Ruth Connolly Burrus (Nan), a longtime resident of Spring Lake, N.J., died Friday, July 28, 2017, surrounded by her loving family. The daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. John J. Connolly of Newark and Spring Lake, N.J., was called Nan from the time she was a child. Nan graduated from Lacordaire School in Upper Montclair. She then went on to receive her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Education from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. Nan was a Special Education Teacher in the city of Newark, N.J. She met her charming and fun husband on the beach when she was fifteen while both spent their summers in Spring Lake. Years later they were married at St. Catharine's Church in Spring Lake shortly after graduating college. She was happily married to Thomas Preston Burrus, Jr., for fifty-eight years and lived in Spring Lake for over fifty years.

Nan was on the Auxiliary Board of St. Vincent’s Hospital, in New York, N.Y., for many years and volunteered her time at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, N.J. She was a member of Spring Lake Bath and Tennis Club, Spring Lake Golf Club, and the Coral Beach Club in Bermuda. In addition to being elegant and kind, Nan had a wonderful sense of humor. We will miss her tremendously.

She is survived by her five lovely children: Thomas P. Burrus, III, (Susan), Spring Lake, N.J., John R. Burrus, Mill Neck, N.Y. and Spring Lake, N.J., Peter M. Burrus, St. Simons Island, Georgia, Richard C. Burrus (Patty), Spring Lake, N.J. and her daughter and caregiver for many years, Jeanne M. Burrus, Locust, N.J. Nan was a kind and loving Grandmother to eleven grandchildren: Lindsay, Anne, Carly, Libby, Thomas, Connor, Peter, Justin, Isabella, Bridgette and Grace and two great grandchildren, Jack and Mara Anne. She was very close to her sister, Jane Connolly Caughey, her sister Suzanne Connolly Kinney and her husband Richard and her brother John F. Connolly and his wife Katherine. She will be missed by her fourteen nephews and two nieces.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Tuesday, August 1, 2017 at 10:30AM at St. Catharine Church, 215 Essex Ave., Spring Lake. Please go directly to the Church on Tuesday morning as there will not be a procession from the funeral home. Interment in St. Catharine Cemetery, Wall.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made in her name to the New York Presbyterian Fund (Cardiology Catheterization Lab), 654 West 170th Street, New York, N.Y., 10032 or the Alzheimer’s Association, 400 Morris Avenue, Suite 251, Denville, N.J. 07834.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the O’Brien Funeral Home, Wall.
For further information or to send condolences to the family please visit www.obrienfuneralhome.com.