Ann P. Matassa Curley, formerly of Little Silver, died peacefully on May 11, 2025.
Ann was born in Highlands, New Jersey, four months after her parents immigrated to New Jersey from Sicily on the U.S.S. Martha Washington. She was raised in Highlands, where her father owned Frank’s Deli on Bay Avenue. She lived in Little Silver for sixty-five years before moving to Brandywine Assisted Living in Shrewsbury in 2015.
Ann met her husband, Jack, at Bahr’s Landing in Highlands, where she worked as a bookkeeper and hostess. He was back from WWII and summering with his family in the Highlands bungalows. Jack pestered the beautiful and feisty Ann until she agreed to go on a date. He offered to take her to a fancy nightclub, but she preferred a candy apple on the Asbury Park boardwalk - Jack was smitten.
They were married in 1950 and moved to Little Silver to raise their family. Ann became an active volunteer with the Markham Place School PTA. Ann was mainly a stay-at-home mom but worked in several temporary jobs over the years. A recurring theme in Ann’s employment and volunteer career was writing newsletters. One job she was able to do from home while her children were young was hand-coloring photographic portraits. Photographers brought her wedding and graduation portraits, and Ann painstakingly “colorized” the images in oil paint. Her work can still be found on many mantelpieces in the area.
Ann was passionate about music and art from a young age and had an insatiable desire to learn. Determined to master the piano, she taught herself by drawing keyboards on toilet paper. She later played the organ at Our Lady of Perpetual Hope. After graduating from Atlantic Highlands High School, she studied at the Hertz School of Music in Newark, the Hartford School of Art in Connecticut, the Art Students League, and eventually, Brookdale Community College, where she received an AA in Fine Arts. She was affiliated with the Guild of Creative Art, Art Students League of NY. New Jersey Watercolor Society; Monmouth Arts Council, Garden State Watercolor Society, Art Society of Monmouth County, and Plein Air of Jersey Shore and traveled to workshops by prominent artists. She was a
regular exhibitor at the Monmouth Festival of the Arts, and had her work displayed at the New Jersey Senate and Lincoln Center.
Ann’s most valued accomplishment was getting accepted as an Exhibiting Member at the Guild of Creative Art in Shrewsbury. She received numerous awards at juried shows and frequently served as a judge. In over 25 years as a Board member at the Guild, Ann organized class schedules and wrote the newsletter. She taught watercolor classes through the Guild from her at-home studio and was adored by her students. One of her most cherished and enduring activities was hosting a group of artist friends who met every Tuesday at her studio for 25 years to paint and lunch together.
There were many events and activities in Ann’s life that brought her joy and pride – the births of her two granddaughters; feasts with family; road trips with friends for painting workshops; family vacations, especially the vacation to Europe with the Kafalas family in 1971; her son, Rich, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout; playing an extra and painting props for Pat’s videos; making phone calls for son-in-law Adam’s mayoral campaigns in Long Branch; swimming; the beach; reading; historical period movies; buffets (“I’ll just have a little taste of everything”); gardening; and dancing with her Jack.
Ann was predeceased by her parents, Frank and Sarah (Giaimi) Matassa, her husband, John “Jack” W. Curley in 1991, her sisters, Rose Layton, Edith Phipps, and Carmela Lyons, her sisters-in-law, Corinne Jordan and Geraldine Hanrahan, and her two close first cousins, Grace Scaduto and former State Senator Joseph Azzolina.
She is survived by her son, Richard D. Curley of Dover, NH, her daughter and son-in-law, Patricia and Adam Schneider of Long Branch, her granddaughters, Amy Schneider of Denver, CO, and Emily Schneider (and Peaches) of Long Branch, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Ann’s family would like to acknowledge the staffs of Brandywine Sycamore, Grace Hospice, and Serenity Hospice for all the years of care, kindness, and good humor even when “Curley” sassed them.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Ann’s memory to the Guild of Creative Art, 620 Broad Street, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702, https://guildofcreativeart.org/ or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 8th Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10001, https://alzfdn.org/ .

Visitation will be held on Friday, May 16 from 11 am until the time of the funeral service at 1 pm at the Damiano Funeral Home, 191 Franklin Avenue, Long Branch, NJ 07740. The family invites you to leave a letter of condolence by selecting the Tribute/Guestbook link above.