Louise De Kler

Louise De Kler, 98, lived an independent life in a fifth-floor New Jersey apartment well into her 90s, only moving to North Carolina to be closer to family. Her daughter, Linda Feola of Carthage, said her mother hung out in the recreation room at Pinelake Health and Rehab, playing pool while doing her laundry.

"She had her own pool stick and a boom box," Feola said. "She used to go down there with her pool stick and wait for the young guys to come and play."

After suffering a stroke four years ago, she moved into a Carthage nursing home and later Pinelake after a second stroke in March. She was close friends with fellow victim John Goldston, with whom she ate nearly every day and high-fived as their wheelchairs passed in the hallway.

She was born in Holland and came to the United States in 1928.

De Kler was a Meals on Wheels volunteer and a member of Brookside Seniors.

She was preceded in death by her husband Abram, who died in 1986.

Services were held at Restland Memorial Park Chapel, 77 DeForest Ave. in East Hanover, N.J. Burial followed at Restland Memorial Park.