Beloved teacher Julia ‘June’ Fincken passes after a long illness
WEST MILFORD. She had taught at Marshall Hill, Apshawa, and Upper Greenwood Lake schools.
| 23 Aug 2022 | 04:50
June and Frank Fincken took special pride in the old-fashioned Christmas tree they decorated each year when they lived at Kitchell Lake in West Milford. Frank literally painstakingly spent many days hanging each piece of foil “rain” every year. The couple is seen with their tree in 2003.
Julia “June” DeWork Fincken died at her retirement home in Matthews, North Carolina, on August 11, 2022, after losing a hard-fought 5.5-year battle against cancer. June and her husband Frank lived at the West Milford community of Kitchell Lake for many years and raised their two sons there. She was 85.
A long-time teacher in the Township of West Milford School District, June taught at Marshall Hill, Apshawa, and Upper Greenwood Lake schools.
After doctors diagnosed her with cancer five years ago, telling her the disease would be fatal to her in about five years, she started to fight and continued that fight up until the time of her death. She was on chemotherapy and a feeling of wellbeing kept her continuing a normal life. When she started to feel ill again, she went back on chemo and then felt well and upbeat once more. She was still driving and taking care of herself up to about a month before she passed with her beloved daughter-in-law – who she considered her daughter – at her side caring for her.
Music was a big part of June’s life. She played the accordion and often entertained patients at Milford Manor Nursing Home in West Milford. School, learning, teaching, her strong faith in her Catholic religion and love for her family highlighted this caring person. She respected others and showed great compassion.
June grew up in the Passaic, Clifton and Garfield areas and as a child enjoyed “playing school” and loved learning. As an adult she earned her bachelor’s degree at Montclair State University and master’s at William Paterson University. June continued to study many things throughout her lifetime. One interest was to understand how personality traits are shown by one’s handwriting. She became a certified graphologist.
She was predeceased by her parents Frank and Mary DeWork, her husband Frank Fincken Jr. and sons John Henry Fincken and Frank Fincken III. June’s final resting place will be with them in the family plot at St. Joseph Cemetery, at Echo Lake. Surviving are her daughter-in-law Marcy Fincken; grandson John Erick Fincken; and brothers Dennis, Jerry and Frankie DeWork of the Clifton area in Passaic County.
The Fincken family spent many years as devoted, active parishioners of the St. Joseph parish. As of this writing, final service and burial arrangements at St. Joseph parish are not finalized and they will be published as soon as they are completed. There have already been Masses and prayers for June at St. Agnes Church in Stallings, NC, and St. Michaels Church in Charlotte, NC. She was very active in religious activities in the North Carolina churches, focusing on bereavement counseling for those whose loved ones died.