Dorothy M Clapp

December 6, 1920 - November 20, 2016

Dorothy M. Clapp, 95, of Bloomfield, NJ, died peacefully on Sunday, November 20, 2016 at the Summit Ridge Center in West Orange, NJ. A memorial service will be held this Sunday, Dec. 4th, at 1 p.m. at the Park United Methodist Church, 12 Park Street, Bloomfield, NJ, following services. A small repast will follow in the Church’s Fellowship Hall. Arrangements are in care of the Van Tassel Funeral Home, 337 Belleville Avenue, Bloomfield, NJ. Their phone number is 973-743-1234. Their website may be found at www.vantasselfuneralhome.com. Dorothy was born in New York City but came to Bloomfield as a young child and lived there for the rest of her life. She went through the Bloomfield school system and graduated from Bloomfield High School. Dorothy also became a lifelong member and was very active in Park United Methodist Church, becoming a communicant (a forerunner of confirmand) at age 9 in the 1920’s. It was in the Church that she met and later married her husband of 63 years, Theodore L. Clapp. Dorothy served as the first unofficial church secretary, assisting Rev. Roland L. Luerich, who served from 1947-1953. She was also active in the Women’s Circles, the Park Tandems social group and served on several committees of the Board of Trustees; ultimately she was awarded the honor of becoming the Church’s first Trustee Emeritus. Dorothy was the beloved mother of Attorney Susan M. Clapp of West Orange; the beloved grandmother of Corey Clapp, of Parsippany, James Clapp Zimbardi and Andrew Zimbardi; and the beloved great-grandmother of Olivia Zimbardi, all of Millville. Dorothy worked for most of her adult life as a bookkeeper. In her spare time, she loved solving crossword puzzles and playing Bridge and other card games. In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate that a donation be made in Dorothy’s name to any of the following organizations she supported: The Wounded Warrior Project, the Shriners’ Hospital for Children, or the ASPCA.