BEACHWOOD – A viewing will be held today for Bonnie Verga, former mayor and councilwoman of Beachwood.
Verga, 69, passed away on Dec. 6. Her viewing will be held on Monday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Mastapeter Funeral Home, 270 Atlantic City Blvd. in Bayville. The funeral will be held tomorrow, Dec. 11, at 8:30 a.m. at the funeral home before leaving for the burial at 9:15 a.m. at B.G.W.C.D. Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown.
Verga had been a councilwoman from 1979 to 1982. She was elected again in 2007 as part of a slate of Democrats in a traditionally Republican town. The Democrat mayor that had been her running mate, Ronald Jones, wound up stepping down amid a lot of controversy. Verga became interim mayor to finish up Jones’ term. She ran for mayor, but lost to current mayor Ronald Roma.
“I’m a conservative Democrat. Nobody believes that but I am,” she told the Ocean County Observer at the time. “We should help those who cannot help themselves, but we cannot afford it on the backs of others.”
Born in Paterson, she later moved to Beachwood. She had been a bookkeeper for Island Heights.
According to the obituary, Mrs. Verga is predeceased by her husband Thomas Verga in 2013. Surviving are her 2 children Brian Verga and Maria Marino; her 3 grandchildren Isabella Marino and Luciana and Lillian Casper; her father Jack Sweet and her sister Carol Pennisi and her husband Joseph.
