Skip Shupp

In Loving Memory of 

Clarence Francis "Skip" Shupp Jr.

Clarence Francis "Skip" Shupp Jr., 93, a 67-year resident of Cranford, passed away peacefully on Sunday, August 23, while in hospice care at the home of his son, Steven Shupp, also of Cranford. He was predeceased by his mother, Irene Capone, and stepfather, Gene Capone, formerly of Linden, NJ; his father, Clarence Francis Shupp Sr., and his wife, Lillian, of Palmer Township, PA; his sister, Marilyn "Shawn" Shupp, of Long Beach, CA; and the love of his life of 53 years, Pearl (Robin) Shupp, of Cranford.

Skip was born in Easton, PA, on March 23, 1933, to Irene Zellner Shupp and Clarence Francis Shupp. He endured a difficult childhood after his young parents separated, causing him to live with multiple foster families and children's homes in the Easton, PA, area and later in East Orange, NJ, during the leanest years of the Depression. It was not until he was nine years old that Skip was reunited with his younger sister and began living with his mother and new stepfather, Gene Capone. The family moved to Sebring, Florida, during the war in 1943 to live on an airbase, where his stepfather served in the Air Force as an electrician and his mother joined the female wartime workforce repairing bomber planes. After the war they moved to Newark, NJ, but hard times returned for Skip: severe eye problems led him to be placed in sight-conservation school classes meant to prepare him for an impending life of blindness.

It was at this difficult time that two things changed the trajectory of his life. His poor vision kept him from joining the ballgames the other boys played in the courtyard, but a young girl who lived in the neighboring building of the housing project, named Pearl Robin, would often sit in the courtyard to read. This gave Skip the opportunity to sit beside her on her bench while she read. (He later admitted to purposely sitting on the edge of her skirt to make it harder for her to leave — a common trick among boys back then.) His second bit of good fortune came when his grandmother's new boyfriend happened to overhear a conversation about Skip's eyesight and insisted the family seek help in Philadelphia at Wills Eye Hospital, known for its pioneering research in eye care.

Skip became an early cataract surgery patient, which at the time meant dissolving and removing the eye's natural lens completely. Fourteen-year-old Skip traveled to Philadelphia by train alone and checked himself into the hospital for his three surgeries. He was fitted with the thick eyeglass lenses he would wear for the rest of his life — lenses that are nearly impossible to make today. While in the hospital, with his eyes bandaged, Skip listened as hospital nurses read Pearl's love letters aloud to him. He would later recount that his fondest memory was the day he saw Pearl running toward him after waiting all afternoon for his return from Philadelphia following his final surgery.

With his eyesight restored, Skip returned to mainstream classes. He and Pearl graduated from South Side High School in Newark and were married a year later, at age nineteen in 1952. Skip attempted to enlist in the Navy several times during the Korean War but was rejected due to his eye issues. Wanting to serve, he joined the National Guard for four years. Afterward, he and Pearl started their family: Steven (b. 1956), Nancy (b. 1958), Robert (b. 1962), and Richard "Ralph" (b. 1966), moving from Newark to Irvington, and later to Cranford in 1959. Skip always said that because of what he'd endured growing up — bounced from family to family — once he found a place to put down roots, he was never going to leave. And he didn't, until this recent promotion to Heaven.

Skip never thought of himself as an exceptional person, given his humble and difficult start in life, but the life he led proved otherwise. He served as a Sunday School teacher at Cranford Presbyterian Church, and later, when the family became members of Cranford United Methodist Church, Skip served the congregation in many ways — as an usher, a nightwatchman, sang in the choir, and was the church's Credit Union Treasurer for many years. As his boys grew up, Skip became Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 175 and later Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 75 of Cranford. His young family spent every summer weekend at a private campsite at Panther Lake in Andover, NJ, complete with a large wooden tent platform he built himself. Looking back on it recently, he confessed, "I only did all that because your mother enjoyed it." He later pursued a love of the stage and song by joining the Cranford Dramatic Club, appearing in numerous plays and musicals in town.

