John “Werty” Wurtenberg

If you needed something, Werty was always there; family, neighbors and friends all relied on him. His good deeds are too numerous to list but they ranged from breaking into a neighbor’s home when she lost her keys to remodeling an entire house. Eager to repay his lifetime of kind gestures, visitors, well-wishers and rooters were by his side during his hospital stays. As a young dad he found a career with PCC, Local 35, to provide a good life for his family. He eventually was chosen as the Apprentice Instructor and then became the Business Agent and Secretary Treasurer for PCC when they merged with BAC, Local 1 of PA/DEL. He finished his career as a Regional Rep with the BAC International. He had taken a leadership course at Harvard, so he jokingly considered himself of the Ivy League. Of course he found his real job in retirement as a grandfather, crisscrossing the country in an effort to spoil the grands in every way possible with more than a few trips to Walmart for toys. Retirement also found him being able to sneak off to Italy for a trip with his wife and he perused all of the flea markets and antique shops in the area. As a dad, he was strict but softened over the years. He was a proud Falcon and 1979 graduate of Northeast Catholic High School and was inducted into their Soccer Hall of Fame in 2019. He continued playing well into adulthood. Even though he moved to Mickleton, he never lost his Philly roots: all in with the Phils and the Eagles and while he dreamed of moving to Alaska and living off the grid he balked when he realized the wilderness had no Entenmann’s. Wert loved R&B music and betting the occasional pony.

The handsome Fishtown boy would meet a pretty Juniata girl down in Wildwood; John and Elaine shared a 39-year marriage blessed by 3 children: Matthew John, John Joseph III (Kelly), and Lindsay Michelle Cross (Jonathan), and later by grandchildren, Tiana Serrano, Teagan Shiflett, Jack Wurtenberg, Matthew Wurtenberg, Anthony Wurtenberg, and baby Noah Cross. He is also survived by his brother, Robert (“sister” BeBe), sister, Denise Wurtenberg, his in-laws, Ed and Pat Barker, sisters-in-law, Linda, Carolyn, and Laura, brother-in-law and dear friend, Jim, aunts, uncles, cousins, a lifetime of friends, many nieces and nephews who loved spending time with him and his dog, Levi. He was the oldest child of Jack and Sis.

Werty passed on September 19, 2025 after a short battle with leukemia.

Come celebrate 65 great years Saturday 9-10:45 a.m. at St. Clare of Assisi Parish, St. Michaels’s Church, 320 Memorial Ave, Gibbstown NJ where Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Interment Lake Park Cemetery, Woolwich Twp. In lieu of flowers donations to Blood Cancer United (givenow.bloodcancerunited.org), formerly known as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, in Wert’s memory will be appreciated.