CAMPBELL, GLENORCHY J.
RIDGEWOOD – Glenorchy J. Campbell, 101, died on July 4 [2014].
A longtime resident of the Ridgewood, “Glen” was born in New York City on May 1, 1913, to Glenorchy and Mary Ann (O’Neill) Campbell, immigrants from Edinburgh, Scotland and County Clare, Ireland respectively. Raised in Harlem and in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, he went to work after graduation from Resurrection Grammar School, also in Harlem. By 1929, he had already worked at the Polo Grounds and at the Yankee Stadium selling newspapers, peanuts, and more. He worked constantly to help his mother support the family of seven. His jobs included considerable time working as messenger/runner on Wall Street. In 1923, at age 10, he worked opening day at the Yankee Stadium. His father and brother worked in Mo and Willy Unger’s grocery store in the Bronx, and he ran the store for them on the Sabbath and the high holy days. In his twenties, he returned to school and in 1938, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. He also worked at Rogers Peet & Co., The U.S. Railway Mail, the Ridgewood Post Office, Armored Courier, and Purolator.
In October of 1940, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba before World War II. After the war broke out in the Pacific, as a member of Edson’s Raiders, the First Marine Raider Batallion, he fought in battles in Tulagi, Tasimboko, Guadalcanal, and Matanikau in the Solomon Islands. He was M.I.A. for a time and wounded in action on October 9, 1942. He returned to the U.S. for treatment and rehabilitation in the Seattle, San Francisco and Bethesda Naval Hospitals. He was awarded the Purple Heart in 1944. In 1945, he was honorably discharged as a Corporal in Washington, D.C., and he lived and worked there until the fall of 1948, when he returned to New York City.
Throughout his long life, he remained an avid reader, Yankee fan, and had no shortage of political opinions. He never missed voting in an election (school board, primary, general, presidential, etc.).
He is predeceased by his wife, Mary Margaret Brett, who died in 2008; his siblings: Agnes M. Campbell, John J. Campbell, Helen Campbell McDermott, Catherine Campbell Hughes, Alexander M. Campbell and Josephine A. Campbell.
He is survived by his children: Denise J. Campbell of Hoboken; Heather A. Campbell and Vincent J. Miles of Boston, Mass.; Glenorchy P. Campbell and Gino R. Benza of New York, N.Y.; Kevin M. Campbell of Chesterfield, Va.; and Tara C. Campbell of Fair Lawn; his grandchildren: Rebecca Miles, Alexander Miles, Georgina Miles; Margaret Campbell, Mary Brett Campbell, and Madeline Campbell; his sister-in-law, Helen Beute; many nephews and nieces: William and Maureen McDermott, David and Donna McDermott, Margaret Carty, Eleanor Portsmore, John Campbell, Jr., Rosemarie and Scott Gehring, Peter McDermott, Christopher Beute, Rosemary and Elien Young, Bernard Beute, Susan and Ismael Alicea, Gail Brett Phillips, Peggy and Jack Vishnupad, Paul and Mary Brady; his many grandnieces and grand-nephews, and great-grandnieces and nephews and godchildren.
Visitation will take place on July 7 from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at C.C. Van Emburgh, North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood. A Funeral Mass will take place on July 8 at 10:45 a.m. at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C., followed by interment at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington.
Memorial donations may be made to Spectrum for Living, Development Department, 210 Rivervale Road, Suite 3, River Vale, NJ 07675-6251.