I just saw your name in the St. Martha’s Bulletin where they put the names for who the mass is being said for. I thought you must be sick. I had no idea you passed. You were the kindest most empathetic person I ever met. What a great sense of humor you had. I taught CCD when you were the pastor at St. Martha’s Church. I graduated from St. Dominic’s in Brick and that was my families Parish. My sister when she got her license didn’t really want to go to church anymore so she told my parents she didn’t want to go to 7:30 mass and she would drive me and her to a later mass. Of course she would drop me off go to her friends house and pick me up afterwards. One week she got me there late and I said no I am embarrassed and do not want to walk in late so said to me there is another church St. Martha’s in Point Pleasant. She dropped me off (and of course lied) and I was really late for the mass. I walked to the door and saw a priest standing outside. I said is it time for Mass? (I was 10 years old at the time) The nice priest said to me-it’s when you get here dear. Go ahead in. God will be glad to see you. It was almost communion time. He had a kind smile and I never forgot that…so when I turned 17 years old I drove to St. Martha’s and joined St. Martha’s and then I was so happy Father Magee was still there and then I realized he was the Pastor. I saw they really needed Teachers for CCD and I Volunteered and taught CCD through Bigh school and college and then stopped because I was busy getting a job as an Elementary School Teacher. Then they transferred him to a Church in Bay Head so I went there at Christmas time and taped him singing his Christmas song he always sang: “ Does Santa Claus Sleep Over Or Under the Sheets?” I am still a parishioner at St. Martha’s but there will never ever be a priest like Father Paddy Magee. Miss him and his songs and jokes. My condolences to you and your family. God Bless You All! Sincerely, Barbara Ann Reilly☘️ Brick, NJ USA

Barbara Reilly