Obituary of Irma J. Leone

Irma Leone, born Irmgard Stein, passed away peacefully at home in Denville on Saturday, February 11 at the age of 89. She was a devoted wife and mother who is survived by her sons, Mark and Michael. Also her grandchildren, Sam, Maxim, Adam and Annabelle and her beloved dog, Lucy. Irma was born in Munich, Germany on August 9th 1927. Her friends and family will always remember her stories about life during WWII in Munich, a city that was largely destroyed by allied bombing raids. Miraculously, her family survived intact and she went on to immigrate to the US in 1954. She eventually got a job at Butler Aviation at Idlewild airport (now JFK) in Long Island where she met Rocco Leone. They were married in 1958 and moved to the Rock Ridge Lake community, where she remained for the rest of her life. Gardening was Irma’s passion. Over the course of 50 plus years, she transformed a barren property commonly referred to as the sand pit, into a paradise with hundreds of different varieties of annuals, perennials and trees. Irma loved to swim in Rock Ridge Lake. She would swim around the island in the middle of the lake every day during the season after working in her garden. Irma touched many lives in her five decades in the community. The neighborhood will miss her as will her friends and family.