Obituary of Judith Ann Kovach

Judith Ann Kovach, 81, of Flanders, N.J., died Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at St. Clare’s Hospital in Dover after a brief illness.

Known as Judy, she was born in Dover, N.J., on Dec. 2, 1942, the daughter of Stanley E. Riker Jr. and Elizabeth Obernolte Riker of  Mt. Arlington. She shared her father’s birthday.

A graduate of Roxbury High School, she worked at Bell Labs until she met and married John Kovach Jr., her husband of 60 years. Together they operated Lamp Post Electric, a long-successful electrical contracting business of which she was vice president. She served as president of the Mt. Olive Chamber of Commerce.

They raised three sons in Budd Lake before moving in 1987 to the house in Flanders they would share.

Long involved in her children’s education, she frequently served as room mother for her sons. Often she created costumes for school plays that were passed from class to class.

As her children got into sports, she could be found in the bleachers cheering for them and their friends. She often indulged their love of sports, attending professional games as a family.

Judy was a skilled seamstress, a talented cook and a baker whose treats were in demand by all who had the pleasure of tasting them. Often her baked goods were shared by staff of restaurants frequented by her and her husband. Dining out was a favorite activity for the couple, and they were widely known at their favorite establishments.

Judy prided herself on keeping her appearance just so, impeccably dressed even for the most mundane of errands.

Antiques were Judy’s passion. She amassed an extensive collection of glassware and porcelain, focusing often on pitcher and bowl sets, chocolate pots, and items created in and around the Morris County area in which she lived her entire life.

She wrote poetry and loved flowers, in the beds that surrounded her house or the orchids she tended inside. She also enjoyed feeding the deer that frequented her backyard.

She is survived by her three sons: John III and his wife, Kathleen, of Flanders; David of West Chester, Pa., and Jeffrey and his wife, Jill, of Colchester, Conn.

She was exceedingly proud of the accomplishments of her three grandsons: Austin and Logan of Pennsylvania, and Hunter of Connecticut. She loved and was involved in the lives of her many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Donations may be made to the KTA Funding Hope Foundation (ktafundinghope.org), 200 Berwyn Park, 920 Cassatt Road, Suite 205, Berwyn, PA 19312.

Calling hours will be 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, at Tuttle Funeral Home, 272 Route 10, Randolph, NJ. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at Tuttle Funeral Home, followed by interment at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkshire Valley Cemetery.

Judy and her husband were members of Stanhope United Methodist Church, where they were married on May 25, 1963. After her husband’s death on May 30, 2023, she often said half of her died that day. The family finds solace in the hope that the inseparable couple is again together.