clifton merchant magazine - july 2011

Where are theseMUSTANGSnow?

1951

1971

1991

2001

1981

1961

PLUS A LOOK BACK AT 1941!

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Clifton Merchant Magazine is published the first Friday of every month at 1288 Main Ave., Downtown Clifton • 973-253-4400

July 2011 • Clifton Merchant 4

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A few years ago, as I was flying home from

the mid-west following a book tour I had just

completed, I looked out the window as the jet

began its slow

descent over New

Jersey, approaching

Newark Airport.

There, far below, I

saw wide bursts of

light: greens,

yellows, reds. They

were, of course,

fireworks for I was

returning home on

the 4th of July, flying

over Warren, Morris and Essex County.

Town after town was celebrating Independence

Day with fireworks. The odd part was that these

exploded in silence. Sitting in my seat in the jet I

could not, of course, hear the booms and bangs, or the

roar of the crowds in

approval, but I could

see the little fountains

of light bursting up

like Walt Disney

mushrooms all over

the state. Then I

thought of my

grandmother.

During World War

II, Nazi SS troops

banged on the door of

my grandmother’s house in Brussels searching for my

grandfather, an officer in the Belgian Army. He

By Christopher de Vinck

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managed to escape, but was soon

captured and sent to a Spanish

prison.

My grandmother often spoke

about how she and my mother fled

Brussels, and ended up in a small,

French coastal city: Dunkirk. They

witnessed the evacuation of

thousands of Allied troops across

the English Channel, and

continued their escape to southern

France, but, after four months,

they returned to Brussels and

endured the Third Reich’s

occupation for four years.

“Bombs always seemed to be

falling,” my grandmother said.

She and my mother even

remembered hearing the distant

explosions from the Battle of the

Bulge, the last attempt of the Nazi

forces to overtake Europe, and the

most horrific battle in the war

where over 19,000 American

troops died.

One of the last summers my

grandmother was with us here in

New Jersey, I was sitting with her

in the dining room playing cards.

It was the 4th of July. We were

playing Gin Rummy. For no

reason, I began humming John

Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes

Forever,” perhaps the most famous

march in the world, recognized as

the official march of the United

States (U.S. Code, Title 36,

Section 304).

“Da, daa, da, da, daa, da, da, da,

da da,daa,….” As I hummed, my

grandmother picked from the deck

of cards, and then she began to

quietly hum the march as well. I

picked from the deck, and began

to whistle the tune. She picked her

next card and began to hum

louder. I looked at her. She looked

at me. I started to hum louder as I

reached for the salt shaker and

began pounding the table as if it

was a drum accompanying my

humming. She placed her cards on

the table, “Gin,” and then she

grabbed the pepper shaker and

banged the tune on the table along

with her singing.

The two of us then gave out our

best impersonations of full Marine

bands, belting out the grand

march. We whistled, clapped,

banged the salt and pepper shakers

on the table, and at the final

crescendo, we ended together on

the last, resounding note, and we

both felt fine.

Then, suddenly, the first

fireworks exploded over at the

Allendale baseball field, a huge

BOOM! BOOM! And my

grandmother looked at me and

said quietly, “I never liked

fireworks. They sound so much

like the bombs dropping during

the war.”

I asked her if she’d like to play

another round of Gin, “Yes,” she

said with a smile. As I dealt the

cards, she looked out over her

reading glasses and said in French,

“Vive l'Amérique.” And we both

hummed “Stars and Stripes

Forever” all over again.

All across New Jersey, all

across the nation, Boom! Boom!

Boom! Vive l'Amérique!

Dr. Christopher de Vinck, a graduate from Teachers

College, Columbia University, is the Language Arts

Supervisor at Clifton High School; an adjunct professor of

English at Montclair State University, and the author of 12

books. His best known work is The Power of the Powerless

(Crossroad Books) a book on the struggles and joys of lov-

ing his severely disabled brother. This essay is from his lat-

est book ‘Moments of Grace: Days of a Faith Filled

Dreamer.’ Find it at Barnes & Noble or amazon.com.


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Editor & PublisherTom Hawrylko

Business ManagerCheryl Hawrylko

Graphic DesignerMichael Strong

Staff WriterJoe Hawrylko

Contributing WritersIrene Jarosewich, CarolLeonard, Rich DeLotto,Don Lotz, Jack DeVries© 2011 Tomahawk Promotions

1288 Main AvenueDowntown Clifton, NJ 07011

THE MEMORY KEEPERCHS Class of 1941 lives on in JoAnn Morici’s Scrapbook

1941W H E R E A R E T H E S E M U S T A N G S N O W ?

I’m a sentimental romantic,”JoAnn Morici states as she unzips

an old blue bag from the Passaic

General Hospital Center. This little

pouch is usually tucked away in the

back of a closet at her Van Houten

Ave. condo, but in celebration of the

CHS Class of ’41 it was plucked from

its resting place so that Morici could

relive its historical contents.

The Senior Scroll, the Class of ’41

yearbook, is the first item to come

out. It’s a gorgeous, dark maroon

hardcover book, the pages still crisp

decades after classmates wrote their

personal messages. However, the real

treasure is the personal scrapbook that

Morici first started to put together as a

student at School 1 on Park Slope.

The very first entry is a photo of

the graduating 8th graders in 1937.

Morici was one of 120 students who

received a diploma from Principal

Charles Sheenan on Tuesday, June

22, 1937, after listening to

a riveting speech by guest speaker

William Missbach. The entry is

accompanied by a clipping from

The Herald-News and a ticket from

the graduation ceremony.

Morici continued to fill her book

with clippings, photos and other

momentos during the next four

years at CHS, now Christopher

Columbus Middle School on Piaget

Ave. These are items not found in

the Senior Scroll, containing many

more personal memories and snip-

pets of life as a

teenager grow-

ing up in the

shadow of World

War II.

By her own

account, she has-

n’t even opened

the book since

moving to her

new home a

decade ago. Pouring over the pages

brings back a wave of fond memories

with classmates and friends.

By Joe Hawrylko

JoAnn Morici picturedtoday, and at right, in theCHS Class of 1941 year-book. She’ll be 87 in August.


“I remember in 1939, we cut class

and went to the World’s Fair,”

laughed Morici. “We took a red bus

on Van Houten Ave. to Manhattan

for 50 cents. I don’t remember how

we got to the fair

when we got there,

maybe trolly or

bus or something.

We didn’t get

caught when we

came back either,

but we couldn’t

spend much

money because it

wasn’t cheap.”

Her partners in

crime that day

were members of

the ‘Italian and Polish Mafia’: Sal

Latteri, Marie Calderoro, Anette

Sabatini, Ohland, Louise Romaglia,

Robert Sipos, Frank Wolack, Eddie

Artim, Lester Kuzmik, Jerry Rosen

and Ernest Weiner.

Photos of the crew during the high

school years line

the many pages

of Morici’s

scrapbook, hang-

ing out together,

participating in

the school per-

formance of You

Can’t Take It

With You and

other events.

Morici and many

of her pals

remained close

after graduating from CHS on June

20, 1941. Like she did for her School

1 ceremony, Morici

saved photos, the ticket, articles,

even the tassel from that memorable

day.

“We all got an excellent education

and we had more than 30 kids in the

class,” said Morici. “We all did well.

We had doctors, lawyers, engineers

and nurses. My two best classmates

(Helen Link and Francis Eswood)

because nurses.”

Like her two friends, Morici also

set out to become a nurse and

enjoyed more than 60 years in the

health care industry as a practising

RN, administrator and teacher.

“When I left high school I was

just 16,” said Morici. “I wasn’t old

enough to go into nursing yet at St.

Joe’s, so I had to wait the whole

A photo from Class Day, 1941. Above, from left, is Pat Zirpoli, Emmarie Zanetti, JoAnn Moriciand Louise Romaglia. Above right, Bob Sipos, Cesira Marchesin, Sal Latteri and Viola Frey.At right is the dance card from the CHS Class of 1941 Junior Prom, Nov. 17, 1939.

Frank Wolak with JoAnn Morici attheir 50th reunion on May 18, 1991.


year. My mother (Francis) got me

a job through a cousin of hers at

Federal Sweets, wrapping choco-

late candy. It was freezing cold

that winter and I thought I was

going to die! I then went into St.

Joe’s in 1942. In October, I took

the state board of nursing exam

and got my RN license.”

Even after graduation, Morici

continued to fill her scrapbook with

clippings as classmates relocated,

got jobs, became married and started

families. As she and her classmates

aged, Morici kept track of reunions

dates with photos and stories, and in

later years, she started adding obitu-

aries of old friends who have since

moved on.

By her own count, less than a

handful of Morici’s 256 classmates

are still around. But their stories and

memories will live on through the

pages of the CHS Class of 1941

scrapbook.

The ticket to the June 20, 1941 CHS Commencement, and at left, Mike Pochna,Tom Rigg, Frank Wolak and Herb Rachesky.

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By A. J. Sartor

Most CHS alumni recog-nize The Rotunda as the

name of the high school’s

yearbook. However, the Class of

1951 opted for something a little dif-

ferent, going with “Route ’51”. This

term was chosen specifically by stu-

dents that year because they said it

represented the final “route” of their

high school careers.

CHS still had two graduating

classes back in 1951 also—one in

January and one in June. However,

not every member of that class was

able to attend graduation ceremonies.

Seniors Pvt. Russel G. Craig, Pvt.

Anthony Geigges, Pvt. Edward Van

Hine and P.F.C. Vincent J. Phalon had

went off to serve their country in the

Armed Forces prior to receiving their

diploma. With war on their minds and

gratitude in their hearts, the class of

1951 respectfully set aside a page in

the yearbook for the men stating how

proud they were.

Another monumental event that

year was the dedication of the long

awaited Clifton Memorial Stadium,

one of the highlights of the a rapidly

growing city. Since then, the stadi-

um has been the gathering point for

so many memorable moments,

including sporting triumphs under

legendary coaches like Joe Grecco,

Bill Vander Closter, and more

recently Ron Anello, who left this

district this year after bringing home

the first championship since the 70s.

From left; Irene Schmidt, Walter Tencza, Elizabeth Talamini, Joseph Randazzo, Dolores Mendello, Lou Poles and Barbara Ayers

From left; Peter Ciolino, Arlene Macaluso, Thomas Pivirotto, Joan Reisch, Eugene Pami, Jean Pollara and Danilo Dominquez

ROLLING DOWN ROUTE 511951

W H E R E A R E T H E S E M U S T A N G S N O W ?



18141814

Proud to Represent CliftonAssemblyman Thomas P. Giblin1333 Broad St., Clifton, NJ 07013office: 973-779-3125www.assemblymangiblin.com

View The Giblin Report Thursday at 9 pm, Channel 76

There have also been several

decades worth of graduations, band

performances, Fourth of July cele-

brations and more.

But many aren't aware that the site

had much similar recreational use

even before then. In fact, the use of the

area goes all the way back to when

Native-Americans inhabited the land.

The Indians used the spot for a num-

ber of things, but mainly fishing and

hunting. Dutch children of the 17th

century explored around the pond and

surrounding woods to pass the time.

And the land was even host to racing

events, both for horses and cyclists.

In 1951 though, the sports stars

of the domain were the Fighting

Mustangs football team, among

others. Warriors like Floyd Porter,

Bill Lennon and Joe Scannella led

the team to a tie for third in the con-

ference.

Modern, sleek and yet classic, the ded-ication of the Clifton School Stadiumon Oct. 14, 1950 included studentsdoing a Dutch dance, above left, andan Indian dance. The FightingMustangs walloped Dickinson ofJersey City, 18-6, in the first contest onthe field, which is now named for theirCoach, Joe Grecco.


A JERSEY SHORE THINGLois Fisher & Dr. Harold Geene met in a Bay Head Chapel

Lois Fisher had gone most of her life withoutmeeting “the one”. Over the years, she found

no man interesting enough to stray from her own

pursuits. Work, friends and family, traveling and sail-

boating, which consumed most of Fisher’s free time.

By the time she retired from

Union Carbide in 1985 and

moved down to Point

Pleasant to further indulge

in boating, the 1951 CHS

alum had assumed that she

would never walk down the

aisle.

“The thought of mar-

riage, it just really never

entered my mind,” she said.

But decades later on Oct.

7, 2001, a chance meeting at

The Bayhead chapel with a

stranger who happened to be

a fellow boating enthusiast

and CHS alum led to an

unexpected romance at a

time in life when many couples are celebrating anniver-

saries.

At the time, Dr. Harold Geene was still grieving over

the passing of his wife of 50 years. The 1952 CHS

graduate also owned a home in the area, where he could

often be found when not working at his Broad St. den-

tistry practice. Lois went over to give her condolences

to her fellow church-goer and ended up in a lengthy

conversation with Geene about their shared passions for

boating and the mutual connection to Clifton.

Both came to mass that day for different reasons, and

unexpectedly came home in love.

“I said, ‘Would you like to go to lunch with me’ and

we were like glue after that,” laughed Geene. “We basi-

cally had a 12 hour date. We went out on the boat and

then did lunch and dinner together.”

Following the passing of his wife, Geene initially

didn’t think much of the

prospect of remarrying, but

the chemistry he shared with

Lois made him reconsider

his stance.

“My wife had been

deceased for about three

months,” said Dr. Geene.

“I’d cry on my drive down

to the shore and on the way

back up. Then lo and

behold, I met Louis. I can’t

say, ‘Hold on, I’ll be back in

a year.’”

“I think for me, it was a

natural growing of our rela-

tionship, which blossomed

into a love affair,” said

Louis. “We have the same religion, same Dutch nation-

ality, similar upbringing and values.”

The couple also happened to share many mutual

friends.

“In 2002, he had his 50th and was on the committee,”

recalled Fisher, who did not know Geene in high school.

“I knew just about everyone on the committee that

year.”

