Agnes Shields Fulper
Agnes Shields Fulper, age 88, died peacefully on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, in Abington, PA.
She was born to Agnes Foran Shields Fulper and William Hill Fulper III on March 13, 1937, and spent her earliest years in Washington Crossing, and then her school years in Yardley, PA. She graduated from Miss Fine’s School in Princeton, NJ, with the Class of 1954, and from Connecticut College in New London, CT, in 1958 where she majored in French and was a member of the esteemed a cappella singing group known as The Shwiffs. Gifted with a beautiful voice, her love for music and for performing would continue to be a joyous part of her entire life. After college she lived and worked in Cambridge and Boston as an assistant music director at WHDH Radio. She moved to New York City to try her skills as a fledgling copy writer at McCann Erickson Advertising. When she returned to Yardley, she accepted a position at WTOA-FM in Trenton, NJ, as the disc jockey, Audrey Fields, and achieved local fame for her show “Music in the Morning Manner.” She was also a newscaster there and at other stations within the Nassau Broadcasting Company network. Throughout those years, she also performed in summer stock at The Music Circus in Lambertville and sang in celebrated operettas on the stage of the Trenton War Memorial.
Agnes was best known locally as the Broker/Owner of Wm. H. Fulper Realtors, a premier real estate firm established in Trenton by her father in 1936. At the time of her tenure, the primary Fulper office was in Yardley, with satellite offices in Washington Crossing, PA, and West Trenton, NJ.
Agnes was a proud member of the Historic Fallsington, Inc. Board of Trustees, overseeing fundraising events to finance the preservation of that unique village.
She also helped her sisters launch Fulper Glazes, Inc., a company with the mission of bringing back their grandfather’s famous “arts and crafts” pottery glazes.
After her retirement as a realtor, she resided in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she studied Art and Spanish at the University of New Mexico and continued her vocal training, singing in church choirs and with jazz ensembles.
She is predeceased by her parents and by her sister, Rada Fulper Shows (George Shows). She is survived by her sisters, Julia Fulper Hardt (William M. Hardt III) and Anne Willette Fulper; her nephews, John Merlino, Jonathan Hardt (Lisa Stone Hardt), and Benjamin Hardt (Margaret Kosmala); her nieces, Anne Hill (Chad Colby) and Ella Boureau; and her grand-nephews, Caleb Hill, Garrett, Sean and Kyle Hardt and grand-nieces, Abigail Hill and Ainsley Hardt.
A memorial service will be held at The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity in her memory.
Arrangements are under the care of the FitzGerald-Sommer Funeral Home, 17 South Delaware Avenue, Yardley, PA 19067. Condolences for the family can be left at fitzgeraldsommerfuneralhome.com.
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Audrey Weiss Gates
Audrey Weiss Gates of Princeton, NJ, a vibrant spirit whose life was a tapestry of family, friendship, and community, passed away peacefully on November 14 at the age of 94. The daughter of Helen and Irwin Weiss, Audie, as she was known to family and friends, was born on December 3, 1930. She attended Princeton Public Schools, where both of her parents were teachers, and then Centenary Junior College. After college, she worked at Princeton University in the Alumni Office and soon met the love of her life, Moore (Mosie) Gates, Jr. They were married on February 13, 1954, and enjoyed 65 years of marriage living in Princeton before Mosie’s death in 2019.
Her volunteer spirit was boundless. Audrey gave generously of her time to the Hun School Parents’ Association, Princeton Nursery School, where she served as President of the Board, Trinity Counseling Service, where she chaired the Bastille Day Ball, and Princeton Medical Center, where she logged over 5,000 volunteer hours over 40 years and co-chaired the June Fete. Audie’s true passion was her gardens. She was happiest “when playing in the dirt.” She was awarded a special commendation just days before her passing for 60 years of service and devotion to the Stony Brook Garden Club where she nurtured multi-generational friendships. She held many leadership positions, serving as President from 1976 to 1978 and played key roles planning events including the May Market and Rockingham.
Audrey and Mosie loved to travel and especially enjoyed adventures on Mosie’s Princeton University ’48 Class trips worldwide as well as U.S. Seniors Golf Association tournaments around the country. Family summer vacations at Lake Carmi in northern Vermont, Martha’s Vineyard, and Mattapoisett, MA, were endless fun and ski trips to Woodstock, VT, kept the winter season busy. A member of Nassau Presbyterian Church for 83 years, Audie was the longest standing member. She was also a member of the Springdale Golf Club, the Nassau Club, and a lively duplicate bridge group.
Audrey was a beautiful woman of decorum with a wonderful hint of irreverence which earned her the nickname “Naughty Audie.” She was vivacious and had an infectious sense of fun. Audie was always ready for a “toot,” which was her word for an adventure. She adored dancing and could jitterbug the night away. She told all her grandchildren that in her next life she was coming back as a
belly dancer!
