It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Barbara Aromando Lahm of Livingston. She passed away on June 5, 2024, due to complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.
There was a service in her honor at the Shook-Farmer Funeral home on Wednesday, June 26. On June 27, at 10 a.m., there will be a funeral Mass at Saint John’s Catholic Church in Orange, NJ, the same church where she married her late husband, Francis M. Lahm, of West Orange in 1967. She will be laid to rest in Gates of Heaven in East Hanover, NJ.
Born in Livingston in 1938, she was the youngest daughter of Antonio and Marie Aromando, who first moved there in 1925. She was not only the last of her siblings, but one of a dwindling few who remember Livingston as a rural town. She would always say how there were apple orchards across the street from her house and a wooden bridge over Canoe Brook on East Cedar St. Her favorite Saturday afternoon activity as a little girl was getting candy at Silverman’s in the old town center and then enjoying a movie at the Colony Theater.
Barbara enjoyed music, books, film, theater, opera and gardening with her husband. A woman of many talents, she was a classically trained pianist and singer. As a young woman she worked as a musician and was president of the Robert Goulet international fan club in the early 1960s. She also taught piano and voice lessons in Livingston during the 1970s.
Barbara liked working with young people. She led a Catholic Youth Organization group in the late 1960s in West Orange. She was an active member of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament parish in Roseland, where her children Matthew and Adrienne attended grammar school. There, she taught forensics and public speaking in the mid-’80s as well as directing plays for parish fundraisers from 1974-1980. She was also a Girl Scout leader.
During the mid 1980s, she demonstrated herself to be a woman ahead of her time. She took an interest in computers and learned DOS programming before most people knew what DOS even was. She worked in Human Resources for ADP and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
One of her many hobbies was being politically active. To the amusement of many Livingston residents, she made a name for herself writing controversial letters to the West Essex Tribune. Barbara never ran from a good fight.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, she remained in Livingston with her husband. In 2002, Frank was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2005. She then lived with her son, Matthew and daughter-in-law Simona, until 2018 when her dementia made it impossible for her to remain at home. She went to Pine Acres Nursing Facility where she stayed until she passed away.
Barbara touched a lot of people and will be remembered for her exuberance, wit and feistiness. She is survived by her son, Matthew; daughter, Adrienne; daughter-inlaw, Simona; and grandson, Giulio. May she rest in peace.
