Obituary of John Herdt

John Herdt, 90, of Crosswicks, NJ passed away at his home on July 24, 2020. He was born in Palanka, Yugoslavia on March 7, 1930, and in 1944, he and his family left their homeland for Austria. In 1951, they immigrated to America and settled in Bronx, NY where John worked in a grocery store and learned the English language. He met the love of his life, Apollonia, whom he lovingly called "Loni" and they married on July 10, 1954. John and Apollonia moved to Trenton, NJ where John learned the iron working craft, started their own family and finally settled in Crosswicks, NJ. John and his father Frank founded the fence business Herdt Fencing in 1959. John worked hard to build up his business and was proud of his workmanship over the next 36 years until his retirement in 1995. John and Apollonia had four daughters who were blessed to have their father working in their back yard so that he was always available to them. John's family was his #1 priority, despite enduring busy and long working days. He was proud of his growing family with the eventual addition of son-in-laws, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. John made friends easily, told endless jokes and stories, played the accordion, enjoyed traveling, spent hours completing crossword, Sudoku and word search puzzles and most of all loved hosting large family gatherings. He was proud of his heritage and was a member of the German American Society and Trenton Donauschwaben Club. He was a parishioner of St. Mary's Church. Son of the late Frank and Magdalena (Kist) Herdt, brother of the late Katharina (Herdt) Mikkelsen and father of the late Rose Mary Herdt, John is survived by and will be greatly missed by his wife, Apollonia (Mayer) Herdt of 66 years, his daughters and son-in-laws Mary Anna and John Zeiselmeier, Katharina and Anthony Tozzi and Barbara and Michael Galati, his grandchildren Craig Kendall, Jr., Erika Kendall, Nicole Coleman, Alison Zeiselmeier, Michael Tozzi, Matthew Tozzi, Christopher Galati and Dayna Brown and their spouses and significant others as well as his four great-grandchildren, numerous nephews and nieces, brother and sister-in-law Franz and Josephine Herdt and brother-in-law Richard Mayer in addition to many others whom he considered a part of his extended family. Friends and family may call Saturday from 8:30 am to 10:15 am on Saturday at Knott's Colonial Funeral Home, 2946 South Broad St., Hamilton. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated thereafter at 11:00 am at St. Mary's Church, 45 Crosswicks Street, Bordentown, NJ. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery in Hamilton. Due to the current pandemic the family regrets that they will be unable to host a luncheon following the cemetery services. Condolences may be left at knottscolonialfuneralhome.com In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Heart Association, 1 Union Street, Suite 301, Robbinsville, NJ 08691