In many ways, Skip Shupp was a classic 1970s American suburban "Super-Dad" who quietly did all the right things. He was a loving husband and devoted father who rarely asked anything of anyone while giving so much to so many in his family. His difficult early days taught him to accept things he didn't necessarily like, and he never expected favors or help from others — which could be maddening at times! He was known by coworkers and family alike for his welcoming demeanor, the large "lucky" coins he carried in his pockets each day, and his happy whistling, which let everyone around him know that he always had a song in his heart and a deep joy in life and love of family.

His children will never forget the silly songs he memorized and sang to them, or the time he rode a bicycle to work in Linden, NJ, on the very first Earth Day, with the kids on the block cheering him on as he rounded the corner riding home from work that day. (It was three miles, but to them it was the Tour de France.) His family always knew when Dad had arrived home, because the sound of his whistling arrived before he did. His parallel-parking skills behind the wheel of the family station wagon were Olympic gold medal level, and his ability to drive in reverse at a high rate of speed was legendary on Roosevelt Avenue. He never thought of himself as anything special, but he certainly was. His legacy is that of a young boy who overcame a trying childhood and nearly went blind, yet found an anchor in his wife, Pearl, and together they built a loving family that never had it nearly as hard as he did.

Professionally, Skip learned data processing in the early days of computing, operating the giant IBM computers that ran on stacks of punch cards now seen only in historical footage. His career took him from night jobs at J&J Liquor Distributors and Congoleum in Kearny, NJ, to Lockheed in Edison, NJ; the L.J. Wing Company in Linden, NJ; NJ Business Computers in East Rutherford, NJ; and Midland Ross Company in Livingston, NJ — finally finishing a long and successful career as IT Manager for Calton Homes, later Centex Homes, of Manalapan, NJ, retiring in 2006.

He and Pearl shared a love of travel, logging thousands of miles by car on driving vacations all over the US. Pearl didn't drive, so Skip drove everywhere. Sadly, Pearl passed away in 2005. Later in life, Skip and his partner Barbara also took extensive driving vacations to Tennessee and Florida, where they once boarded a ship for a Panama Canal cruise. Skip's pride and joy was his beautiful black Cadillac ST-6.

Skip will be sorely and dearly missed by those who knew and loved him, including his children: his son, Steven Shupp, and his wife, Gilda (Iantosca), of Cranford, NJ; his daughter, Nancy and her late husband, Ronald Hade, of Goose Creek, SC; his son, Robert Shupp, and his wife, Ellen (Raimondo), of Little Ferry, NJ; and his son, Ralph Shupp, and his wife, Sonya (Morgan), of McKinney, TX.

He is also survived by his grandchildren: Kevin Shupp and his wife, Leslie, of Barnegat, NJ; Kyle Shupp, of Roselle Park, NJ; Ryan Shupp and his fiancée, Christina Bond, of Randolph, NJ; Joanne Murch and her husband Tom, of Anderson, SC; Leanne Carothers and her husband, Michael, of Summerville, SC; Ronald Hade Jr. and his fiancée, Jennifer Gengaro, of WinfieldPark, NJ; and Blessed DeCrowe, of McKinney, TX.

Skip's legacy continues through his six great-grandchildren: Brayden, Hannah, Anna, Benjamin, Charlotte, and Maxon, with a seventh great-grandchild due to arrive in November.

Skip will also be dearly missed by his life partner of nineteen years, Barbara Olsen, of Cranford; her daughter, Barbara Vail (Kochmer), and her husband, Art, of Bucks County, PA, along with their three children and grandchildren; and Barbara's son, George Kochmer, of Cranford, NJ.

Skip and Barbara shared an active life filled with travel, activity, and laughter, which he enjoyed very much. Barbara's companionship during his final chapter was a blessing to Skip.

Skip passed away on August 23, 2026, which would have been his and Pearl’s 74th wedding anniversary.