Man killed in Morris Twp. remembered for goodness, simplicity

   HANOVER TWP. - Peter Eric Isel was a formidable Scrabble player, kept up the dying art of letter writing to friends and family, and proudly wore for a week medals he earned bowling in the Special Olympics.

The 45-year-old man who had cerebral palsy and a developmental disability loved eating dinner at Friendly's restaurant in Morris Township and getting his grocery shopping done at the Madison Stop & Shop and ordering the burrito wrap with extra gravy on Tuesday night's at LaRosa Chicken & Grill in Madison.

Isel's habits, hobbies and the enjoyment he got out of life gave his family and many friends comfort Tuesday as they gathered for his funeral at the church he loved, Notre Dame of Mount Carmel in Cedar Knolls.

Isel was struck and killed in Morris Township by a state Department of Transportation truck on Feb. 24 during a period of heavy rain. He had just finished eating dinner at Friendly's and was walking back to his condominium complex around 8 p.m. when he was struck as he crossed the street by the intersection of Madison Avenue and Pitney Place. Morris Township police said no tickets or criminal charges will be filed because the accident was attributed to poor visibility caused by the torrential rain and darkness.

"He could make fun and he could take it," Marge Collins told mourners at the church that included Isel's widowed mother Shirley, his brother Richard, an aunt, Evelyn Roche, and about 100 other friends. Some of those grieving were from Employment Horizons in Cedar Knolls, a job placement and training center for people with disabilities and special needs. Peter Isel performed piece and assembly work at the center.

"He loved to go there even if he was sick," said Neeta Das, a care manager who helped Isel manage his life, budget and other needs. Isel had lived with several other people at one time but was fiercely independent and high-functioning so he used money bequeathed to him by his late grandmother to buy his own condominium off Pitney Place in Morris Township well over a decade ago, friends and family said.

"I worked with him and I also went to church with him," said Employment Horizons client Ali Peck. "He was very vibrant. It's not the same without him."

Isel's mother, Shirley, said her son doted on her. They lived close to each other, she said, and after she broke bones in her feet months apart her son insisted on retrieving her mail so she wouldn't have to when the mail arrived. Shirley Isel said she was touched by the turnout of hundreds of people at her son's viewing on Monday at Doyle Funeral Home in Morristown, including employees of Friendly's and the Whippany Diner, where Peter Isel also loved to dine.

"He was always worried about Mom and wanted to help Mom out," said Richard Isel, Peter's brother.

Marge Collins, who served as a support aide to Isel, said his condo was filled with trophies he won bowling and he wore medals he won for a week afterwards.  Isel also loved professional sports, mostly the New York Jets and Mets and wrote an enormous number of letters every week to family and friends.

"Peter read the sports section from beginning to end every single day and he could remember everything he had read," Collins said.

Peter Segarra was an aide to Isel and went bowling with him every week at Hanover Lanes. Isel recently won a bronze medal in bowling for Special Olympics, said Segarra, whose wife, Rosie, also got to know and love Peter Isel.

"Everybody knew him.  He was also so polite. He would always say thank you," said Segarra.

Peter Isel's organs have been donated and his family saw that he was dressed in a New York Jets jacket for the afterlife.

"He had a tremendous way about him," said church Deacon Dave Collins, who is married to Marge Collins and who helped Father Paddy O'Donovan with the Mass of Christian Burial. Collins said that Isel, a faithful parishioner, liked to compliment him on his Scripture readings so Collins once joked with him after he omitted a whole paragraph in his reading.

"He said to me, with all sincerity, 'No one's perfect,''' Collins said.

Cerebral palsy left Isel with a contracted arm he could not use and one leg that was shorter than the other. But he loved to walk and didn't let his disability curtail the exercise, his friends said.

Father O'Donovan, pastor of Notre Dame of Mount Carmel Church, called Isel "a gentle human being" and "a shining example of goodness."  Isel, he said, attended church faithfully and clapped, sang and rejoiced without self-consciousness.

"There was a simplicity, an innocence to Peter that we would die for," the priest said.

   Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.