After three years of dating, Geene felt comfortable

enough that he decided to remarry. He called up Lois’

cousin, a jeweler, and had him ship over some samples

for his wife-to-be could select a ring to be sized.

By Joe Hawrylko

Dr. Harold Geene and Lois Fisher were wed May 7, 2005.



d

d

h

r

n

n

d

n

a

d

d

A few weeks later on Aug. 7

2004, Geene took Lois out to dinner

to present the ring that Lois still

believed was at her cousin’s jewel-

ery store. “We went to The Raven

and The Peach in Fair Haven, which

was rated the number one most

romantic restaurant by NJ Monthly

Magazine,” recalled Geene.

During dinner, he excused himself

from the table and returned with the

ring that Lois had selected a few

weeks earlier.

“People came over and congratu-

lated us, they sent over a bottle of

champagne,” he laughed. “We

went back to the restaurant the next

year and they recognized us as the

couple that got engaged.”

Lois and Geene were wed the

following year on May 7. “I never

married, never had kids,” said

Louis. “Now I have three children

and five grandkids.”

One of the couple’s main hobbies

is traveling. They’ve had the luxu-

ry of going on numerous vacations

over the last decade, including a

recent cruise of the Baltic Sea. “We

spent my birthday at the Hermitage

at St. Petersburg,” added Louis.

However, the annual trip to The

Netherlands has emerged as their

favorite. Since both Fisher and

Geene of Dutch descent, they par-

ticularly enjoy exploring the culture

of their ancestors, and have even

gone and visited the village of their

relatives.

While away, other couples often

assume that, because of their age,

Geene and Lois are celebrating a

Golden Anniversary, not marking

six years. “I tell my people I take

my wife away every year,” Geene

laughed.

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By Tom Hawrylko

If you want to talk Clifton nos-talgia, then get down to

Lexington Ave. and order two

all the way and a plate of fries with

gravy at the Hot Grill. And if you

need guides to mine the history of

our city, its schools and sports, pol-

itics and deal making, the end of

farming and the beginning of hous-

ing developments, then share a

booth with Joe Padula, John

Celentano and Bob Stier.

These three guys from the June

1951 Class have been at the center

of much since they were skinny and

scared freshman at the CHS Annex

(then on Clifton and First) before

they went on to the ‘big’ High

School, which today is Christopher

Columbus Middle School.

From there, they took different

paths and their lives took off but

they stay connected and they partic-

ipated in the ever evolving growth

of Clifton. They know the little

details in the history of our commu-

nity so breaking bread with these

Mustangs is a treat. And on top of

those facts, each has his own distinct

personality.

Start with ‘Sarge’ Padula. He

was a Clifton Cop for decades—his

friends claim he is the city’s longest

continuous serving public servant—

and today still works for the city as

a liaison between the municipality

and court offices of Passaic County.

It’s summer, so Sarge is missing

his trademark fedora but he still has

a line up of toothpicks on the table,

picking one off at a time. And when

Sarge stands to greet a reporter, he

works those cop muscles atop his

short body and pops a guy twice his

size with his shoulders to let you

know he still got the juice.

“What’d ya want babe?” he points

at a tray and asks Hot Grill Manager

Billy Pappas to take an order. Sarge

is always the first guy to dig in his

pocket.

“You didn’t see those guys move,

huh?” Sarge laughs as he shoves a

thumb back at Celentano and Stier

seated in the booth before he peels

out a few bills from his wallet.

“Who takes care of ya babe?”

At the table, Bob Stier, whose

family founded Styertowne

Shopping Center and developed

acres upon acres of Clifton and

north Jersey into homes and apart-

ments, is the same modest person he

has been for decades. Voted best

smile in 1951, he looks back at fond

memories of Scouting with Troop

65, where he attained the rank of

Eagle with Three Palms.

NO MORE CLIFTONTHAN THESE MUSTANGS


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Scouting took Stier around the

world in an era when travel was out

of the ordinary. He went to cam-

porees in nearby Towaco, then to

New Mexico before he participated

in the 7th World Scouting Jamboree

in Bad Ischel, Austria in 1951. Stier

attended the Newark College of

Engineering before he was drafted

and served in the US Army as a

Supply Sergeant in the 78th

Regimental Combat Team during

the Korean War, from 1953 to 1955.

“I was friendly with Allan

Swenson during those years and he

was a US Army Captain,” Stier

recalled. “He’d call me every week

but I couldn’t figure out what the

purpose was. He was always gung

ho. Great guy. Finally I asked if his

calls had anything to do with the

CIA. He never really said yes. But

today, he is one of two CIA people

in Kennebunkport, Maine. You can

figure out who the other one is.”

Swenson and Stier were thick as

thieves as seniors. Every second

Tuesday of the month, they’d play

hooky and hitchhike up to

Hackettstown. “Allan’s family had

a farm up there and there would be

a cattle auction on the second

Tuesday. We’d get a big home-

cooked meal, pie and chocolate

milk for a dollar-fifty. I think all

the teachers knew where we were,”

Stier guessed, then added: “But we

were good students. I still was in

the top 10 percent of the class. I

got a gold C. Allan got a bronze.”

Service to the community always

appealed to Stier but he took another

route—he was ordained a minister in

the New Apostolic Church in 1957.

He served at the church in Botany

Village and became a District

Superintendent or Bishop in charge

of 19 congregations, from Montague

to Absecon. “I used to drive that in a

day,” he recalled of the ministry he

retired from in 1999.

The guides to the past as they appeared back in 1951. From left to right is Joe Padula, John Celentano and Robert Stier.


D

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“During my ministry, I was also

involved in overseas work, travel-

ling to Cameroon, Liberia, Ivory

Coast, South America and Trinidad -

Tobago in the Caribbean. It was

mostly managerial work,” he said of

the New Apostolic Church, which

has 12 million members worldwide.

Stier was married in 1956 to

Edith (Daume) and they lived on

Nottingham Pl. since. His wife died

this year, months short of their 55th

wedding anniversary. They have

two children and six grandkids.

Back at the Hot Grill on that

recent summer day, John A.

Celentano, Jr. brings the conversa-

tion around to a packed football sta-

dium on Saturday afternoons and

the crowded, cramped lower level

basketball gym of what is now

Christopher Columbus Middle

School. Celentano is quiet and

respectful and down to his white

shirt and pin striped suit, he looks

every inch the Chairman and CEO

of Clifton Savings Bank. He shared

the following essay on his recollec-

tions of the good old days at CHS...

The Class of ’51 started high

school at an exciting time in the

country’s history. World War II was

over just two years. Agriculture still

dominated half of the city. The old

truck farmers—

Benkendorfs, Maxes,

Plochs, Hamiltons,

and others—were still

working the land.

Sheep still grazed

at the Samuel Hird

Plant on Clifton and

Paulison Ave., as did cows on the

Sisco farm on Colfax Ave. Mr.

Giaguzzi, Clifton’s last junkman,

was still making his rounds by horse

and wagon and the 4-H Club was

very popular and active.

The other half of the city had

thriving industries like Bright Star

Battery, Fruehauf, Forstmann

Woolens, Givaudan, Hoffman

LaRoche and Dumont. The baby

boom was well underway and the

building explosion had started.

Each of the old separate sections,

Albion Place, Allwood, Athenia,

Botany, Clifton Center, Delawanna,

Dutch Hill, Lakeview, Richfield and

Rosemawr (surrounding Passaic),

had its own butcher shops and small

food markets. These sections were

soon to fuse into the City of Clifton.

For more extensive purchases,

one had to take a bus or walk to

Passaic or Paterson. There was no

fear of walking anywhere.

TV did not yet have a major role

in the lives of Americans and local

sports dominated the free time of the

citizens. Joe Grecco’s football

teams filled stadiums from Paterson

to Jersey City and Perth Amboy.

Emil Bednarcik’s basketball fives

were perennial contenders for cham-

pionships. Rutgers would soon

have four Clifton starters on its bas-

ketball team: Hal Corizzi,

June 1951 officers included Pete Ciolino, Vice President SylviaIrene Taylor, Secretary Anna Drew Rydberg and Treasurer RichardMaehl. Left, Class Dreamers Gloria De Koyer and Rudy Wolf.


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Teddy Dull, Don Parsons and Ray

Van Cleef.

The Class of ’51 had its share of

stars in many arenas, and that was

especially true in academics.

LeRoy Costantin finished his

outstanding four-year high school

career with a flat 96 average. The

remarkable part of that record was

that he couldn’t do any homework

until the noisy Italian bar on the

first floor of his second-floor Lake

Ave. abode closed. He later com-

muted to Columbia University in

New York City and became a pro-

fessor of medicine at Washington

University in St. Louis.

June class president Pete Ciolino

had a distinguished career as a

lawyer and became an assignment

judge of the New Jersey Superior

Court.

Joan Kuzmich became Miss

New York City and a participant in

the Miss America pageant.

In Silent Prayer A History of Ministry with the

Deaf Community in the Archdiocese of

Philadelphia was penned by Father Anthony

Russo, C.Ss.R., who has devoted himself to the

deaf community for over 40 years.

Through insightful text, as well as historical

documents and photographs, Father Russo, CHS

Class of 1951, not only tells the story of the great

men and women who have provided this impor-

tant service, but also looks forward to the coming years and considers

how this service can be further shaped and improved.

Fr. Russo grew up in Botany and has experienced some degree of

hearing difficulty throughout his life. Despite his

barriers, in 1955, he received a Bachelor of

Science degree from the Virginia Military

Institute in Lexington, along with a commission

in the US Army.

Ordained by Cardinal Spellman of New York

in 1965, Fr. Russo was sent in 1967 to the

Archdiocese of Philadelphia, where he has dedi-

cated his life to working with and for the deaf.

NEW BOOK PUBLISHED BYFATHER ANTHONY RUSSO, C.SS.R.


f


The aforementioned Joe Padula

went to Korea, returned and set the

record for continual service to the

city and county, 55 years, and is

breaking the record every day.

Allan Armstrong Swenson

became an intelligence officer for

the U.S. following his graduation

from Rutgers.

Ron Plaza was signed by the St.

Louis Cardinals at the age of 16,

played Triple-A ball with Rochester

and spent the remainder of his career

coaching in the majors. When his

teams visited New York, he always

found tickets for his old buddies.

Early Boys’ Club member from

the ’40s and star athlete Walt Tencza

traded in his spikes and jock for a

couple of degrees and went on to a

stellar legal career in Passaic.

Nick Chanda attended and fin-

ished at Fordham and taught in

Wood-Ridge. School 3 grad Roy

DeBoer went on to Cornell and

headed the Landscape Architecture

Department at Rutgers.

Tony Russo became a priest and

Bob Stier, an apostolic minister.

Bob also managed New Jersey’s

first highway shopping destination,

Styertowne Shopping Center.

Ann Haroutunian, Class

Salutatorian, broke into the male-

dominated field of medicine. She

graduated from NYU School of

Medicine and went on to a distin-

guished career and is still involved

in cutting-edge genomic medicine

and pediatrics.

Child-bearing and rearing were

still exclusively open to women.

The unsung heroines of the class

were those young ladies who per-

formed those Herculean tasks with

no agenda except to do the job right.

They set the example.

For that we are grateful and say

thanks. And like many in the CHS

Class of 1951, we are proud of our

hometown roots.

They went on to serve our nation in the US Air Force: Pvt. Edward Van Hine,PFC Vincent J Phalon, Pvt. Russel G. Craig and Pvt. Anthony Geigges.

By A. J. Sartor

One of the last classes tograduate from the old

high school on Piaget Ave.

(now Christopher Columbus Middle

School), the Class of 1961 featured

many talented and diverse students

who would set out into a changing

world and find success. For many,

the first step on that path was at

CHS, where students explored their

varied interests in a number of excit-

ing clubs and classes.

Clifton High School also boast-

ed three particular programs at that

time which were popular with

many of the soon-to-be graduates:

the F.T.A., the F.S.A. and the

F.N.A., which stood for the

“Future Teachers of America” as

well as the future “Students” and

“Nurses”, respectively. These

organizations helped students get a

hands-on feel for careers they were

considering.

Aspiring thespians could be

found in the Footlights Club,

which was the predecessor to the

modern CHS Drama Club.

Some members from this group

joined young, aspiring stars in

showcasing their talents

From left; Georgette Bizub, Judith Townes, Karen Krug, Keith Truscott, Linda Thompson, Paul Epstein and Philip Dolcemascolo

LAST CLASS IN ‘OLD’ SCHOOL

1961

Seniors from the 1961 tennis team, from left: P. Krones, J. Baydin, B. Patterson, T. Kopec, J. Opfer, D. Polderman. Missingfrom photo is P. Hamelberg. Class flirts Dennis Santillo and Nina Parisi.




From left; Raymond Goetschius, Robert Kievit, Robert Prail, Robert Speer, Ruth Breure, Samuel Spektor and Yvonne Alayos

From left; Carol Breure, Chester Grabowski, David Dowds, Dorothy Thompson, Eric Chamberlain, Eve Tuchinsky and Frank Fusco

with a production of “Arsenic and

Old Lace”, based on the 1939 play,

written by Joseph Kesselring,

revolving around a man and his

crazy family as he makes a decision

whether or not to marry his love

interest.

The student Council, led by

President Joe DeStefano, lent its

support to causes such as the bene-

fit “Help Johnny Fortis” campaign

and a “Shamrock Swing” to sup-

port the March of Dimes.

The 1961 Columns yearbook

also shed a little light on what was

to come for some graduates. Paul

Epstein, who would go on to help

run and manage his family’s cloth-

ing store in Downtown Clifton,

was one half of the Best Dressed

duo with Karen Krug. Other

awards included Class Athletes Ed

Brown and Carol Rubsamen, while

Jim Opfer and Sandy Mueller took

home the gold for Most Talented.

