend. In our hearts a memory will always be kept, of one we loved, and will never forget.


SAM

I went to the viewing yesterday to pay my final respects. It's so sad to know I won't see him at any future train events.

I plan on wearing black suspenders to Trainstock. It was there 4 years ago that I first met Owen.

A Do-rag is just a piece of cloth, many welders (like my Dad) use a bandana. Owen's hat was a real welder's hat, short bill, sat higher on the head than an engineers hat.
We should all wear suspenders to the HiRailers in January to remember him.