Above all, Audrey was the heart of her family — a devoted mother, grandmother, great-grandmother whose legacy lives on in the lives she touched and the joy she spread. She is survived by her son David and wife Stacy of Tequesta, FL, and Manchester, VT; son Bill and wife Anne of Princeton; son Tom and wife Tracey of Pennington; daughter Susie and husband Michael of Cape Town, South Africa; seven grandchildren and three great-grandsons. She and her family will be forever grateful for the loving devotion of her care givers; Mercedes, Michele, and Syndia.
Audrey’s life was a garden of generosity, laughter, and love. She will be deeply missed and joyfully remembered. A celebration of her life will be held at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton on November 24 at 11:00 a.m. with a reception immediately following at Springdale Golf Club.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to The Garden Club of America Conservation Fund (gcamerica.org/contribute/form/fund/conservation) or Nassau Presbyterian Church.
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MaraDeniz Stokes Çakır
Our beloved MaraDeniz Stokes Çakır, who began their life at Familyborn in Princeton, NJ, on July 3, 1995, ended their 30-year-long journey in this world on October 2, 2025. They are survived by parents Elizabeth (Betsy) Stokes and Mesut B. Çakır, of Princeton, adored sibling Evren Stokes Çakır of Philadelphia, cherished partner Jari Jones of Belleville, NJ, and an abundance of chosen family. They were predeceased by loving grandparents Sybil and Donald Stokes of Princeton, and Mehmet and Sabiha Çakır of Balıkesir, Türkiye. Deniz was a sweet and affectionate family member, a devoted partner, and a loyal friend.
A member of the Princeton Friends Meeting in childhood, Deniz spent 10 years steeped in and nurtured by Quaker values at Princeton Friends School, where they were also an enthusiastic member of the PFS Summer Camp community, both as camper and counselor. As a child, they enjoyed summer adventures with family in Türkiye. The family cottage in northern Georgian Bay, Ontario instilled in Deniz a deep love of nature and was a respite from the tumult of the world throughout their life. Following graduation from Princeton High School in 2013, they moved to Oakland, California, to attend college.
They stayed in the Bay Area for six years, during which they connected with the thriving Queer community, found their chosen brother Malu Davis, and began to live their life as a non-binary Trans person. Deniz dedicated themself to uplifting and empowering Trans bodies, particularly young Trans folks without access to resources. They marched, sat in, and petitioned, raising not only their own voice but amplifying the needs and dreams of all in their community. They continued their dedication to working with children in the Berkeley Public Schools. In 2019, they returned east with Samson, their cat, and settled in Philadelphia, where they taught infants, toddlers, nursery school, and kindergarten in various settings and began working on an advanced degree in Early Childhood Education. Continuing their activism on the East Coast led them to meet the love of their life, Jari, in New York in 2019. It was a relationship that deepened through the forced separation of lockdown and brought joy, not only into the lives of the couple themselves, but to their families and friends as well.
Through their poetry, art, and social media posts, Deniz expressed a profound understanding of the human condition, its tenderness, its cruelty, its quiet ache. Their empathy was both their gift and their weight. They felt the sorrows of others as if they were their own, carrying them gently but perpetually. They devoted their energies to guiding the young, supporting the Trans community, fighting for economic and social justice, and advocating for the marginalized among us. They embodied the belief that “everyone’s soul deserves to be fed,” whether through crowdsourcing, fundraising, or mutual aid. Through it all, Deniz created spaces of joy, love, and safety, intimate moments where chosen family could breathe, exist, and feel whole. Their smile was infectious, their deep laugh unforgettable. The world was a better place with Deniz in it, and their spirit continues to remind us of the power of empathy, the necessity of care, and the importance of speaking openly about the pain that so many quietly bear.
Celebrations of Deniz’s life were held at the Parent Infant Center in Philadelphia, and the LGBT Center in New York. A future memorial is planned for Princeton. To honor Deniz, donations may be sent to The Okra Project (theokraproject.com), The Black Trans Liberation Kitchen (blacktransliberation.com/mission-1), or any organization supporting the change Deniz worked for during their life.
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Edwin L. Podsiadlo
Edwin L. Podsiadlo passed away peacefully on November 8, 2025 after 95 years of “clean living” as he would say! A longtime resident of Montgomery Township, he raised six children with his predeceased, beloved wife Dorothy who taught elementary school at Burnt Hill Road School for decades.
Edwin’s parents were Polish immigrants, and he was the first one to go to college. With an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Edwin was a U.S Naval officer in the Korean War and then launched a successful career in the early computer memory field with Raytheon, Monolithic Systems, and DataRam, among others. He and Dorothy were active members of the St. Charles Borromeo Church and the Rocky Hill Library.
Edwin was dedicated to his family and was always there for them and anyone who needed help or something fixed! His predeceased brother Frank and sister Julia also lived into their 90s. Edwin is survived by his children David, Eugene, Betsy, John, Marcia, and Julie and nine grandchildren. A private memorial for Edwin will be held in the spring.