From left: President Eric Chamberlain, VP Dorothy Thompson, Recording SecretaryMarlene Rothe, Corresponding Secretary Beverly Smith and Treasurer Sally Gibbs.


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THE LITTLE GUY WHO STILLENJOYS ACTING OUT

Paul Epstein: Class of 1961


By Carol Leonard

When 67 year-old PaulEpstein reminisces

about his days growing

up in the Richfield section, he paints

a picture quite different than the

crowded urban scene that we all

know today.

The CHS Class of ’61 graduate had

farms and fields surrounding his

Greendale Rd. home. “You could look

out and see horses galloping,” he said.

“We did all the things that kids

typically did in those days. We spent

every day outside playing football

and basketball. We even had a fort in

the area that is now Clifton Ave.

extension. It was a wonderful life.”

Epstein attended three different

elementary schools, 2, 6 and 14

before moving on to what was then

Woodrow Wilson Junior High School

for grades seven through nine.

His grandfather, an immigrant

from Poland, started a family busi-

ness in 1900, a dry goods store, orig-

inally located on the upper end of

Van Houten Ave. In 1941, his father

Charles took over the store and

moved Epstein’s to a building he

had purchased on Main Ave.

For many years, Epstein’s was

the place to shop in Clifton.

The original municipal complex


f

and police station were located just

down the street and women who

worked in City Hall would often stop

in during their lunch hour. It was also

a convenient walk for people who

lived in the area or could take a bus

downtown.

Epstein and his

brother Steven and sis-

ter Ronnie all pitched

in at the store, working

after school and on

vacations. “I can

remember putting

price tags on the

clothes,” he said.

On Christmas Eve

in 1958, Charles

Epstein suffered a

stroke while closing the store and

passed away shortly thereafter.

Young Paul was just 14 years-old at

the time.

Epstein’s mother Lake took over

and kept the business afloat, with

the help of the rest of the family.

They eventually opened a children’s

clothing store next door.

While in junior high, Epstein

recalled that he was a bit of a trou-

blemaker. “I was a typical little guy

who liked to bring attention to him-

self,” he said.

He attributes his behavior to the

absence of his father in his life and

the fact that he was short and wore

glasses. He had his share of scuffles

but made it through OK.

Epstein went on to attend the

original Clifton High School in what

is now Christopher Columbus

Middle School.

The school was on split sessions in

those days due to overcrowding, with

half the students attending morning

classes and the other half arriving for

the afternoon session.

Epstein’s grandmother lived in the

nearby Village Apartments and one of

his fondest memories was when he

would get out of school at 11:30 am

and could smell

her potato pan-

cakes frying.

“High school

was a lot of fun,”

he said. “I had a

lot of good friends and really

enjoyed myself.”

Epstein ran cross country and

spring track while at CHS and two of

his best friends were teammates

Ricky Chamberlain and Sammy

Spector.

Following graduation, he enrolled

at Marietta College in Ohio, where

he majored in business, political sci-

ence and “fooling around,” he said.

“It was a typical animal house envi-

ronment. We would go on

Top, Paul Epstein and Sandy Hertzberg were married on June 5. In 1961,Epstein was voted Best Dressed and is pictured with Karen Krug.


panty raids and I was constantly in

trouble.”

After his freshman year, he

ditched his glasses for contact lenses

and filled out a little more, which

made him “socially wild,” he said.

After college Epstein returned to

work in the store with his mother. He

also joined the National Guard.

“In those days it was be drafted

and go to Vietnam or join the

National Guard,” he said. “I chose

the National Guard.”

While in training at Camp Drum

in New York, Epstein met his first

wife Sue, who was originally dating

his boot camp buddy.

Sue was a teacher from Fort Lee

and the two hit it off and eventually

married and raised two sons, Joshua

and Matthew.

After 19 years, the couple split up,

but they have remained friends to

this day. Epstein avoids elaborating

on the reasons for the breakup, but

admits, “I was a bad boy. I learned

from my mistakes, though.”

Epstein moved to Montclair in

1985 and remained single for a while

before meeting Harriet, his second

wife, through their mutual involve-

ment at their children’s school. The

couple was married from 1996 until

Harriet’s death from cancer in 2007.

Epstein stays in close contact with

his step-daughters Annika and

Jennifer, and their children.

Still a frat boy at heart even into

middle age, another of Epstein’s

favorite memories is of a 50th birth-

day party he threw for himself at

Tierney’s bar on Valley Rd. in

Montclair. He had tee shirts made up

for his guests that read, “You’re only

young once, but you can be imma-

ture forever.”

About a year after Harriet’s pass-

ing, Epstein met his current wife

Sandy through JDate, a Web site for

Jewish singles. The two discovered

that they lived only two miles apart

in West Orange.

“She resisted my advances for sev-

eral months before agreeing to see

me,” he said. “We knew we were

right for each other. We both have sis-

ters named Ronnie. We both have

sons named Matthew. Sandy’s first

husband’s name was Harry and he

also died of cancer.” The couple dated

for three years and married on June 5.

Since 1998, when he closed the

store, Epstein has been working as a

salesman for Park Ave. Acura in

Rochelle Park.

“For my entire life, I didn’t want to

be there,” he said of working at the

family business. “I always knew that

I wanted to do something else, but I

didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Even before closing the store,

Epstein took a part-time job as a rep-

resentative for a line of women’s

clothing.

“My wife pushed me to try some-

thing new and I realized that I was a

good salesman,” he said. “I always

liked cars, so the idea of selling cars

Paul Epstein on Main Ave. in a recent photo.

CHS Class of 1961 is hosting itsreunion on Oct. 14, at 7 pm, at the

Bethwood in Totowa. The cost is

$125 per person and that includes

buffet and wine with a cash bar.

There will be a live band and plen-

ty of dancing and fun. For more

details, or to connect with class

members, call Marlene Korman at

973-694-2022 or Bob Prail at

973-934-2584 or email him at

[email protected].


really appealed to me.”

Epstein said he is mentally ready

to retire, but he needs to find some-

thing else to do to stay busy. “I start-

ed playing golf and tennis, and work-

ing out a lot, but I need to find some-

thing to keep my mind occupied.”

His wife Sandy is a speech thera-

pist. “She loves her job and isn’t

ready to retire yet,” he said.

Epstein describes his new bride as

much more mature than him. “I’ve

grown up, but I still like attention,”

he said. “I guess it’s still part of the

little guy syndrome.”

He doesn’t often see many of his

high school classmates, but ironical-

ly, he lives right next door to one of

his good friends from CHS, Eve

Tuchinsky, whose married last name

is Friedlander. He was surprised to

run into her when he started going

out with Sandy and they all enjoy

spending time together now.

“Every once in a while I’ll be out

somewhere and someone will come up

to me and ask me if I’m the guy from

Epstein’s,” he said. “I get that a lot.”

Despite his life’s ups and downs,

Epstein describes himself as very

happy. He enjoys getting together

with his children and five grandchil-

dren, as well as Sandy’s two sons.

“I’m on top of the world,” he said.

“I have a beautiful family and I’m a

newlywed. What else can I ask for?”

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By A. J. Sartor

1971was a greatyear in sports.The football

team, led by captain Joe Schiavone,

who was a tackle on that year’s

superb defense, finished just short of

a state title but took home a second

consecutive P.V.C. Championship.

The men’s cross-country team

nearly ran the table with an 11-1

record. The basketball and bowling

teams both finished 3rd and the

track team had a perfect 11-0 sea-

son, as Bill Gibson set both a

school, as well as a Passaic County

record in the pole vault.

The Mustang Marching Band

reputation grew when they took

home a gold medal for their per-

formance at the World Music

Festival in Kerkrade, Holland and a

stellar performance at the Hearald-

From left; Barbara Feldman, Carole Anson, Richard De Lotto, David Glattly, Dennis Suto, Edward Rossi and Gary Smith

From left; Helen Fedoriw, Jack Genchi, Joan Miketzuk, Karen Renta, Keith Oakley, Lawrence Howard and Maria Moczula

MUSTANGS DOMINATE THE FIELD

1971

All-state musicians, front from left:Rosemary Franciso, Vickie Yanics, SueVolgel. Debbie Saladini, ScottBleaken, Richard Szabo. At rightJayne Tabback, Dennis Daly andFrank Montalbano in Menotti’s Amahland the Night Visitors.



News band festival.

Thespians of the class performed

Teahouse of the August Moon in

which John Perez, Lillian McElwee

and Denise Makri showcased their

talents. Meanwhile Sue Macy and

Tony Ferrara made sure their peers

got the news as staff members of

“The Hub” under the direction of

Mrs. Patricia Zalesny.

The Key Club, including mem-

bers Elliot Solomon, Robert Farber

and President Gary Sacks held a

fashion show where models such as

Robin Santin walked the runway.

In March of that year The

Harlem Globetrotters came to

town to play the New York

Nationals and the students also

defeated the faculty in their game

against one another.

The Art Staff ofthe Yearbook wasfeeling groovy...from left: JaniceGeneralli, KarenSchiano, JoyceMeth, DavidPollizzi (advisor),Willie Costello.Back: PamKnoakes, KathyTsang, JimHudzik, KimHamer, KarenWallace.

Yoga during gym and in drama class, love shines in the eyes of Linda Shahinian and Sal Somma.


Then, as now, Clifton was ahuge high school.The class

of ’71 had about 1,200

graduates. In order not to feel lost,

said Cindy Czesak, the key was to

find your niche. Hers was the

Mustang Marching Band.

“No doubt,” said Czesak, “I iden-

tified with the band culture. It was

not for the feint- of-heart, we were

driven hard. And, we took

great pride in what we were

achieving. Besides football

games, we competed on all

levels, and won”

She remembers band

director Saul Kay fondly,

now understanding how

hard it must how been to

keep a 100 teens in line and

performing with precision.

Here, the rules of band hier-

archy helped. “I played pic-

colo and junior and senior years, I

was the first chair. My job was to

keep all the other piccolos in line!”

laughed Czesak.

She took several music courses

at CHS, even considered music as a

major in college, and remembers

how it led her to one of the most

memorable experiences of her

young life – the Mustangs Band

trip to the

Netherlands.

“Traveling to

Europe was a

big deal. We all had to go get pass-

ports, earn money for the trip – I

think $500, which, for then, was

huge,” she recalled. From the

Netherlands, they visited Belgium,

Germany and Italy. “I remember

even now, I spent my 17th birthday

in Florence,” she added.

Music, however, was not going to

be her professional future. Although

she loved music, she was also a bit

of a bookworm and loved to read.

Now the Director of the Paterson

Public Library, Czesak recalls the

factors that guided her towards her

career.

“I’m genuinely grateful for sever-

al teachers. I had an amazing Latin

teacher, Miss Castigila. I took four

years of Latin because of her – very

warm, great teacher, encouraged

me. And Ina Minor, a great English

teacher my sophomore year. She

told us that her classroom would be

FROM ‘STRIKE UP THE BAND’TO ‘QUIET, PLEASE’

Band Piccolo Sergeant is now Paterson Library Director

1971

At left, Cindy Czesak in 1971 and today, at the PatersonPublic Library where she is the Director.


By Irene Jarosewich


t

n

r

n

r

d

h

run as a ‘benevolent dictatorship’ – with her, my love of

reading was appreciated,” said Czesak.

It was the opening of the Allwood branch of the Clifton

Public Library that probably most influenced her. “I was

quite lucky that the branch opened up in my neighborhood.

I was a big bookworm. I practiced and practiced my signa-

ture so that I could get my first library card.”

Cindy and her sister Nancy, (CHS 1974) lived with

their parents in the Allwood section. Cindy’s parents still

live in Allwood, though she now lives in Parsippany.

“Honestly,” said Czesak,” I did not think very far

ahead in high school, and we did not have a lot of money.

I knew I would go locally to college.”

So, many years after she got her first library card, after

leaving high school and while attending Montclair State,

Czesak applied to work part-time at the Allwood branch

and was accepted.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” contin-

ued Czesak, “and for a brief period, I worked full time

in the children’s section. I then completely realized the

importance of finishing my education – so I finished

my degree in philosophy from Montclair State. By

then, I basically knew I wanted a master’s degree in

library science.”

Then Czesak went on to work for eight years as a chil-

dren’s librarian for Clifton public libraries, after which,

she became the Director. This position, however, came

with a quirky twist of fate.

“Clarissa Irwin, a woman we all respected, had been

hired,” said Czesak. “However, Clarissa was soon

offered a more lucrative position and announced she was

leaving. We, her staff, were devastated. So one night, she

opened up one of the branches, and about eight of us met

there to have dinner together, Chinese carry-out. She

gave us a pep talk about how we could and needed to

carry on. Near the end of the dinner, we took fortune

cookies and my message read: “You have the ability to

lead others.” Everyone turned to me and said, ‘That’s it!

That’s the answer! You should apply! It has to be you!’

I laugh now, but I’m not so sure I would have applied if

it were not for that dinner.”

Seizing opportunities is one of the lessons that Czesak

hopes that she can pass on to the people with whom she

now works, as well as to the people who need and use the

public libraries she directs.

According to Czesak, “One of the great things about

working in a public library is that you have the ability to

touch people’s lives every day. Sometimes it’s easy, make

someone happy by advising about a movie or a book. But

in Paterson, where I’ve worked for ten and a half years, we

are often the only easily accessible lifeline of opportunities

– we’re a lifeline for people looking for a job who don’t

have their own computer, a lifeline for parents trying to

help their kids get a leg up in this world, for adults trying

to improve their reading and language skills.”

The role of public libraries is changing, she continued,

noting that public libraries are no longer a warehouse for

books. “We’ve become a resource center, a knowledge

center. Technology is changing the role of public

libraries and there is great variety in what we do now. We

offer ongoing opportunities for people to change their

lives. And, every day, I get to feel good. This is not true

for every job.”


