Elizabeth J. Pilecek

Elizabeth J. Hogstrom Pilecek, 71, passed away peacefully Thursday, January 7, 2021 at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice in Newton, NJ. Beth grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey. She earned her BA in art from Newark State College (now Kean University). Beth’s artwork included paintings, ceramics, macramé, photography and crafts. She spent more than 30 years as an art teacher at Quibbletown Middle School in Piscataway and always enjoyed hearing from former students. Her generosity as a teacher included subsidizing student supplies and spending countless hours putting together the school yearbook. Beth also made donations to more than 250 organizations, including the American Diabetes Association. She loved all kinds of animals – cats, dogs, horses, deer, birds – and was a great contributor to the ASPCA. While also finding enjoyment gardening and collecting stamps and coins, Beth may be best remembered for her love affair with all things Disney. She was well-known for her amusing Donald Duck imitation. Beth’s 40-year marriage to Kenneth C. Pilecek, Lt. USN, corporate scientist and business person, saw them living in Somerset and Flemington, NJ and finally Milford, Pennsylvania. Beth had the strong support of her husband and family through many life challenges, and Ken was at her side when she passed. He describes his late wife as “sometimes childlike, entertaining, surprising and delightful, as well a good woman/person and loved by many.” He adds that Beth courageously battled a lifetime of juvenile diabetes and the multiple associated serious illnesses, to which she finally succumbed. A family counselor described Beth as a “real trooper.” Beth was predeceased by her mother, Dorothy Gillberg Hogstrom, who died in 2002, her father Arthur John E. Hogstrom, who died in 2008, and brother, John Arthur Hogstrom, who died in 1993. In addition to her husband, Kenneth C. Pilecek, Beth is survived by sisters Patricia J. Hickson and Barbara H. Douglas, her six nieces and nephews, Karen Garrison, Ralph Thompson, Kim Hernandez, Melissa Hogstrom, Jackie Douglas and Jimmy Douglas, her stepdaughters, Carmen Pilecek, Raquel Salter and Laura Picone, step-granddaughter Isabella Picone, and two cats. Funeral services for Beth will be at 4:00 pm on Friday, January 15, 2021 at Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington NJ. Cremation will follow privately. Visitation will be from 2:00 PM until the time of service on Friday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 7023, Merrifield, VA 22116-7023. For further information or to leave an online condolence, please visit www.holcombefisher.com.