Obituary of Mary Frances Furlong

Mary Frances Johnson Furlong, a lifelong resident of Montclair, died peacefully at her home on May 14 at the age of 91. She was an accomplished homemaker, teacher, financial industry executive, musician, volunteer and benefactor to The Town of Montclair and Essex County communities. Throughout her life, Frances Furlong treasured family, faith, music, travel, and gardening. Mrs. Furlong attended Montclair public schools, was a graduate of The Kimberley School and Smith College, Class of 1946, where she trained as a pianist and educator. She married her childhood sweetheart, Robert Gordon Furlong of Montclair, and raised six children. Mrs. Furlong actively volunteered with The Junior League of Montclair, The Mount Carmel Guild for the Blind; Reading for the Blind of Seton Hall University; The Smith College Club of Montclair; Unity Institute Classical Music Series, and St. Ann’s School through The Archdiocese of Newark. She also created an arts-based preschool, house at St. Luke’s Church, based on the progressive educational theories of John Dewey and Carlton Washburne. She was a longtime member of the choirs of both St. Cassian’s Church and the Church of the Immaculate Conception. She taught in both The Montclair Public Schools and St. Cassian’s School. In 1977 at the age of 53, Mrs. Furlong became a licensed stockbroker in the Montclair office of the Wall Street investment firm, Loeb Rhoades. She worked in the financial services industry until 2005, retiring as a Vice President-Financial Planner for Smith Barney in the firm’s Little Falls office. Mrs. Furlong and her family funded the restoration and expansion of the Montclair High School field house at Woodman Field, now named Furlong Field House. She also funded a new baptismal font at the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Mrs. Furlong is predeceased by her husband of 58 years, Robert Gordon “Fuzzy” Furlong, her mother, Florence Endler Johnson, her father, Rupert H. Johnson and by her sisters Dorothy Johnson McGuire of Montclair and Florence Marie Johnson Jacobson of Verona, New Jersey. She is survived by her brothers, Reverend Father Andrew Johnson of San Francisco; Charles B. Johnson and his wife, Ann, of Palm Beach, Florida; sister Bonnie Sacerdote of New York City; brother Rupert H. Johnson, Jr., and wife, Maryellie, of Hillsborough, California, sister Susan Razor and husband, David, of Salt Lake City, and by her children: Robert Gordon Furlong, Jr. and wife Carrie; Pamela Furlong; Charles Furlong and wife Silvia; Lucinda Furlong and husband Peter Mitchell; Joan Furlong and husband John Montenigro and Frances C. Furlong. Mrs. Furlong is also survived by seven grandchildren: Jason Furlong; Lisa Mitchell; Emily Saunders; Julia Steup; Audrey Furlong; Sabrina Montenigro; Halley Furlong-Mitchell, and Andrew Montenigro and by five great-grandchildren: Daisy, Wyatt, Jake, William, and Elias. Donations in memory Frances J. Furlong may be made to the Frances J. Furlong Scholarship Fund of the Montclair Cooperative School, 65 Chestnut Street Montclair, NJ 07042.