Colonial Pharmacy is instant-ly recognizable by its white

turret tower. Founded in 1965,

this pharmacy has been a Clifton Ave.

landmark for almost 50 years. Current

owners Walter Voinov (Class

of ’71) and his brother-in-law

Walter Diduch, purchased the

business in 1985 and will soon

celebrate their twenty-fifth

year of ownership.

Voinov, now a proud

grandfather of three, attended

Rutgers’ School of Pharmacy

(Class of ’76) and is a Clifton

Rotary Club member. Given

this information, it might be

surprising to learn that, during his earlier days, Voinov

says he had a certain rebellious streak.

Born in Passaic, Voinov moved to Clifton at the age

of twelve and attended Christopher Columbus Junior

High School. “It was a much bigger school than I was

used to for grammar school and it was overwhelming at

first,” Voinov said.

It was during this time that Voinov’s interest in science

began to develop, especially in Barbara Krebs’ biology

class. “She was a tough teacher,” Voinov said, laughing.

“She showed that science courses weren’t easy and would-

n’t be a cake-walk. It was definitely a challenge.” Today,

Krebs is one of Voinov’s customers at the pharmacy, but

refrains from quizzing him about biology now.

Once in CHS, Voinov realized although he was interest-

ed in medicine that he did not want to become a doctor. “No

one in the family was a pharmacist,” Voinov said, whose

father worked at Ford Motors and mother worked for a

sewing company. “It was just a decision I made myself.”

At CHS, Voinov developed a close group of eight

friends who would hang out together: Ken Snagusky,

Joe Gruberman, Reed Klutsaritz, Dennis Ditzig, Ralph

Pennella, Frank Leccese, Fred Kowal, and Tom Hundt.

“I remember the food fights,” Voinov reminisced. “I

never started them, but we had a couple doozys while I

was there. We also used to cut class for lunch and go

to Frill’s Subs on Van Houten.” Voinov remembers get-

ting back to school by going through backyards while

being chased by the police.

“We’d also cut class in senior year to go play tennis or

go down the shore.” Mr. Arthur Rupel, a physics teacher,

lasted only one year after teaching Voinov. “He was a

OUR WILD, COLONIAL BOY

CHS Class of 1971’s Walter Voinov


By Tania Jachens

Walter Diduch today and at left, during his wild youth.

good teacher in a difficult subject, but after our class, he

decided he wanted to go back into industry work,”

Voinov said, smiling.

Yet one of Voinov’s best memories is surprisingly

wholesome. “The ski trips to Vermont, organized by Mrs.

Drache, Cynthia’s mom, were a great deal of fun,”

Voinov said. “We’d get the bus in Clifton Plaza on Friday

evening, get there at night, ski Saturday and Sunday, and

come back Sunday night. For bus, room, and meals it

was about $65, which was a great deal back then.”

After graduation in 1971, Voinov roomed with his high

school buddy, Tom Hundt, at Rutgers’ College of

Pharmacy. While home on Spring Break in 1975, Voinov

was in the Main Clifton Library at the right time. “It was

a Friday afternoon and since I had been goofing off all

week with my friends, this was the first time I had opened

a book to study,” Voinov said. He saw a girl who had a yel-

low button on her pocketbook that said “I’m Proud to be

Ukrainian.” As a fellow Ukrainian, Voinov’s interest was

piqued and he asked her out to the movies on Saturday.

“And the rest is history,” Voinov concluded.

After graduating college in 1976, Voinov returned to

Clifton and married Mary Diduch on September 11,

1976. Together they lived in Saddle Brook, where their

son Alex was born, but then bought a home in Fairfield,

where their daughter Luba was born, and they have lived

there ever since. Voinov worked as a full time pharma-

cist at Rite Aid then Genovese (now Eckerd), but after a

few years realized that he wanted to own his own store.

“My brother-in-law, Walter Diduch, got the lead that

Colonial was for sale and we purchased it from Edward

Sudol in 1985,” Voinov explained. “It had been a pharmacy

since 1965, but was originally the old firehouse for this area

from the early 1900’s.” Colonial’s distinct white tower had

been used to string up and dry the hoses and, on Saturdays,

the building was used for social functions and dances.

To this day, Voinov still enjoys being a small busi-

ness owner. “You’re your own boss and can make your

own policy. You also get to know your patients and

clientele better,” Voinov said. “You can make changes

that need to be made, which is not always the most

pleasant thing, but it has to get done. Essentially, you

need to have the motivation to succeed.”

Open seven days a week, Colonial Pharmacy also

continues to be a family operation. “My son, Alex,

works here full-time as a pharmacist and my wife takes

care of the front-end of the store, where the cards and

gifts are,” Voinov said. Since running a small business

requires quite a bit of staffing, Voinov explains that

“having two owners involved is very beneficial in

keeping the business moving. While working with my

brother-in-law, we’re not stepping on each other’s toes.

The fact that someone can come in here and always

have an owner present is really great.”

Voinov used to work more hours at the pharmacy when

he was younger, but now he works fewer evenings. “In the

early days, it wasn’t unusual to stay from 8am to 10pm,

which were long days,” Voinov explains. “In business, you

get out of it what you put in.” Back in the day, Colonial

Pharmacy also had a team, composed mainly of

Ukrainians, in the North Jersey softball league. “We won

the championship in 1995,” Voinov said, proudly, “but then

everyone got older and had kids. Since family came first,

we pretty much stopped playing in 2002.”

As a pharmacist, Voinov enjoys that “time goes by


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quickly because every day is different, not a routine.

You feel like you help people, who can be very grate-

ful, and it’s this dealing with people that makes my job

interesting and rewarding.”

We all know Clifton has an overabundance of large

pharmacy chains, so what makes going to a small, local

pharmacy better?

“Just the fact that someone can see a familiar face,

get to know their pharmacist, get to know the staff, and

be very comfortable asking questions about both over-

the-counter stuff or prescriptions is really great,”

Voinov explained. “We also know the doctors in the

area and we stock special medication that these doctors

request. We’re able, should we not have something, to

have a driver pick up the medication somewhere else.

Since we usually have three to four pharmacists on duty

at once, we can fill prescriptions right away, so there’s

no wait like at bigger chains.”

Colonial Pharmacy also faces stiff competition from

mail order prescriptions. “People are losing their free-

dom to choose by being forced to mail away for pre-

scriptions,” Voinov explained. “Sometimes they want

you to change to a different drug because it’s cheaper.”

When asked about the future, Voinov said that “as

long as we’re healthy, able to have good staff, and pay

the bills, we’ll stay here.” In his free time, Voinov

enjoys spending time with the family, especially his

mother who still lives in Clifton and his granddaugh-

ters, Mikaela, Madeline, and Avery. He is very proud

of his daughter Luba, who is currently an anesthesiolo-

gist at Morris Memorial Hospital. Voinov also likes to

eat at the Hot Grill, root for NY Islanders hockey, and

go down to his shore house in Avalon.

Having gone to CHS’s 30 and 35 year reunions,

Voinov isn’t sure if he’ll be going to this year’s 40th

reunion. “It was such a big school and so people I didn’t

know at the time now come into the pharmacy and I meet

them that way.” Even so, hopefully this reunion will be

an opportunity for Voinov and friends to reminisce about

shenanigans of days gone by.


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By A. J. Sartor

Today, the 1980's are oftenclosely associated with onething: music. And for good

reason. Then-favorites like REO

Speedwagon, Diana Ross and Bruce

Springsteen were all over the air-

waves and dominating the Billboard

charts, and remain

classics today. But

Clifton High

School also had

some musical talent within its own

walls. The CHS Select Concert Band

which operated under the direction of

Mr. Robert Morgan. And not only did

these select, talented students make

the cut for the band itself, but some

went above and beyond this initial

recognition and were given the honor

of receiving a chair in the Region 1

Band, more commonly known as the

All-State Band. This included band

members Donna Siciliano, John

Judge, Mike Pazin, Nancy Lake, Jack

Titus and Rhonda Levine.

It was also a year for the theater

for Clifton students.

The high school's

Drama Club put on

an adaptation of the

hit TV series

M*A*S*H, casted

and directed by Mr.

Dennis Zahorian.

Students David

Saunders (Hawkeye),

John Ehrlich (Duke)

and Beth Mahon

(Hot Lips) were among the 29 total

students who got up on stage for the

performance. Not only was it a great

show, but it was for a good cause

too; a portion of the proceeds went

I WANT MY MTV/DISCO’S DEAD


Come Visit the

Boyhood of JesusVacation Bible SchoolJuly 11- 15, 6 to 8:15pm

Free But Please Call!First Presbyterian Church of Clifton303 Maplewood Ave • 973-523-1272

A look back at the 1981 prom thanks to Dawn and Emil Ihle.At right is Paula Basile with Jeff Angello.


towards new lighting equipment for future productions.

After a memorable night, the shows director further com-

plimented the cast saying without their cooperation, as

well as their talent, this “would not have been possible.”

At the helm of the sports scene that year were

Clifton's own Fighting Mustangs, led by co-captains

Garry Becker and Larry Weisal. They surpassed expec-

tations as they fought their way to a 8-1 final record.

Unfortunately, they were beaten in the first round of the

playoffs by then-rival Passaic Valley.

From left; Anita Goodlett, Brian Fopma, Diane Puleo, George and Steve Dolak, George Foukas, Herbert Krygsman

From left; Howie Rogers, Lou De Vita, Mark Nouhan, Mark Plishka, Matt Hanrahan, Richard De Marco, and Kelly Zecker


D r. Severin Palydowyczcredits his childhood andeducation in Clifton with

providing the tools necessary for

succeeding, both on the soccer field

and in the operating room.

The son of two educators,

Palydowycz was born in New Haven

and moved to Clifton because an

opportunity arose for his father to

become a teacher in the local school

system. He attended School 13 and

Woodrow Wilson, growing up in a

predominantly Slavic and Polish

neighborhood. “As a

youth, it was great

being surrounded by

so many households

and parents that real-

ly strove to ingrain

healthy life and study

ethics,” Palydowycz

said. “These were

first generation

households who saw

education as an opportunity for

advancement.”

Palydowycz also became the

neighborhood ring-

leader for organizing

soccer games.

“Historically, if you

look back at people

who went on to play

Division 1 soccer in

various leagues, many

of them came from my

neighborhood,” he

said, proudly. “At the

time, soccer was still a peripheral

sport at Clifton High. “There were no

leagues, no travel teams, no little

KNOWN ON THE PITCH,CALL HIM DOCTOR SOCCER

Severin Palydowycz now an Ophthalmologist


By Tania Jachens

Severin Palydowycz as heappeared in the 1981CHS yearbook. Above,Palydowycz in Haiti.


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league for soccer, but everyone

played baseball. Yet we played soc-

cer with a passion in school yards and

that’s how we excelled.”

His father was involved in the for-

mation of the original Clifton soccer

program at CHS in 1960’s. “Due to

his eastern European background,

soccer was very important, so he

scrounged for uniforms and searched

the hallways for people to fill the

team roster,” said Palydowycz.

Due to his impressive soccer tal-

ent, Palydowycz’s coach and family

friend gave him the opportunity to

play in Europe for a summer. In the

small town of Friane, he participated

in the summer tourney in the province

of Chieti, Italy. “It really helped

transform my skills to play on higher

competitive level,” Palydowycz

explained. “We would be playing

against incredibly high caliber players

and I had to fight to stay on the active

roster to compete with them.”

After high school, Palydowycz

was recruited to University of

Connecticut, but instead chose Brown

University. “It was the place to best

balance athletics, as well as an aca-

demic curriculum, which was

extremely rigorous and challenging,”

he said. While at Brown,

Palydowycz continued to excel at

soccer, never missing a game and

became captain of the team in his sen-

ior year when the team was ranked

10th nationally.

However, Palydowycz remained

focused on academics as well. “From

the first day of college, I knew I want-

ed to have the pre-med avenue avail-

able to me,” he said. “ I felt medicine

would offer the greatest opportunity

to do some social good as well as be

in a position to take charge of my own

destiny.”

After graduating from Brown with

a degree in biology and with honors

in organizational behavior and man-

agement, Palydowycz was drafted to

play soccer for a professional indoor

team in Texas.

“But then I got accepted to med-

ical school and thought that was a

much better career choice,”

Palydowycz said. He graduated

from UMDNJ (University of

Medicine and Dentistry of NJ) in

1989 and completed his ophthalmol-

ogy residency in 1993.

That same year, he founded Tri-

State Eye in Milford,


JULY

8The Apache Twins

15The Robert Ross

Band

22The MidnightRamblers

29Jimbeau

and the Retrocasters

AUGUST

5The FrostKings

12Rave On

19The Mike

Luipersbeck Band

26Sweeter than Honey

All concerts held rain or shine. In case of rain, concert will be moveindoors at the Italian American Coop on Parker Ave.

The Mike LuipersbeckBand

Sweeter than Honey

The Apache Twins

The Robert Ross Band

BOTANY Free Summer Friday Night

Concert SeriesHeld in Sullivan Square in the Heart ofBotany Village starting at 6:30PMBring a chair and your dancing shoes!

Friday night concerts funded, in part, by the PassaicCounty Cultural & Heritage Council / the NJ State Councilon the Arts / Department of State, a Partner Agency of the

National Endowment for the Arts.

Pennsylvania and at one point had four offices within New

Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, with a laser refractive

surgery in Riverdale, New Jersey. Presently, Tri-State Eye

can be found in Milford, PA and Middleton, NY.

“I wanted every decision to rest on my shoulders and

to guide the practice with my ideals of rendering a high

level of ophthalmologic care,” he said.

A surgical day can be “very intense and stressful

because you have someone’s eyesight in your hands,”

Palydowycz explained. “But this is the nature of eye sur-

gery, it has a high risk/reward ratio, where skill and pre-

cision are paramount.” Palydowycz’s most common sur-

gery is for cataracts, but he also performs various laser

surgeries for glaucoma and retinal disease.

