Obituary of Bebe Renda

Bibbianna "Bebe" Renda (nee Sabatino), 89, of Whitehouse, NJ, passed away peacefully surrounded by her seven children on Saturday, October 20, 2012. Born in Rosetto Valforte, Italy, Bebe came to America at the age of nine and was raised in Middlesex, NJ. As a young woman, she worked in a sewing factory in Plainfield before marrying her husband Ernest Renda on Armistice Day 1945. Bebe helped Ernest establish a successful construction business in Greenbrook, NJ working side by side until she left the business to raise her children. She and Ernest and their 7 children moved to Whitehouse in 1971 where she enjoyed summers, swimming and gardening. She was an avid reader and crossword puzzle expert and she took great pleasure in beating all comers at Scrabble. She will be dearly missed by her children: Carmela and Stephen Lane (Bernardsville); Laura and Linus Beck (Green Brook); Joanne and Ron Hogg (Ellicott City, MD); Michele Renda and Brian Piantadosi (Whitehouse); Ernie Renda and Louisa Schein (Somerset); Phyllis and Dean DeStefano (Whitehouse Station) and Fred Renda (Ringoes); her sister and brother-in-law, Carmela ("Dolly") and Michael Renda, her sister and brother-in-law, Marie and David Colombaroni and her brother and sister-in-law, Edmund and Penny Sabatino. She was predeceased by her late husband, Ernest, her sisters Gerri, Jenny and Celeste and her brothers, John and Alfred, her grandson, Joseph Lane and her daughter-in-law, Luisa Renda. Bebe took the greatest pleasure in her 16 grandchildren: Philip and Matthew (Kit) Lane; Emily (John Limarzi), Peter and Daniel Beck; Rick (Carolyn) and Maria Hogg; Tessa Piantadosi; Sophia and Ernesto Renda, Thomas and Michael DeStefano and Nicholas, Amanda, Fred and Celina Renda, and her 2 great-grandchildren, Addie and Wesley Hogg. A funeral mass will be held on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 9:30AM at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Whitehouse Station, where Bebe was a communicant. Interment will be in Holy Redeemer Cemetery in South Plainfield. Friends may visit with the family on Wednesday from 2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Kearns Funeral Home, 103 Old Highway 28, Whitehouse. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Joseph Lane Scholarship Fund, University of Baltimore Law School, 1130 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21298-8001.