My father was an only child, so I didn't have any first cousins on my that side of my family. He was, however, close to *his* cousins, so I spent a lot of time with my second cousins as I was growing up. The first person I remember dying was my second cousin Tara Belmont. That was 35 years ago today -- August 24th, 1988.
Because I was living with my mother at the time, I never went to Tara's funeral. I never saw her grave. And I never even read her obituary. I just got a phone call from my father one day, and that was kind of it. I think that because I was so far away from those who were grieving, it didn't really impact me at the time.
Fast forward in time, and one of the things I did during my recent trip to New Jersey was look up her obituary from the newspaper.
In case that's unreadable, here's the text. "Tara L. Belmont of Vineland, an active member of the Vineland High School student body, died early Wednesday morning from injuries sustained in a Hammonton automobile accident. She was 17.
She was the daughter of Terry (Sartori) Belmont Aberle of Vineland, and the late Thomas F. Belmont.
A lifelong Vineland resident, she was soon to enter her senior year at Vineland High School where she was active in several student organizations. She was a member of the school Spirit Club, Students Against Drunk Drivers, the Italian Clug, and the Student Government Association. She had also served as manager of the girls' softball team.
Miss Belmont was employed part-time at Sammy J's restaurant in Vineland for the past three months, and formerly worked at Dusharm's Sporting Goods of Vineland.
She was a member of St Francis of Assissi Church.
In addition to her mother, she is survived by her stepfather, Lyle A. Aberle of Vineland, a brother, Tory L. Aberle, at home, her grandparents Peter and Katherine (Schiapelli) Belmont of Vineland, her maternal grandparents Leo and Anna Mae (Gevert) Sartori of Vineland, he step-grandmother, Doris (Ruggeri) Guglielmo of Buena, her paternal great-grandmother, Barbara (Mayer) Belmont of Vineland, and her maternal great-grandmother, Anna Mae Brown of Millville.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday in St Francis of Assissi Church. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Cemetery.
Friends will be received from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday in Pancoast Funeral Home, Vineland. A Christian Wake Service will be celebrated at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the funeral home.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Vineland High School Scholarship Fund, c[are] of Dr Gerald Luongo, 2880 E. Chestnut Avenue, Vineland 08360."
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