Yet even with this busy schedule, Palydowycz still

makes charity work a priority. “During my entire career

I had always wanted to give back to those less fortunate,”

he explained, “but as a solo practitioner with two infants

at home, I was never able to do it.” Finally, after fourteen

years of working to establish his practice, the opportuni-

ty arose for Palydowycz to help in Haiti.

In the small town of La Miel in the mountainous

region near Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Palydowycz goes for

nine-day trips in order to diagnose and treat patients, per-

forming over forty pro bono surgeries each time. “It’s

exhausting and overwhelming because I work twelve to

seventeen hour days a day,” Palydowycz said, “but it’s

such a humbling experience that I don’t complain any-

more. It really makes you take stock and see how fortu-

nate we are in the States.”

“They come dressed in their Sunday best just to see a

doctor,” he said, adding that some patients will walk for

days to get treatment. “They expect so little because they

have so little, so anything you give them is viewed as gift

and obviously appreciated.”

While he is not in the office or donating his time in

Haiti, Palydowycz still enjoys playing sports, now prefer-

ing hockey over soccer. He also coaches his son and

daughter in soccer and hockey, and taught them skiing.

Palydowycz is also active in the PLAST Ukrainian

Scouting Organization.

While he is not in Clifton as often as he used to be,

Palydowycz still comes to visit with family and friends.

He will be attending the CHS ’81 reunion to catch up

with friends made in the classroom and on the field.

From playing soccer in a schoolyard to saving the eye-

sight of those in need, Dr. Palydowycz proves that with

hard work and determination, anything is possible.


Jimmy Sturr& his OrchestraPassaic’s Third Ward Parkcorner of Van Houten and Passaic Aves.

Free Concert Thursday, July 28, 7:30

Sponsors include Wawel Savings Bank, Polish & Slavic Federal CreditUnion, Garden State Honda, Congressman William Pascrell, State SenatorPaul Sarlo, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin,Sheriff Richard Berdnik, Rosol-Dul American Legion Post #359 and SlovakCatholic Sokol.This project is funded, in part by the Passaic County Cultural and HeritageCouncil at Passaic County Community College, through a grant from theNew Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department ofthe State, a partner agency of the NationalEndowment for the Arts. Park is Handicapped-Accessible.

Call Greg Komeshok for more info: 973- 473 - 5111Palydowycz with the late coach Fernando Rossi in 1981.


Luz Escobar’s life has come full

circle. The CHS Class of 1981

graduate recently returned to

live in her native Bogotá, Colombia,

after completing a successful career

with the Passaic County Probation

Department and Prosecutor’s Office.

Escobar immigrated to the

United States as a 10 year-old in

1974. She was brought here by her

aunt to join her parents, who had

come to the U.S. two years earlier

to seek a better life for themselves

and their children.

Her mother, also named Luz,

worked as a seamstress in the gar-

ment industry and her father,

Gabriel, had a job with a textile

company in Clifton.

The family also included

Escobar’s two brothers, Oscar and

Ricky, who stayed back in

Colombia for a few more years

after she was reunited with her par-

ents, but eventually came to join

them. A third brother, Gabe, was

born here in the U.S.

The family initially lived in

Passaic, where Escobar attended

Holy Trinity School from fifth

through eighth grades. When she

came to this country, she didn’t

speak any English,

but by the time she

finished sixth grade,

she was speaking

quite fluently.

“I got thrown

right in with all the

English speaking

kids, so I had to learn

quickly,” she said. “I

remember there was this girl,

Sarah, who was from Cuba, and she

helped me learn English.”

FROM COLOMBIA TO CLIFTONAND BACK

CHS Class of 1981’s Luz Escobar


By Carol Leonard

Luz Escobar in a recentphoto. At right is her photofrom the 1981 yearbook.


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Escobar also attended a speech

class on Saturdays to help her learn

the language. Her parents were

learning English at the same time,

attending classes in the evening, so

they all helped each other.

In 1976 Escobar’s parents bought

a house in the Botany Village section

of Clifton. After completing eighth

grade in parochial school, she

enrolled in the ninth grade at what

was then Christopher Columbus

Junior High.

“It was a big change for me,” she

said. “I went from a class of 24 to

this huge building with lots of kids.

It was quite daunting.”

The adjustment to her new

school was made easier for Escobar

when she decided to go out for the

girls basketball team. “I was very

much into sports,” she said.

After moving up to Clifton High

School, she continued her sports

career under the guidance of long

time varsity basketball coach Al

Carline.

“Coach Carline played a big role

in my life,” Escobar said. “He was

more than a coach to me. He was a

mentor and a good friend.”

The most memorable part of

playing basketball for Escobar was

the successful run the team had

during her senior year before suc-

cumbing to Ridgewood in the state

sectional final game.

For a number of years after gradu-

ation, she enjoyed returning to CHS

for the annual alumni game and see-

ing her former teammates and coach.

While many of Escobar’s high

school friendships revolved around

the basketball team, her two best

friends weren’t basketball players.

One of her first friendships in jun-

ior high was with Maureen Egan,

who was in Escobar’s homeroom.

“We really hit it off,” Escobar said.

She later met Jackie Festa, who

was a co-manager of the boys soccer

team with Egan, and the three spent a

lot of time together in high school.

“We all liked watching soccer so

we would go to the Cosmos games

at the Meadowlands,” she said.

“We also liked to hang out in

Brookdale Park and go to the Dairy

Queen on Main Ave. for ice cream.

I had a great time in high school.”

Following graduation from CHS,

Escobar enrolled at William

Paterson College (now William


Paterson University). To pay her

tuition and college expenses, she

continued her part-time high school

job at what was then the Grand

Union supermarket on the corner of

Allwood Rd. and Broad St.

After her second year of college,

though, she was dismissed from

William Paterson because of poor

grades.

“Unfortunately, I spent more

time partying and having fun than I

did studying,” she said. “I thought I

could get by just showing up, but

that didn’t cut it. It was a tough les-

son to learn.”

Knowing that she had to make a

living, Escobar took a second part-

time job working for UPS, loading

trucks from 11 pm to 2:30 am. It

was hard work, but it paid $12 an

hour, which at that time was a very

good salary.

After a year of just working,

Escobar knew that she had to get

back into school if she was ever

going to make something of herself.

She enrolled at Bergen

Community College and, after

completing her associate’s degree,

she re-enrolled at William Paterson

to study criminal justice. She

earned her bachelor’s degree in

1988.

“That was a big year for me,”

she said. “It was also the year that I

became a U.S. citizen and I started

working at the Passaic County

Probation Department.”

Escobar first worked as an

investigator for the Probation

Department and a year later was

promoted to probation officer, a

position she held for three years. In

the latter role, she had an opportu-

nity to interact with the Passaic

County Prosecutors Office on occa-

sions and she became very interest-

ed in the work of that department.

She pursued this interest and

was hired as a detective for the

Prosecutor’s Office in 1995. This

required her to attend the Division

of Criminal Justice Police

Academy for 12 weeks.

Her first assignment was with the

Special Victims Unit, where she

investigated cases of child and sexu-

al abuse. “It was very rewarding, but

also emotionally draining,” she said.

After three-and-a-half years with

the SVU, Escobar transferred into

the White Collar Crimes Unit,

where she dealt with cases of fraud

and corruption. She stayed in that

unit for four years before moving

on to her last assignment with the

Narcotics unit.

“That was the most fun,” she

said. “It was very intense, but also

very interesting. We did a lot of

surveillance work and wire taping,

and I had a chance to work with

different agencies.”

One of her most memorable

cases involved working with the

Clifton Police Department on a

case last year that uncovered a pre-

scription drug ring in which more

than 70 people were arrested.

Escobar was also certified

through the Prosecutor’s Office as

an instructor for new detectives in

the department. She went on to

receive a master’s degree in educa-

tion from Seton Hall University.

When her parents divorced a

number of years ago, Escobar’s

mother eventually returned to live

in Colombia.

With enough years in to qualify

for a pension, Escobar decided this

year to apply for early retirement

from the Prosecutor’s Office and

go back to live in Colombia. It will

enable her to be with her mother

and to pick up on a love relation-

ship she developed while visiting

her mom over the years. She also

hopes to take some more graduate

courses and to teach criminal jus-

tice or English in a university.

“I’m looking forward to starting a

new career and a new life,” she said.

Lady Mustangs in 1981, rear from left: Donna Perretta, Amy Jandura, Capt. LuzEscobar, Maura Honan, Maureen Miller and Coach Carline. front: SueStockinger, Capt. Lynn Massenzio, Capt. Sue Stein and Diana Less.


Five years after finishing high

school, Stefan Kalinka

packed his bags, took a small

stash of money that he had been sav-

ing and headed to Los Angeles to

pursue his dream of an acting career.

Thirty years later, the CHS Class of

1981 grad describes a life in which

he has combined his passion for per-

forming, with his talent in fine arts

and his interest in health and fitness.

Over the years,

Kalinka has

appeared in films

with Hollywood

notables Danny DeVito and Kathy

Bates, and among his TV roles were

stints on China Beach with Dana

Delaney. He also has had numerous

stage roles in Los Angeles theater,

and recently completed a pilot for a

new television series.

Although he doesn’t get back to

New Jersey very often, Kalinka

enjoys reminiscing about his days

growing up on Campbell Ave. in the

Athenia section, where he lived in a

two-family home with his parents,

May and Alfred, sisters Mary and

Kim, and brother Eddie. His aunt,

uncle and cousins lived upstairs, and

his grandmother and another aunt

lived next door.

It was pretty much a storybook

life of neighborhood games of kick-

ball and wiffleball, and just hanging

out with his friends,

siblings and cousins.

While growing up,

Kalinka was always

doing something cre-

ative like painting or

drawing, and he even

won a 10-speed bike in

the Kelloggs Stick Up

for Breakfast poster

contest.

“I loved music and

art, and I liked to decorate our house

for Halloween and Christmas,” he

said.

Like most kids, Kalinka looked

forward every year to the carefree

days of summer, when he would be

outside from morning to night.

FROM BACKYARD CARNIVALS TOTHE GLITZ OF HOLLYWOOD

CHS Class of 1981’s Stefan Kalinka


By Carol Leonard

CHS ‘81 alumStefan Kalinkamakes his livingas an actor. Heis pictured hereas Prince Valiant.Below, as heappeared in theCHS yearbook.

“I couldn’t wait for the summer

to come,” he said. “I would put

together carnivals and invite every-

one to come over.”

Kalinka attended School 13 and

what was then Woodrow Wilson

Junior High before moving up to the

high school.

Like many young teens, he found

his junior high school years to be an

awkward time, in which he often was

the victim of teasing and bullying.

“As soon as I got into 10th grade

and went up to the high school,

things changed for me,” he said. “I

made really good friendships and I

started to blossom.”

Kalinka credits his drama

teacher, Dennis Zahorian, now a stu-

dent assistance counselor for the

school district, with helping him

find his niche as an actor.

“He was very tough, but he

instilled a sense of disci-

pline in me that you need

if you want to go into the

field,” he said. “I really

learned a lot from him.

He was the best director

that I have ever had.”

Kalinka recalled that

he landed a role in the

first play that he audi-

tioned for at the high school. It was

a called Jabberwock and it depicted

the life of author and playwright

James Thurber.

“It was a wacky comedy,” he

said. “That’s when I met my very

best friend in the whole world.”

Kalinka was referring to Nancy

Bartlett, who still lives in town and is a

designer for her family’s longtime flo-

ral and garden business on Grove

Street. She played the role of Kalinka’s

character’s mother in the show.

Bartlett is one of the few mem-

bers of his class with whom Kalinka

has kept in close touch over the

years, and he always stays with the

Bartlett family when comes back to

visit Clifton.

In his senior year, Kalinka got the

lead role in Tinnacle, a musical writ-

ten by classmates John Ehrlich and

Nancy Pekar.

“It was a wonderful show,” he

said. “John wrote all the music.”

He speaks very fondly of his good

friend, Ehrlich, who went on to attend

Yale University and become a

Broadway composer. Kalinka doesn’t

see him often, but surprisingly ran

into to him when Ehrlich was in LA a

couple of times.

“It was great to get

together with him,”

Kalinka said. “We picked

up right where we left off

in high school.”

In addition to his

involvement in theater,

Kalinka sang in the high

school choir and was a

member of the Madrigal

Singers at CHS, and he enjoyed

traveling with the choir to Bermuda

and New Orleans.

“It was a magical time for me,”

he said of his high school years.

He also keeps in touch with Joyce

Arlook, his guidance counselor at

CHS, who helped launch his acting

career by introducing him to stage

and screen star Olympia Dukakis.

Arlook took Kalinka to see a


a

a

d

d

t

k

r

n

n

r

d

d

From left at CHS, Stefan Kalinka, Dave Jackson and Dave Saunders. Below,Kalinka is pictured with Dana Delany on the set of China Beach.


play at the Whole Theater Company

in Montclair and introduced him to

her famous actress friend. Dukakis

offered Kalinka a scholarship to

attend the summer theater program

at the company, which she helped

found, and later directed him in a

show in which he performed.

After graduation from CHS in

June 1981, Kalinka enrolled in the

acting and directing program at

Montclair State University, appear-

ing in seven stage plays. After two

years of attending college, he

dropped out and decided to pursue

other avenues for his acting career.

He consulted with Dukakis and

she suggested some top acting

coaches in New York City for him

to contact. In 1983 he began study-

ing with a private coach who had

trained some of the top models and

actors in the city, including Kathy

Ireland, Sela Ward and Corbin

Bernsen.

To help support himself while he

studied acting, Kalinka worked a

variety of jobs for about three years,

including bussing tables and doing

construction work.

