At Benefit, Friends of Ed Neville Pay Tribute

Hazlet's Ed Neville, 43, died on July 7 of a sudden heart attack, leaving behind a wife, Edie, and two children, Hayley and Hunter. Neville was a carpenter by trade with his own business, often working on jobs through Lowe's.

But he and his blue pickup truck were also a well-known fixture at the Hazlet Youth Athletic League fields on Hazlet Avenue, where he volunteered as a coach and the Commissioner of Buildings and Grounds. Neville was known to stop in very early every morning, and after work every evening, to trim the grass, repair the batting cages, groom the pitcher's mound, run the work duty crews, and oversee the snack bar and restaurant. 

"The day before he passed away he was on the fields," recalled a fellow HYAL parent, Dawn Benson, who saw him there as she drove past. "It must have been 100 degrees out." 

His contribution was so big, nobody has been able to fill his shoes yet. “We’ll have to try to do it all by committee, unless we find someone as uniquely qualified," said Tony Taddeo, the Commissioner of Softball. "It’s a big void."  

Since his passing, his family says they have been buoyed by the kindness of the community. "Dropping off food, mowing the lawn, offering to take the kids to their practices," said Edie Doughty Neville's sister, Marilyn Ecklyn. "The generosity of everyone has been amazing." A close family friend, Debra Senese, concurred. "He would have been amazed," she said. 

At a sold-out benefit dinner for the Neville family held Friday at the Red Oak Diner organized by friends Sue Ryan and Dawn Carton, more than 180 people -- about 100 more than anticipated -- purchased tickets to share a meal and the evening with the Neville family, and recall the man with the big heart.

"One thing I can say about my brother is he would have had no regrets," said Lisa Neville from Middletown, his older sister. "Some people spend their life working or traveling, but he loved his children, and he helped other people."

The next snowstorm that comes along will bring bittersweet memories, because she always knew if she looked out the window in the morning she'd find her brother there, plowing her out. 

Around the bar, his friends recalled the unique things about Ed. Like how he collected Nascar models, hunted deer in Franklin Township and served up his own venison chili. How he shunned shorts in favor of knee socks and jeans in the summer. 

They could still hear his familiar voice urging and encouraging from the sidelines. 

"His nicknames for the kids on the Hazlet Hawks Football team were Buttercup, Sunshine, Twinkle Toes, Cupcake," said his friend, Rob Preston, laughing. 

He turned to a player standing nearby. "Wait, what did he call you?" he said.

The boy replied, "Mary."