Obituary of Louise R. Orlowski

Louise (Ruehl) Orlowski died peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, February 5, 2023 at her home in New Brunswick. She was 91.

Born in Newark to the late Henry A. and Louise (Handler) Ruehl, she lived in Verona and then North Brunswick before moving to New Brunswick in 2004. She was a 5th and 6th grade teacher at Judd Elementary School and an English teacher at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick Township for 29 years before retiring in 1996.

Louise graduated from the New Jersey College for Women (later Douglass College of Rutgers University) in 1953 with a degree in English. There she met her best friend Dechie (Marie DiChiara, with whom she never had a fight in her life) and her future husband, Larry Orlowski. She and Larry (a Loyal Son of Rutgers) were devoted in their service to Rutgers University and, with their legendary group of friends, attended innumerable football games, basketball games, and Touchdown Club events – even traveling to Hawaii in 1974 to cheer on their team. After beginning married life in Raritan Gardens, where their daughter Gwen was born, they settled in North Brunswick where they hosted pool parties with the Huff Road gang. A born teacher, Louise touched innumerable lives and instilled in her students a deep love of reading and literature. The infamous Birthday Club is a testament to her devotion to teaching and the friendships she made at Linwood. Louise loved flowers, the beach, and all animals.

Larry was taken at a much too young an age, but many years later Louise was fortunate to again find love in her life. She and Bill Barry enjoyed the theater, socializing, and most of all in welcoming her grandchildren into the world. 'Nee,' as she came to be known, was deeply involved in Jack, Henry, and Maeve's lives. She taught them manners, introduced them to the intricacies of grammar, helped them with their homework, and shared her love of nature though trips to the Mohonk Mountain House and after-school acorn hunts. Her greatest gift - she loved them from the deepest recesses of her heart and gave them a place of unconditional acceptance. And through them she came to love and be loved by a rogue's gallery of friends, partners, and extended family members who all knew that Nee was at the heart of it all.

Louise was predeceased by her husband Lawrence Orlowski in 1988, and by her sister Margaret Ruehl in 1972. Surviving are her daughter Gwen Orlowski and her husband Chris Scherer of New Brunswick; her brother Hank Ruehl and his wife Julie Vinczi of Milltown; her sister-in-law Ellen Fraser of Milltown; three grandchildren – Jack, Henry and Maeve Orlowski-Scherer; and nieces and nephews – Megan Ruehl, Katie Ruehl, Don Fraser, Chris Fraser, Michael McAuliffe and Amy McAuliffe as well as their spouses and her grandnieces and nephews.

Visitation will be 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM Friday, February 10, 2023, at Selover Funeral Home, 555 Georges Road, North Brunswick. Funeral services will be 9:00 AM Saturday, February 11, 2023, from Selover Funeral Home followed by a 10:00 AM Funeral Service at St. Matthias R.C. Church in Somerset. Burial will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Hillsborough. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Disability Rights New Jersey at disabilityrightsnj.org.