“I even had a stint as the Easter

Bunny at the mall to help pay for my

acting classes,” he said.

His three years studying in New

York provided Kalinka with an

opportunity to meet interesting peo-

ple in the acting business and to work

on his confidence and self-esteem.

“It gave me a chance to learn

from those with more experience

and others who were better than

me,” he said. “I learned what it was

to have focus and drive, and that’s

very important in this business.”

By 1986 Kalinka decided to

move to LA to seek work in televi-

sion and films.

“I had no connections, I didn’t

know anybody there and I was real-

ly nervous,” he said. “Everything I

knew was back at home. But it was

a pretty cool thing for a skinny kid

from New Jersey to be there where

all the action was.”

Much to his surprise, Kalinka

was chosen for the first part for

which he auditioned. It was a role in

a documentary about teenage sui-

cide, which won a Los Angeles Area

Emmy Award. To prepare for the

part, Kalinka actually went to a teen

suicide prevention center to inter-

view the clients and staff and learn

more about the issue.

Kalinka went on to replace an actor

who had the lead role in a gritty prison

drama called The Cage. The original

actor decided to leave the show just

days before it was set to open.

“I went from being the brand new

understudy to having the lead, with

67 pages of dialogue to remember in

three days,” Kalinka said.

“Somehow, with a lot of luck and

shear will, I did it.”

The opening scene was of

Kalinka’s character being stripped

searched by the female jail warden.

“This was in front of all the major

critics, including one from the Los

Angeles Times,” he said. “Welcome

to Hollywood!”

Kalinka’s performance made the

cover of the LA Times entertain-

ment section and caught the atten-

tion of an agent in the audience who

helped him land the role in China

Beach as well as parts in the late

1980s hit TV series,

Thirtysomething, and some soap

opera roles. More recently, he

appeared in the 2006 film, Relative

Strangers, starring DeVito and

Bates, and he also has done a lot of

theater work in the LA area.

Like many actors who have gone

to Hollywood hoping to make it big,

Kalinka found the experience to have

its ups and downs. “It’s a wacky, ran-

dom kind of life,” he said.

While some of his roles were

financially very lucrative, others were

not and he came to realize that his

bills needed to be paid in order to live.

In 1994 he decided to put his pas-

sion for art to work by starting a

small business called How Nice?

Greeting Card Company. Using dif-

ferent materials, he hand designs

each custom-made card.

“Over the years, I’ve made and

sold over 75,000 handmade greeting

At left is Kalinka in Relative Strangers, with Beverly D’Angelo. At right, he ispictured with Farrah Fawcett.

SIBLINGDISCOUNT


cards to many retail stores, includ-

ing Nordstrom’s,” he said.

Around the same time that he

started his greeting card company,

Kalinka also put his growing inter-

est and knowledge of health and

wellness to use by becoming a fit-

ness and nutrition consultant for pri-

vate clients.

Another of his ventures has been

as a liquidator for estate sales. “I

have this ability to sell,” he said. “I

know how to turn people’s items

into cash.”

Kalinka feels that all of his work

experiences have added to the

dimensions of his life. “All these

offshoots that I been involved in

represent humanity in different

forms,” he said. “They have helped

me become a better actor.”

Having a chance to work with

some of the entertainment world’s

most well known actors and actress-

es has been very exciting for

Kalinka. But meeting Farrah

Fawcett when he was just 23 years-

old was the thrill of his lifetime.

First known for her 1970s TV

role in Charlie Angels, the late

actress later appeared to high

acclaim in Extremities, an off-

Broadway stage show.

“I was in an acting class and I

read that she was going to be in

Extremities,” Kalinka said. “Ever

since I was a kid, I just loved her.

She was my idol, so I knew I had to

go see her.”

Kalinka had tickets for opening

night and he took the liberty to send

Fawcett three roses.

While at the show, he saw

Fawcett’s parents sitting in the audi-

ence. He recognized them from a

photo he had seen in a gossip column.

“I just went up to them, intro-

duced myself and told them how

much I admired their daughter,” he

said. “They brought me back stage

to meet her. I couldn’t believe it. She

was so gracious.”

Kalinka told Fawcett that he had

sent her three roses and she replied,

“oh, you mean those,” pointing to

the flowers and thanking him for the

gesture.

“I walked back to Port Authority

on a cloud,” Kalinka said. “I

remember thinking that no one is

going to believe me about this.”

Over the years in LA, Kalinka

had a chance to encounter Fawcett

on a number of other occasions and

he attended her funeral when she

passed away of cancer in 2009.

Today, Kalinka is trying to focus

on his acting career again. He

recently played the role of Prince

Valiant in a stage play in Santa

Monica, and he’s hopeful that the

TV pilot that he had a role in will

turn into a successful series. For

now, he is sworn to secrecy about

the details of the new show.

• Infant & Toddler Program • Precious 2’s• Pre-School & Pre-K Program • Open 7 am to 6 pm• Weekly Chapel

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• When public schools are closed, we’re open!

• 19 Teachers & Aides — Many here over 20 years!

• This Fall: After-School Pick-Up at School 5

By A. J. Sartor

For some, the year 1991brings up memories of tech-nology. It was in that year

that the internet was made available

for unrestricted commercial use,

eventually reaching one million

computers on the net later that year.

Few in CHS cared then,

but 20 years later, most

alum actively use it for

its intended purpose:

Facebook, networking

for the reunion and

dredging up old photos

and memories.

Speaking of memo-

ries, does anyone

remember what they

were thinking when they

voted for Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby

as best song for the yearbook?

Students did make some tasteful

choices in The Simpsons and

Michael Jordan for best TV and

athlete show respectively.

Seniors that year were governed

by Class President Mike Frappier,

Vice-Pres ident

Mike Lombardo,

Treasurer Matt

Guzzo, Recording

Secretary Josh

Rosenberg and Corresponding

Secretary Jennifer Liss.

The year 1991 was also a mem-

orable for many Mustang sports

teams.

The girls cross-country team fin-

ished with an 11-2 record, and with

the help of second-team All-County

stars Jen Swan and Kristin Pelcher,

they finished 2nd in the league as

well as in the county standings.

The boys cross-country team,

although with a less glamorous 8-5

record, also managed to fight their

way to 3rd in the league.

Finishing with a 13-7-3 record,

the boys soccer team also had a

season they could be proud of with

wins over state-ranked Montclair

and Bergen Catholic. Captain Pat

Lucignani and Joe Grczek were

From left; Thomas DeVita, Ettalee Harris, Maher Fattah, James Federle, Christine Gaccione, Gary Young and Wendi Kropinak

1991: THEDAWNOFTHE INTERNET1991

Above is Jessica Gulardo and Jason Riley. At left is LouFraulo and his daughter, Sarah.



By A. J. Sartor

For some, the year 1991brings up memories of tech-nology. It was in that year

that the internet was made available

for unrestricted commercial use,

eventually reaching one million

computers on the net later that year.

Few in CHS cared then,

but 20 years later, most

alum actively use it for

its intended purpose:

Facebook, networking

for the reunion and

dredging up old photos

and memories.

Speaking of memo-

ries, does anyone

remember what they

were thinking when they

voted for Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby

as best song for the yearbook?

Students did make some tasteful

choices in The Simpsons and

Michael Jordan for best TV and

athlete show respectively.

Seniors that year were governed

by Class President Mike Frappier,

Vice-Pres ident

Mike Lombardo,

Treasurer Matt

Guzzo, Recording

Secretary Josh

Rosenberg and Corresponding

Secretary Jennifer Liss.

The year 1991 was also a mem-

orable for many Mustang sports

teams.

The girls cross-country team fin-

ished with an 11-2 record, and with

the help of second-team All-County

stars Jen Swan and Kristin Pelcher,

they finished 2nd in the league as

well as in the county standings.

The boys cross-country team,

although with a less glamorous 8-5

record, also managed to fight their

way to 3rd in the league.

Finishing with a 13-7-3 record,

the boys soccer team also had a

season they could be proud of with

wins over state-ranked Montclair

and Bergen Catholic. Captain Pat

Lucignani and Joe Grczek were

From left; Chris Anzaldi, Kevin Colavitti, Kevin Collucci, Michele Cox, David Martin, Joseph DeAndrea and Wayne DemikoffFrom left; Thomas DeVita, Ettalee Harris, Maher Fattah, James Federle, Christine Gaccione, Gary Young and Wendi Kropinak

1991: THEDAWNOFTHE INTERNET

Above is Jessica Gulardo and Jason Riley. At left is LouFraulo and his daughter, Sarah.


From left; John Lesler, Lori LoGioco, Monique Marco, Frances Pecorelli, Andrea Pekaar, Jodi Peveler and Andrew Ponikowski

selected to 1st Team All-League,

County, and State. Andreas

Skounakis was named to second-

team on all three.

The boys basketball team had a

attention-grabbing season as well.

Although they finished with only a

.500 record, they had done so for

the first time in over a decade.

Led by 1st Team All-County

selection Sammy Poulis, who aver-

aged 24 points per game, the boys

basketball squad also defeated rival

Kennedy High School for the first

time in 15 years.

From left is Steve Corrubias and Kari Hemerick (best dressed), Chris Ognek (most versatile) and Judi Chi and JohnathanAlboum (future Millionaires)



Many events took placein 1991 in the world,but for Clifton High

School graduate Danielle Day, the

world was a place full of opportuni-

ties after high school.

Day, daughter of Denise and

Billy Maurer, saw blue skies filled

with promise and opportunity. “I

attended Bergen Community

College majoring in Early

Childhood Education and Montclair

State University where I earned my

CDA Credential,” said Beazley.

Danielle Day married

Christopher Beazley who

was also a CHS graduate.

They didn’t know each

other during high school,

but they met at Casey’s,

which is now Bliss Lounge

on Allwood Road. “We will

be celebrating 10 years of

marriage in June,” said

Danielle. Currently

Christopher Beazley works

as a capacity planner for

GAF Materials Corporation in

Wayne. This company is North

America’s largest manufacturer of

residential roofing and commercial

roofing (sold under the GAF

brand).

One of

Danielle Day

Beazley’s goals

in life was being a mother. She has

two children: Christopher, 7, and

Mackenzie, 4.

“Christopher is 7 and in the first

grade at Memorial School in

Totowa. He is a bright and active

and is a straight A student,” said

Beazley. “Christopher has a love of

video games, skiing, and is a sports

fanatic. He plays football, hockey,

and baseball.”

Mackenzie attends Grove Hill

Nursery School in Clifton. “She is

very bright and extremely curious.

Mackenzie is your typical little

THE HARDEST JOBIN THEWORLD

CHS Class of 1991’s Danielle Day Beazley

1991

At left is Danielle Day Beazley in 1991. She is picturedabove with her husband, Christopher, son, Christopher,Jr. and daughter Mackenzie.


By Chrissie Cluney


girl,” said Beazley. “She loves

playing dress up and shopping with

Mommy. She is also very artistic

and enjoys coloring, painting, and

drawing.”

Beazley had an early experience

in caring for children with her sister,

Ashley Maurer, who is 11 years

younger. “I feel that she has had a

lot of practice “raising” me,” said

Maurer. “She is a fantastic mother

and by far the best sister I could

ever ask for.”

Beazley said her only complaint

is the lack of free time. “The hard-

est thing is finding time for me.

Being a stay at home mom is a 24

hour 7 day a week full time job. I

can’t call out sick or go in late.

There are no vacations or personal

days with this job,” she explained.

“Many people think that stay at

home moms sit around all day that

is so not true. My day starts at 6 am

and never ends. The benefits are so

worth it though!”

Beazley enjoys having the ability

to see her children frequently. “I

drive my kids to school and I am

here for them when they come

home. I have the opportunity to

volunteer for school activities when

needed,” she said. “I feel very

lucky and fortunate to be a stay at

home mom and I would not give it

up for the world.”

Being a stay at home mom also

affords Beazley the opportunity to

help assist her parents. Beazley’s

father, Billy Maurer, has had

Multiple Myeloma which is cancer

of the blood since 2005 and since

then he has also had two strokes.

Beazley and a family take her father

to each physical therapy appoint-

ment.

Looking back on her time in

Clifton High School she said, “My

fondest memories are the times I

spent with friends. CHS is a large

school with a lot of students. It is

easy to get lost in the crowd. I felt

lucky to have the group of friends I

did and cherish those memories.”

During those high school years,

Beazley wishes she stood up for

herself more and not let others put

her down. “The main thing I could

say is going to CHS taught me to

speak up more and not let others put

me down. CHS is such a large

school and quiet ones like me were

never heard. Now when I have

something to say I say it and people

hear me,” said Danielle.

“I think I have changed for the

better. In high school I was very

quiet and kept to myself. I had a

small group of friends and still have

some of those friends today. I am

more outspoken now and fight for

what I believe in,” said Beazley.

It is her hope that her own kin

believe in the same mentality. “I

have learned to always do the right

thing regardless of what others are

doing and that is something I pass

on to my own children,” said

Beazley. “My hope and dreams for

my children is that they grow up

and achieve everything they set out

to. I want them to have opportuni-

ties I never have and do not want

them to regret anything in life. I

hope they show the world what hap-

pens when you set your mind to

something,”

Among all of the descriptive

titles Danielle Day Beazley has: a

wife, daughter, sister, and friend;

the greatest title in the world to

Beazley is that of mother. “I am a

proud mom” said Danielle.

Many events took placein 1991 in the world,but for Clifton High

School graduate Danielle Day, the

world was a place full of opportuni-

ties after high school.

Day, daughter of Denise and

Billy Maurer, saw blue skies filled

with promise and opportunity. “I

attended Bergen Community

College majoring in Early

Childhood Education and Montclair

State University where I earned my

CDA Credential,” said Beazley.

Danielle Day married

Christopher Beazley who

was also a CHS graduate.

