Johanna Jane Short

March 28, 1927 - May 7, 2017

In Memoriam Johanna (‘Jane’) Short 1927-2017 Johanna (‘Jane’) Short died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes on Sunday, May 7th, the Feast of the Good Shepherd, at her home in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. Her husband, John Francis Short, with whom she had five children, predeceased her in 2004. Her children, John Francis Short, III of Connecticut, Mary Susan Berdahl of New Jersey, Anne Marie Metzler of Florida, Edward Martin Short of New York, and Michael Patrick Short of New Jersey, as well as their 10 children and 8 grandchildren, mourn the death of a devout, life-affirming, generous lady, who was as beloved of her extended family as of her neighbors and colleagues. Born on the 28th of March in 1927 in Newark, New Jersey, Mrs. Short grew-up in Maplewood New Jersey, where she had an idyllic childhood. She spent her summers in Spring Lake, New Jersey and other towns along the Jersey Shore. She would often tell her children that as a girl her parents disliked Monmouth Beach because it took so long to walk from the beach to the incoming tide. She would also regale her children with stories of how delightful it was in her girlhood to stay at the great seaside hotels along the Jersey shore, where the big bands would often come to play and the dancefloors were always packed. Mrs. Short was the daughter of Mary Pfeifer and Edward Martin Waldron, Jr. Her beloved father was a devout and talented man, as well as a church builder, architect and meticulous craftsman. Her grandfather, Edward Martin Waldron, of County Mayo, Ireland had come to America a penniless boy and went on to show great enterprise and pluck by founding E.M. Waldron and Company, one of the most distinguished church building firms in New Jersey. With the architect, Jeremiah O’Rourke, Waldron and his firm helped to build Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, where Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in 1995. The idea of a new Cathedral church in the city of Newark was first proposed by Bishop Bayley in 1859, only six years after he had been appointed bishop of the new diocese by Pope Pius IX; construction of the cathedral was begun in 1899; and it was finally completed in 1954. The first pontifical Mass held in the unfinished Cathedral in 1928 drew over 4,000 worshippers. As a young lady, Mrs. Short became knowledgeable about all the administrative aspects of the building trade and even worked for a time with the architectural firm, Paul C. Reilly, which completed work on the cathedral. When Mrs. Short attended the wedding of her son, Edward and his bride, Karina Becker, at Church of Our Saviour in Manhattan on 38th Street and Park Avenue, she was amused to discover a plaque beside the side entrance indicating that Reilly had built the church in 1958, the year of Edward’s birth. Throughout her life, Mrs Short would take special interest in the lovely architecture of McKim, Mead & White, many of whose shingle-style houses adorned the Jersey shore of her youth. After attending the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, where she received a sound formation in the Roman Catholic faith, Mrs. Short worked for various firms in Manhattan before marrying and settling in Monmouth Beach in her lovely old Queen Anne cottage, where she dedicated her life to bringing up her children, decorating her house and growing her garden. She would also make good and lasting friendships in Monmouth Beach, particularly with her neighbors Patricia Crahay, Mary Connolly, Joan and Charlie Kelly, and ‘Wizzy’ and Jim Clarity. Some of her dearest memories were of the long conversations she would have with Jim Clarity—the acerbic New York Times correspondent—on the beach at the Pavilion when their youngest children were toddlers. For 25 years, Mrs. Short was the secretary of Monmouth Beach School, where, in addition to helping the teachers and administration of the school, she formed strong and affectionate bonds with generations of schoolchildren. It was impossible to walk about the little streets of Monmouth Beach with Mrs. Short without being stopped by passersby who had attended Monmouth Beach School and wished to thank her for the solicitude and care she had shown them when they attended the school. For scores of Monmouth Beach School graduates, Mrs. Short will always be remembered with fondness and gratitude. An avid reader, Mrs. Short was particularly fond of the great nineteenth-century novelists, including Henry James, Thomas Makepeace Thackeray, Gustav Flaubert and Honoré Balzac, all of whose novels she would devour in her backyard after tending to her garden. As a young woman, she became so absorbed in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace that she missed her station stop on her train ride home. Her favorite comic novel was Graham Greene’s Travels with My Aunt. In addition to reading, Mrs. Short delighted in visiting antique stores and estates sales up and down the Jersey shore and restoring choice pieces of furniture. Her flare for interior decoration was always evident in the elegance and smartness of her home. When not reading or antiquing, Mrs. Short enjoyed watching classic films, particularly those starring the great English stage actors, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, and Albert Finney. Nothing was more important to Mrs. Short than her Roman Catholic faith and for over 60 years she attended Most Precious Blood Church in Monmouth Beach, where she drew much strength, comfort and grace. That this lovely little church was designed by the architect O’Rourke, with whom her grandfather had had so many heroic fights, gave it an extra frisson for Mrs. Short. She would also attend St. Michael’s Church in West End, New Jersey to hear the lively sermons of Monsignor Paul F. Bradley, who became a personal friend. Throughout her long life, she gave munificently to many local and national Catholic charities. Mrs. Short’s beloved brother Edward Martin Waldron, III of Wisconsin predeceased her in 2008. She is survived by her beloved sister Elizabeth Neff of Verona, New Jersey; her five children; her ten grandchildren, Danielle Short, Maxwell Short, Christine Berdahl, Matthew Berdahl, Jennifer Stout, Bobbie Metzler, Mary Kate Brown, Dylan Short, Brendan Short, and Sophia Short; and her eight great grandchildren, Bryce Stout, Grace Stout, Faith Stout, Finn Metzler, Phoebe Metzler, Georgia Brown, Henry Brown, and Samuel Brown. A Memorial visitation will be held June 2, 2017 at the Church of the Precious Blood, 72 Riverdale Avenue, Monmouth Beach, NJ from 9:30 a.m. until the memorial mass at 10:30 a.m.