LESTER O. DAZELL
Pemberton Borough

Lester O. Dazell, age 97, departed this life on July 20, 2005. A recent resident of Care One At Hamilton, he was a lifetime resident of Pemberton Borough and the former owner of Dazell Hardware which still bears his name.

He was the husband of the late Edythe T. (Carcasio) Dazell whom he married on October 31, 1961, and who died in 1996.

His parents David and Maude Emmons Dazell were long-time Borough residents, and Lester and his father established the hardware store Dazell & Son, opening on January 2, 1938, an outgrowth of the elder Dazell’s occupation as a local plumber and who had been a Borough councilman. The elder Dazell died May 24, 1961 and his wife on March 6, 1969, both at age 82. The store was built on its present site in place of a house purchased and demolished by the Dazell’s and has been expanded since its opening. The store, sold upon Mr. Dazell’s retirement in June, 1977, remains today as Dazell Hardware.

As a youngster, Lester worked for the Platt sisters at their poultry and egg business near to the ultimate future site of the hardware store, and would travel as a youth to Philadelphia on Saturdays to meet with a stockbroker who had befriended him.

He had one older brother, Perry E. Dazell, born May 12, 1906 who died in his youth on May 21, 1921 from an ongoing sickly condition. Perry’s twin brother Harold S. Dazell died at birth. Brother David Wayne Dazell died January 25, 1938 at age 18.

During World War II, Lester was drafted into the U.S. Army on August 13, 1943 and served at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, and was stationed in Colon in the Panama Canal Zone at the time the war ended. He was discharged as a Private First Class at Fort Dix, on October 5, 1945, his last assignment being with the 3rd Coast Guard Artillery Mine Planter Unit.

During his lifetime Lester befriended many relatives and local residents, often providing substantial financial assistance, most of which was repaid with gratitude.

He was a member of the Pemberton United Methodist Church, Hanover Street, Pemberton Borough, and honorary member of the Good Will Fire Company of Pemberton Borough, and a fifty-year member of The American Legion Eden Stanley Post number 294, which will conduct a service during the period of visitation.

He is survived by Rose Marchese and Eleanor Shisler, the sisters of his deceased wife, and Rose’s husband Thomas Marchese, Burlington, nephews and nieces David Marchese, Thomas Marchese, Renee Osterhage, grand nephews and nieces Christopher Marchese, Peter Marchese, Thomas Marchese, Lisa Marchese, and Brooke Osterhage, a cousin Gail Miller and her son Theodore Miller,Jr. of New Egypt.

Also, friends Eleanor Byrne and Ruth A. McCay, long time acquaintance, friend and care giver E. Allen Nixon and wife Margaret Nixon of Arney’s Mount, and his Attorney-In-Fact, Henry G. Tutek, Esquire, of Bordentown.

Family and Friends are invited to call from 9:00 AM to 10:00AM on Saturday July 23, 2005 with services at 10AM at the Pemberton United Methodist Church 45 Hanover Street in Pemberton Borough. Reverend Jere Hopkins-Doerr of the Pemberton United Methodist Church will officiate, and to attend entombment in the Dazell crypt at the Mausoleum in Odd Fellows Cemetery, Burlington, with military honors provided by the United States Army Honor Guard.

It is requested that flowers be omitted, and that memorial donations be made to the Pemberton United Methodist Church 45 Hanover Street, Pemberton, NJ 08068. Arrangements are under the direction of the Moore Funeral Home 371 Lakehurst Road Browns Mills, NJ. (www.moorefuneralhome.com)