They didn’t know each

other during high school,

but they met at Casey’s,

which is now Bliss Lounge

on Allwood Road. “We will

be celebrating 10 years of

marriage in June,” said

Danielle. Currently

Christopher Beazley works

as a capacity planner for

GAF Materials Corporation in

Wayne. This company is North

America’s largest manufacturer of

residential roofing and commercial

roofing (sold under the GAF

brand).

One of

Danielle Day

Beazley’s goals

in life was being a mother. She has

two children: Christopher, 7, and

Mackenzie, 4.

“Christopher is 7 and in the first

grade at Memorial School in

Totowa. He is a bright and active

and is a straight A student,” said

Beazley. “Christopher has a love of

video games, skiing, and is a sports

fanatic. He plays football, hockey,

and baseball.”

Mackenzie attends Grove Hill

Nursery School in Clifton. “She is

very bright and extremely curious.

Mackenzie is your typical little

THE HARDEST JOBIN THEWORLD

CHS Class of 1991’s Danielle Day Beazley


By Chrissie Cluney

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ALWAYS LISTENTO YOUR MOTHER

Lori Ann Lo Gioco 1991


By Joe Hawrylko

COLOR Lori Ann Lo Gioco grew upthinking she wanted to bejust like her dad, former

Clifton Police Chief Frank Lo

Gioco. But after graduating from

the University of Maryland with a

degree in criminal justice and psy-

chology, the CHS 1991 alum had a

change of heart. She left the field

all together to pursue a career

in medicine.

“Oddly enough, my moth-

er always told me I should be

a nurse,” laughed Lo Gioco,

an oncology RN who will be

returning to school later this

year for advanced degrees.

“I never listened to her.

Always listen to your moth-

er. She’s always right!”

Like criminal justice, the

allure in medicine was the ability to

help others. But unlike her previ-

ous job, Lo Gioco no longer had to

see the ugly side of the human race.

“I was working for a criminal

attorney and just found that my

heart wasn’t in it at all,” she said.

“I had come from college and had

an opportunity to work for a crimi-

nal lawyer. I was very unhappy

there. I have too much heart to lis-

ten to the horror stories. I really

didn’t know

what direction I

was going in.”

Looking for a change, Lo Gioco

began researching options in the

medical field and planned on going

into nursing. To help get her start-

ed, Lo Gioco’s father, Frank, spoke

with Steven LePuff of the

Immedicenter to see if there was

openings for part time work so his

daughter could see if the medical

profession better suited her tastes.

“The Immedicenter is what

paved the road for me to follow a

career in the medical profession,”

she said. “It didn’t happen right

away. Once I started advocating

for patients by doing insurance

pre-certifications, I became

involved with patients and their

stories of illness. I got really inter-

ested in it.”

Lo Gioco, who received her

associates in nursing from Bergen

Community College in 2005,

worked at the Broad St. health clin-

ic from 1995 until 1999, when she

left for another practice in Verona.

“It was a hematology and oncol-

Above is Lori Ann Lo Gioco and her fiance, Todd Zayatz.At left is Lo Gioco as she appeared in the 1991 CHSRotunda.

ogy practice, and that’s where I

really discover that I love oncolo-

gy,” she said.

“A lot of people have a difficult

time understanding why I do what I

do. Despite the fact that oncology

patients are often at the end of the

road and very ill, the fact that you

can really make a profound differ-

ence in their lives when they need it

the most is so rewarding to me,”

explained Lo Gioco. “Just to ease

their suffering, give them an ear

when they need someone to talk to,

hold their hand to lessen their fears

and educate them about the dying

process is one of the most reward-

ing things in the world. You sit by

someone’s side and allow them to

die with dignity.”

In January, Lo Gioco will return

to school to pursue her bachelors at

Felician College. However, before

that, she will be getting married on

November 11 at 11 am to Todd

Zayatz, a CHS 1992 alumni.

“We met when I was in the first

grade and he was in kindergarten,”

she said. “We would say hello to

each other when we passed each

other by, but never any in depth

conversation between us. But

we’ve found that we’ve really cir-

cled each other our whole lives. “

There were some odd coinci-

dences that linked the pair as well.

At the 1991 prom, Lo Gioco had to

get a last second dress from the

store. “So I go to prom and—the

horror—there’s another girl wear-

ing the same dress as I!” she

recalled. The girl’s date happened

to be Todd, who was attending as a

junior. That was just one of many

memories the two talked about

after reconnecting on Facebook in

Nov. 2009.

“We chatted for a better part of

two or three hours and said this is

silly, why don’t we meet up?” she

recalled. “The rest is history.”


Lori Ann Lo Gioco grew upthinking she wanted to bejust like her dad, former

Clifton Police Chief Frank Lo

Gioco. But after graduating from

the University of Maryland with a

degree in criminal justice and psy-

chology, the CHS 1991 alum had a

change of heart. She left the field

all together to pursue a career

in medicine.

“Oddly enough, my moth-

er always told me I should be

a nurse,” laughed Lo Gioco,

an oncology RN who will be

returning to school later this

year for advanced degrees.

“I never listened to her.

Always listen to your moth-

er. She’s always right!”

Like criminal justice, the

allure in medicine was the ability to

help others. But unlike her previ-

ous job, Lo Gioco no longer had to

see the ugly side of the human race.

“I was working for a criminal

attorney and just found that my

heart wasn’t in it at all,” she said.

“I had come from college and had

an opportunity to work for a crimi-

nal lawyer. I was very unhappy

there. I have too much heart to lis-

ten to the horror stories. I really

didn’t know

what direction I

was going in.”

Looking for a change, Lo Gioco

began researching options in the

medical field and planned on going

into nursing. To help get her start-

ed, Lo Gioco’s father, Frank, spoke

with Steven LePuff of the

Immedicenter to see if there was

openings for part time work so his

daughter could see if the medical

profession better suited her tastes.

“The Immedicenter is what

paved the road for me to follow a

career in the medical profession,”

she said. “It didn’t happen right

away. Once I started advocating

for patients by doing insurance

pre-certifications, I became

involved with patients and their

stories of illness. I got really inter-

ested in it.”

Lo Gioco, who received her

associates in nursing from Bergen

Community College in 2005,

worked at the Broad St. health clin-

ic from 1995 until 1999, when she

left for another practice in Verona.

“It was a hematology and oncol-

Todd Zayatz, CHS 1992.

2001 SENIORS DOMINATE SPORTS2001


By A. J. Sartor

In 2000, Clifton was perhaps best known for itssoccer program in the high school sporting world.

However, by the end of the winter, the Clifton Ice

Hockey Team had established itself not only as a top pro-

gram in the school, but in the entire state of New Jersey.

With their captivating run through the year earning

fans in and outside of Clifton, Clifton marched to a 17-

6-2 record under the direction of Captain Marcin

Dziubek and head coach Tom Danko. And while the

team’s regular season record was certainly impressive

From left; Mike Ponikowski, Erin Burke, Kim Puleo, Danielle Swede, Chelsea Melilo, Gina Grosso and Rose Castaldo.

Seniors on the Clifton High School ice hockey team had a thrilling final season, as the team won the public school StateChampionship with a win over Bayonne 2-1

From left; Chris Sadowski, Chelsea Blasko, Chamise McGlashan, Matt Stuart, Rachel Franken, Scott Liloia and Will Morton.



2001 SENIORS DOMINATE SPORTS


By A. J. Sartor

In 2000, Clifton was perhaps best known for itssoccer program in the high school sporting world.

However, by the end of the winter, the Clifton Ice

Hockey Team had established itself not only as a top pro-

gram in the school, but in the entire state of New Jersey.

With their captivating run through the year earning

fans in and outside of Clifton, Clifton marched to a 17-

6-2 record under the direction of Captain Marcin

Dziubek and head coach Tom Danko. And while the

team’s regular season record was certainly impressive

From left; Mike Ponikowski, Erin Burke, Kim Puleo, Danielle Swede, Chelsea Melilo, Gina Grosso and Rose Castaldo.

Seniors on the Clifton High School ice hockey team had a thrilling final season, as the team won the public school StateChampionship with a win over Bayonne 2-1

for the unheralded squad, it was Clifton’s post season run

that turned heads. Clifton rode the tides of momentum

in the tournament and emerged as New Jersey State

Public School Champs with an upset victory over rival

Bayonne by the score of 2-1. When asked what made

that year so special, Head Coach Tom Danko attributed

the success to “Hard work, consistency, communication

and support.”

Falling just short of the same feat that year was the

girls tennis team. With the guidance of Head Coach

Chad Cole, captains Ashley Tomesko, Eva Salerno and

Sangitha Desai led the team to a 12-5 overall record

while finishing 2nd overall in the Passaic County

Tournament. The Boys Basketball Team also had a sur-

prise season that year. Though they ended the regular

season with a 13-14 record, the team qualified for States

and were led to the State Sectional Semi Finals by Senior

Captain Doug Barger. It was the furthest Clifton had

gone since 1974, according to coach Pete Vasil.

Budding thespians of Clifton High re-enacted the

musical comedy Pippin in 2001. Lead Player Renee

Schnaidt and Scott Liloia (Pippin) put on a brilliant per-

formance and left the audience not only admiring the

cast and crew’s dedication, but also their talent.

The year 2001 was also the last time that West Wing

Vice Principal Michael Chomiak roamed the hall ways.

Chomiak retired at the end of the school year after 33

years of service. Although a sad occasion for many, we

can assume that Mr. Chomiak went out happy and on his

own terms; for when he was asked what song seemed

like it was written specifically for him, he responded

with “I did it my way” by Frank Sinatra.

At the CHS Prom, Janyn Vega and Mike Ricca, Priscilla Santos and friends at the Skylands Ballroom and some unidenti-fied members of the gymnastics squad.

From left; Chris Sadowski, Chelsea Blasko, Chamise McGlashan, Matt Stuart, Rachel Franken, Scott Liloia and Will Morton.

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Death and destruction iswhat we do everyday.”Such is life for a freelance

photographer Christopher Sadowski

on the night time beat for the NewYork Post, smack in the heart of the

Big Apple, the world’s largest and

most competitive media market.

“There’s something about the city

at night... it’s romantic in a way,”

said Sadowski. “You’re document-

ing death and destruction, but I try to

do it in a way where it’s art. I don’t

like taking pictures of dead bodies.”

The odd hours, tight deadlines

and unsettling scenes make this a job

not coveted by many.

But for Sadowski, who

grew up fascinated with

the media, it’s a dream

come true.

“You’re driving into

the city and you don’t

know if you’re going to

a double homicide or

trying to get a photo of

Christie Brinkley out-

side of her place,” he

said. “You never, never

know what you’re gonna do.”

When he first envisioned himself

working in the media 10 years ago,

Sadowski had a much different goal:

writing. His first gig was at this

publication,

where Sadowski was instrumental in

the development of Clifton Teen, a

limited publication geared to local

students. Sadowski’s work later

earned him a scholarship as he set

off for Caldwell College in 2001.

Originally majoring in journal-

ism, he eventually transfered to

Montclair, where he received his

degree in communications.

Sadowski also began to focus

WRITING THE FIRST DRAFTOF HISTORY

CHS Class of 2001’s Chris Sadowski


By Joe Hawrylko

Christopher Sadowski in 2001 and today in NYC.


more on photography, gradually

building a portfolio while doing

work for weekly publications in

Passaic, Bergen and Essex. It was

during his college years that

Sadowski had his big break.

“Martha Stuart was being sen-

tenced for the stock scam and the

day before, one of the weeklies in

Essex County threw out the idea of

me going out where to shoot it,” said

Sadowski. “I think they were paying

about $25. I scoffed at the idea, it’s

not worth it, but then I said let me

give it a shot.”

Sensing an opportunity, Sadowski

called around to bigger dailies and

wire services to see if he could sell

the photo elsewhere.

“I called the AP and the lady liter-

ally laughed,” he recalled. “She

said, ‘Do you think I’m not going to

have anybody on this? I have seven

people on this?”

Of all the outlets he called,

Sadowski only received interest

from the New York Post, which told

him to return if he lands anything

unique. “I didn’t think I had a chance

in hell,” he laughed.

Sadowski almost didn’t even have

a chance to take the shot. NYC cops

set up a waiting area for press to

await Stuart, and the officers were

going through to filter out members

without New York City press passes.

On assignment from Essex County,

Sadowski figured his journey was

over already.

“I hear his voice go down the line,

‘you’re good, you’re good, you’re

good,” he recalled. “Then I hear his

voice pass me.”

Shortly after, Stuart walked out,

with Sadowski placed near the rear

of the rabid pack of veteran photog-

raphers. However, she suddenly

decided to go on the other side of the

barricade, meaning Sadowski now

found himself in prime real estate for

an unobstructed shot.

“I called into the Post to say I got

these photos and they told me to park

out front,” he recalled. “The editor

came down and I show him the pic-

ture on my laptop, which is on the

trunk of my car. He sees my plates

and goes, ‘Oh, you’re from Jersey?

We need people in Jersey.’”

Within a week, Sadowski was out

on New Jersey assignment for the

New York Post. With each success-

ful shoot, he gained the trust of his

editors and earned more steady

hours, eventually making his way to

the night time beat.

“Maybe they need you to find a

person and sit in front of their house

for a stakeout, or you come in and just

listen on the police scanner,” he

explained. He sometimes brushes

shoulders with some highly influen-

tial people: Barack Obama, Bill

Clinton, Chris Christie and others.

“I was taking photos a couple feet

away from Paul McCartney last

month,” he said. “This is a guy my

mom idolized, I still listen to The

Beatles and here I am in his pres-

ence. That is insane.”

But despite the enthusiasm, he

admits that the job is not always

glamourous or fun. Sadowski has

been berated and chased from scenes

by news subjects bothered by the

presence of outsiders from the

media. Dealing with police can

sometimes be difficult. The long

wait just to get a few photos of the

darker side of New York City can

take a toll as well. “The stress can be

there too,” added Sadowski, who

rigged his car as a mobile office.

