Obituary of William A DeCoster

William Atwood DeCoster, age 85 of Lebanon Township, New Jersey passed away peacefully on December 12, 2023.

Bill was born in Berkely Heights, New Jersey on August 26, 1938, to Anna Kearns and John Meleady DeCoster.

He graduated from Bernards High School in Bernardsville, NJ before entering the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army.

In his youth, Bill was a modified stock car racer who drove in numerous dirt track and NASCAR races, placing 1st at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1961.

He married Maryann Brown in 1968, and they settled in Lebanon Township the same year. 

Bill was a proud bricklayer and was a longtime member and later a trustee of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Local 5, joining the union as an apprentice bricklayer shortly after high school. Later, as a union contractor specializing in masonry construction, he completed countless commercial and municipal construction projects around the state of New Jersey; his tenure lasting over 50 years of operation.

Bill was a communicant of Saint Joseph’s Church in High Bridge, NJ where he served on the Buildings and Grounds Committee. Later he joined Saint Luke’s Church in Long Valley, NJ.  Bill served on both the Lebanon Township Board of Education and the Lebanon Township Historians Committee. He was an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, John and Anna, sister, Maryann Resetar, and brothers Richard and John.

He is survived by his wife, Maryann, children: Winifred, Wiliiam, and Daisy, grandchildren: Isabella, Georgia, Crosby, Grace, and Jeremiah, brother, James and sister, Annmarie Frendak.

We invite you to make a donation to the Lebanon Township Museum in Bill’s honor.