Rita

Reale

Rita Reale (nee Casatelli) was born to the late Orlando and Jennie Casatelli, on June 23, 1938, in Jersey City.  She was a recent resident at Sunrise Senior Living in Mountain Lakes until she passed away peacefully on June 25, 2025. Rita was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and friend who leaves behind a beautiful legacy of love, laughter and friendship.  She lived a full life enriched by her family and was always there when needed - with advice, a warm embrace, an amusing anecdote and her unfaltering support. Rita met her husband Salvatore ("Sal") while at a dance at Roseland Ballroom in NYC.  He offered to drive her home to Cliffside Park, NJ.  Rita accepted, but only if he offered to drive her two friends that she came with home as well.  Sal agreed and when he arrived at Rita's parents' home, she invited him in for coffee. Rita wasn't fully sure about this guy and confided to her mom that she deliberately gave him the wrong phone number to reach her should he want another date. Her mother said he seemed like a nice guy and that she should have given him the correct phone number.  So Rita called the fake number she had given to Sal and asked the girl who answered if a man by the name of Sal called asking for her to please give him the correct number to reach her. He called, received the right phone number and didn't hesitate in asking Rita out again. They dated for a while and in no time fell in love.  One evening, Sal arrived at her home to take Rita out on a date and said "hey, isn't that your ring" on the table where he had placed the engagement ring. It was.  They were married on May 21, 1960, at Church of the Epiphany, Cliffside Park, NJ and the wedding reception was eld in New York.  And that day in 1960 was the beginning of a beautiful love story that lasted 60 years.

Soon after they married, they purchased a beautiful new ranch home on Raymar Lane in Wayne, NJ.  Rita was a homemaker who cared for the house and the children. Soon after they settled into life on Raymar Lane, Rita's sister Virginia, her husband and children bought the house adjacent to theirs.  Both sisters, being as close as they were, raised their children together since they were all the same age.

Rita enjoyed traveling with Sal and together they enjoyed frequent cruises and then took

in the culture of places such as Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Hawaii and Mexico.

She is survived by her two loving daughters, Lauren Fuentes and her husband Nelson of Fairfield, New Jersey and Joanne Jaworski and her husband Frederick of Waxhaw, North Carolina.  She has two grandchildren, Denean Fuentes and Christopher Fuentes and his wife Kelly and great grandchild, Jace.

Rita was preceded in death by her husband, Salvatore in 2020 and granddaughter,

Lara Jaworski who tragically passed at the age of 18 in 2022.

A Memorial Service will be held at Macagna Funeral Home in Cliffside Park on July 2, 2025 from 9:30 to 12:30. Entombment at Madonna Cemetery, Fort Lee.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in memory of Rita Reale.