Jesse Willard Predmore Jr. of Hackettstown, N.J., passed away peacefully on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, at Morristown Post-Acute Rehabilitation Center in Morristown. He was 81.
Born to Jesse W. Predmore, Sr. and Alberta Babcock in Hamburg, N.J. He has lived in Hamburg, Vernon, Wantage, and Newton before moving to Colonial Manor Assisted Living Center in Hackettstown two years ago.
Jesse served with the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War as a Tin Can Soldier on the USS Fred T. Berry. He then worked as a Union Carpenter for the New Jersey Carpenters Union in Madison, N.J., for 45 years, retiring in 2001. Jesse was a member of the Branchville American Legion and in his earlier years took great joy in hunting, fishing, golf, and spending time with his family. In his later years he enjoyed bingo, Jeopardy, crosswords, and taking long rides around the county with his daughters, drinking a cold one, and recollecting days gone by.
Jesse is predeceased by his wife, Patricia Ann Eagan-Predmore (2015) and is the devoted father of Dawn Balderson of Brooksville, Fla., Melissa Drelich and her husband, Michael of Newton, N.J., and Susan Grodsky and her fiancée, Brian Wise of Stillwater, N.J.; loving grandfather of Adam, James, Sean, Jacob, Joshua, Benjamin and Gabriel; great-grandfather of Dayton, Loxley and Berrie; dear brother of Robert “Butch” Predmore of Lake Ariel, Pa., Brenda Pahuki of Pine Island, N.Y., and Donna Edsall of Upstate New York. He was cherished by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
Cremation services are private under the direction of F. John Ramsey Funeral Home, Franklin, N.J. Graveside services will be held Friday, April 16, at 2 p.m. at North Hardyston Cemetery, Hardyston Township, N.J. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Legion, Branchville, NJ.