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Obituaries

Hundreds Mourn Death of Budd Lake Teen

Family and community members pay final respects to Nicholas Michael Cianciotto III, who was ice fishing when he and his friend fell into the frigid waters of Budd Lake last week.

Hundreds mourned Saturday the death of one of the two Mount Olive teens who drowned last week while ice fishing in Budd Lake.

As a thick fog filled the air outside, family, friends and members of the community attended the funeral of Nicholas Michael Cianciotto III at St. Jude Roman Catholic Parish in Mount Olive.

Cianciotto and his friend Clyde Schimanski III were ice fishing Monday night when they fell through the icy waters. Both teens were 15 years old.

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Cianciotto, a sophomore at Mount Olive High School who lived in Budd Lake for nine years, , according to his obituary. Cianciotto was buried Saturday at Christ the King Cemetery in Franklin Lakes.

Visitation hours for Schimanski, a freshman at Mount Olive who lived in Budd Lake his entire life, will be Sunday in Succasunna.

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A massive rescue effort Monday night turned into a two-day search and recovery process with one teen found on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday.

The deaths of the "dirt bike buddies" stunned the Mount Olive High School community. The superintendent said the high school suffered a “tragic loss of two of its promising students.”

The community came together and raised funds to help pay for the services for the two teens.

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