Ronica A. Bregenzer
PENNINGTON - Ronica A. Bregenzer, 92, died peacefully Thursday, June 23, 2022, at Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell, her family by her side. Born and raised in Somerville, NJ, Mrs. Bregenzer was a resident of Pennington, NJ, for nearly 60 years, where she and her husband, James L. Bregenzer, raised three children.
She was the eighth child in a loving Slovak family of eleven children, growing up during the height of the Great Depression on a plot of land which her father farmed with a horse drawn plow; her mother arising each morning before dawn to visit the barn and collect milk and eggs for the growing family, resourcefully using feathers from their chickens to make large warm quilts for cold New Jersey nights in the family’s old farmhouse.
As a teen, young Ronica cared for her grandfather who had lost his leg due to accident late in life, and her mother, watching the young girl dutifully attend to her grandfather’s injury, felt nursing should be her daughter’s calling.
Mrs. Bregenzer graduated from Somerville high school in 1948, followed by Muhlenberg Hospital School of Nursing, Plainfield, NJ, graduating 1951 as a registered nurse. Her mother’s nudge kindling a
lifelong vocation of caring for others, and her parents’ vigor and resolve in providing for their family during the economic disaster of the depression, fostered a backbone that made Mrs. Bregenzer a strong, loving advocate for her patients and their families, and a faithful supporter of her nurses and aides as she progressed in her nursing career.
It was a career that initially found her working in hospitals (Muhlenberg and Somerset), divided
between the units of med-surgical and pediatrics. Up to the period of the mid-1950’s, when she would then make the acquaintance of her future husband James, leading to their marriage in September 1957. Not long after they would begin a family of their own, and Mrs. Bregenzer would leave the nursing profession for 12 years, taking that time to raise her three children to school age.
By the early 1970’s with her children all ensconced in the Hopewell Valley school system, Mrs. Bregenzer embarked upon a return to nursing after her 12 year hiatus, finding not the most-welcoming of environments for a nurse who had been away from the profession for so long.
She worked hard to catch up, taking refresher courses to get back to speed, and the openings came, settling upon the Lawrenceville Nursing Home, then under the ownership of the Puzio family (Frank Sr. and son, Frank Jr.), where she would spend the remaining years of her nursing career, 28 fulfilling years from 1971-1998; rising to the title of Director of Nurses, a position she held for many of those 28 years.
Surrounded by caring, hardworking nurses and aides, Mrs. Bregenzer loved her time at LNH; affectionately known as “Mrs. B” - she was never content behind a desk, but rather was a hands-on DON still active with patient care, and took great pride in the consummate care team under her wing and the facility’s accomplishments during her tenure. Patient care was paramount, and LNH became recognized as one of the finest nursing homes in the area, running up an ample string of perfect state inspections from the notoriously finicky New Jersey state inspectors.
Throughout her life, including into her retirement and later years, Mrs. Bregenzer loved the time she was able to spend with family – with a special place in her heart for her grandson, whose addition to the
family coincided with the year of her retirement. She enjoyed hosting large family dinners; baking cakes, pies, cookies, brownies that always quickly disappeared; tending to her gardens and flower beds; and we loved how she was always there for us, brightening our lives with her presence and her smile.
Preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, James L. Bregenzer; her parents, John and Stephina Kostelansky, and eight siblings; Mrs. Bregenzer is
survived by her daughter, Ronica Bregenzer and husband, William Milinowicz; sons, James Bregenzer and Martin Bregenzer; grandson, James Bregenzer; and sisters, Ann Hall and Margaret Jennings.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at St. James Catholic Chapel, 6 Eglantine Ave, Pennington, NJ. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery, Hopewell, NJ. Calling hours will take place Wednesday, June 29,
from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Rd., Pennington, NJ. Condolences are welcome at www.wilsonapple.com.
Out of respect for immediate loved ones of the family with compromised immune systems, the family is requesting for all attendees, to mass or visitation, to please wear a mask; one will happily be provided if needed.