“You’re waiting for a photo and the

photo materializes. Now you have

to remember there’s a deadline.”

But the end result makes it worth-

while. “The greatest thing is when

you open a newspaper and see your

name and photo in print,” said

Sadowski. “The newspaper is going

to be archived. You’re writing the first

draft of history. You just can’t beat

that. It’s going to be around long after

you’re gone.”

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FOLLOWING IN HERFATHER’S FOOTSTEPSCHS Class of 2001’s Angelina Tirado


By Joe Hawrylko

A ngelina Tirado remem-bers how nervous she waswhen she first decided to

follow her father’s footsteps and

pursue a career as a fire fighter.

“I didn’t tell any family mem-

bers. I didn’t tell anybody at all,”

she recalled. Tirado’s father,

Alberto, a Passaic Firefighter, died

in a blaze while trying to save some

children a little more than a month

before the 2001 CHS graduation “I

just decided to go see if I could pass

then test and if I like it, continue

on.” As a young girl, Tirado would

eagerly listen as her father spoke of

battling fires across Passaic.

“If he was on a job, sometimes

we’d go and watch on the street,”

she recalled. Tirado knew that civil

service was something that interest-

ed her, but it took time to summon

up the courage to register for the

test.

In fact, her first option was to

become a cop. After leaving CHS,

Tirado graduated from Passaic

County Community College in 2003

with a degree in criminal justice.

Having difficulty finding a job, she

began looking at the health care

industry and worked as an EMT in

Passaic, which led her to reconsider

taking the Firefighters test.

“You go on calls with cops and

firemen and you see more and more

how they handle things,” she said.

“I just said to myself, that’s some-

thing I’d like to do.”

In 2006, she decided to sign up

for the Clifton test in secret. She

began training for the test, going on

daily runs with a weighted vest,

which eventually tipped her mother

off about her plans.

Tirado ultimately passed the test,

and then began a long waiting

process. However, when she heard

nothing for over a year, she figured

that it was time to move on and

began looking at other options. In

January 2009, Tirado enrolled

Angelina Tirado, a2001 CHS grad andformer MarchingMustang, was sworn inas a Clifton Firefighterlast year. She is following the lead ofher father, Alberto, a former Passaic FireFighter who died in theline of duty in 2001.

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in PCCC again to study nursing.

“I gave up. I thought it wasn’t

going to happen and decided I had

to do something else for myself,”

she said. “I didn’t know I get pref-

erence after veterans until after I

started getting put on lists.”

By June of that year, Tirado had

moved up to 23 but was still short—

Clifton invited her to fill out appli-

cations despite intending to only

take nine recruits.

“I finally got the official call in

December of 2009 to do inter-

views,” she recalled. Tirado’s

dream was nearly derailed when she

initially failed a stress test for her

heart. However, after visiting her

private physician a few times, the

issue was cleared up. In February

2010, Tirado informed administra-

tors at PCCC that she would be tak-

ing a leave to pursue fire fighting.

“When I first told my family, I

don’t think they really had an opin-

ion. I don’t think they thought it

would be possible,” she laughed.

“Once I got hired, I think they were

in shock, but very happy for me. I

had waited four years just to hear

anything.”

During the wait, Tirado kept in

touch with her late father’s friend,

Kenneth Martinez, a deputy chief in

the Passaic Fire Dept. where Alberto

Tirado, Sr. worked.

“He always told me to keep my

head up when I feel down,” she said.

“Sometimes you’re just going to

feel discouraged over things and

you just have to find a different way

of doing it.”

“I think it’s tough. People expect

certain things of me. I feel like

there’s always an eye on me. I feel

like I can’t mess up,” she said. “I

haven’t really had big fires yet. Car

fires, small house fires. I still feel

my adrenaline pumping on the way

out to a call, not knowing what to

expect. But any time you go in,

your officers give instruction on

what to do. You’re never by your-

self. You’re always with a more

experienced officer.”

“People will look at me and then

all the sudden recognize me. I get a

lot of the ‘you go girl!’ from other

women and the guys bust my

chops,” she laughed. “They make a

bigger deal than I think it is, but

guys tell me it is a big deal, but I just

can’t see it from my point of view.”

Tirado still wonders what her

father would think of his daughter

pursuing the same dream he did.

“He wanted me to be a doctor,”

she laughed.

And while she enjoys helping

others, Tirado finds this particular

job to be most rewarding.

“I think it’s a combination of

everything,” she said. “I don’t con-

sider myself an adrenaline junkie,

but I guess fulfilment after you can

see you really helped someone,

touched them in a certain way. It’s

something you can’t describe. You

see someone who genuinely needs

help and once you do it, they’re gen-

uinely thankful. People send us let-

ters. I don’t know if you can put

words to it.”

From left is Petric Cassidy, Tirado andJohn Bradley. All three were hired byClifton at the same time


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Tom Kievit: Tom Kievit is still a familiar face in town,

spending his weekdays working with his father, Kent,

at Athenia Mason Supply off of Mina Ave. in Lakeview.

Kievit began there in high school, and worked through

college while studying mechanical engineering at NJIT,

where he graduated from in 2007. Tom was married

last May to Darlene, a girl he met at his place of wor-

ship, Franklin Lakes Netherlands Reformed Christian

Church.

Alaina Scordilis: Ten years removed from graduation

and Alaina Scordilis has found success owning her own

business, Acupuncture Through Serenity. The 2001

grad shares the Allwood Rd. office with her brother,

Peter, and her father, George, who own Scordilis

Chiropractic.. “I do love it, I love to work with my fam-

ily. It’s very comforting,” said Scordilis, who opened

her own practice in October 2010 after graduating from

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in August of that

same year. “We share the same office but have our own

rooms,” she explained. “I work there Wednesday and

Tom Kievit and his wife, Darlene, whom he met at achurch in Franklin Lakes.


Saturday, and then I work at two

other doctors offices during the

week doing pain management.” At

her practice, Scordilis tries to bring

in patients for general wellness

maintenance, but also addresses

other issues such as mental disor-

ders, digestive problems, insomnia

and weight loss. “It’s all about

helping people,” she said.

Now a kindergarten teacher atSchool 2, Erin Burke is the third

educator in her family, joining her

mother Kathleen, a history teacher

at Christopher Columbus Middle

School, and her aunt, Alana

Pollastro, a first grade teacher at

School 2. This June, Burke com-

pleted her third full year at the

school while simultaneously study-

ing for her Masters in K-5 special

education at Montclair State

University, where she also holds

Bachelors in psychology. “I want-

ed to be a child psychologist,” said

Burke, who, after graduation,

worked in the field for a year while

subbing in Clifton. “It wasn’t

something I enjoyed as much as I

thought and I was enjoying subbing

a lot more.” Hiring through the

district’s alternate route, Burke re-

entered school for certification and

her Masters. “I’ve been mentored

along the way by teacher who is

actually retiring this year, Donna

DeLiberto,” explained Burke, who

currently lives in Woodland Park.

“I do enjoy working with students

with special needs and it’s just ben-

eficial to have.” Burke is also on

the committee for the 2001

reunion, which is on Nov. 26.

Kim Puleo is currently employedby the American Cancer Societyas a director of special events. “I

was always involved in non-profit

volunteering over the years and

kind of ended up in this,” she said.

“I have personal ties to cancer and

I think this is an amazing cause.” A

graduate of Northeastern

University, Puleo studied commu-

nications and first started working

in the non-profit sector with Make

A Wish. She started at ACS earlier

this year. Puleo, who still lives in

Clifton, is part of the reunion com-

mittee which includes some long-

time friends like Jan Stevens,

Jasmine Castro and Erin Burke.

Jazmin Castro Foglio is in yeartwo of a three year residency pro-

gram at Newark Beth Israel and St.

Barnabas. The Penn State graduate

is studying to be a pediatrician spe-

cializing in Gastroenterology.

Foglio attended the New York

College of Osteopathic Medicine

and started her residency program

in May 2010. Foglio just recently

moved to Lyndhurst from Clifton

with her husband, Christopher. “As

the former Student Council

President, I’d like to see everyone

at the reunion to see what everyone

is up to,” said Foglio.

Alaina Scordilis owns AcupunctureThrough Serenity, which shares thesame Allwood Rd. office as ScordilisChiropractic, which is ran by herfather, George, and her brother,Peter.

Friends Erin Burke, Kim Puleo and Jazmine Castro at an April fundraiser forthe CHS 2001 reunion party, which will be held on Nov. 26.



Elisabeth D’Alto is the owner ofD’Alto Nutrition, LCC (www.dal-

tonutrition.com), a nutrition and

consulting company which was

formed last October. D’Alto had

been inspired to become an entre-

preneur by her father, Mauro, the

late owner of Dalto Ristorante in

Clifton. D’Alto graduated from

Montclair State in 2005 with a BS in

Dietetics, and completed her dietet-

ic internship the following year at

UMDNJ where she received the

Outstanding Dietetic Student Award

from the New Jersey Dietetic

Association. She has been a regis-

tered dietician since 2006. Prior to

opening her own business, D’Alto

worked as the Production Assistant

to Ellie Krieger, star of “Healthy

Appetite with Ellie Krieger” on the

Food Network. Currently still living

in Clifton, she plans on moving to

South Jersey in the near future.

Casey Podczerwinski is now anagent with Castle Realty in

Clifton. Podczerwinski, who gradu-

ated from Seton Hall with a degree

in finance and economics, has been

in the industry since 2005, when he

began as a part time realtor after

learning about the profession while

working in City Hall. After graduat-

ing a from SHU, Podczerwinski

worked on Wall Street for three

years before leaving New York to

return home to Clifton to sell homes

full time. “I just got so busy doing

this that I left the city,” he said.

Podczerwinski still lives in Athenia.

Elisabeth D’Alto is a registered die-titian and owner of D’AltoNutrition.

SAVE THE DATEClass of 2001 Ten-Year Reunion

November 26The Park Ridge Marriott 7pm - 11pm

Tickets: $65 for the first 100 people; $70 after

Visit www.chs2001.rsvpbook.com For More Info

Casey Podczerwinski works as arealtor for Castle Realty in Clifton.


Maybe you’ve seen them

in the Tick-Tock Diner,

or at a local charity

event and wondered, who are those

leather clad, burly bikers? These

imposing individuals might not

seem like someone you’d approach

on the street, much less call on for

assistance... or would you?

The Clifton based motorcycle

club so aptly named The Red

Knights NJ, Chapter 19 are a group

of fire fighters from Clifton,

Nutley, Passaic, West

Paterson, Lodi, Little

Falls and Totowa.

This local group of

riders was founded

in October of 2005,

by Ernie Berthold,

Woody Campbell,

Steve Lambiase and

Greg Pavan.

Originally, the four

friends, firefighters and bikers had

set out to find a firefighter riding

club to share many

happy miles of cama-

raderie. However

after looking at the

other regional

groups, it was

decided that they

would found their

own club. Berthold

started researching, gath-

ered people and petitioned

the Red Knights, and the NJ Chapter

19, Clifton was born.

Founding and Charter Members of the Red Knights NJ 19 at a recent Rutt’s Hut Bike Night. Pictured left to right are:Steve Lambiase, Greg Pavan, Stan Novak, Woody Campbell and Ernie Berthold. Below, David Porter.

CL I F TON Ev e n t s …

Knights for DayRed Knights Lead the Way for David’s Day


Many of the group’s 13 original

members still ride today in memory

of their fallen brother Chapter 19’s

Chaplain, the Reverend Don

Bakelaar of the Clifton Fire

Department, who passed away sud-

denly just 6 shifts before he was

scheduled to retire in June 2010.

While the main goal of the group

is to ride the many great roads

across the country, another impor-

tant function is volunteering. The

Red Knights are frequently

involved in charitable events

around the area, including support

in carnivals to benefit Clifton’s

middle schools and more.

But the Red Knights take special

pride in helping carry out the wish-

es of the late David Nicholas

Porter, a young boy who lost his 14

month battle against cancer

(Wilms’ Tumor) on Aug. 25, 2006.

A fan of fun, motorcycles and all

things green, his family celebrated

the first David’s Day in his honor in

July 2006 as a way for the boy to

finally have a normal day like any

other child.

Though he passed away just a

month later, the Porter Clan vowed

to keep his legacy alive through

The David Nicholas Foundation,

which lends financial support to

families currently battling pediatric

cancer. David’s Day, which fea-

tures games, green decorations and

his favorite item, plenty of motor-

cycles, is the main fundraiser for

the Foundation.

The Fifth Annual David’s Daywill be held on July 9 at the

Clifton Masonic Lodge at 1476

Van Houten Ave. The event will

kick off with ride registration at 9

am. Then at 11:30 am, the Red

Knights will lead riders onto the

open roads for the fourth year in a

row before returning back to the

Masonic Lodge at 1 pm for the

family picnic.

Tickets are $25 for riders and

$15 for passengers. Non-riders can

attend the picnic only for $25; $15

for children. There will be live

music from The Past Masters and

The Caledonian Pipe Band of

Kearny.

To donate to the Foundation, or

to purchase tickets, visit www.the-

davidnicholasfoundation.org.

Checks can also be made to The

David Nicholas foundation and

mailed to 22 Greendale Rd.,

Clifton, 07013.



By Tom Hawrylko

Spend an hour with DamianStobierski and you’ll walkaway impressed. Spend three

years teaching him and you may

keep his papers to share with future

students.

Mid-June, Stobierski visited his

2007 alma mater, the Classical

Academy Charter School of Clifton.

News of his visit buzzed the Valley

Rd. building. The quiet lad is fresh

off the stage of the IZOD Center

where he delivered the Valedictory

address to 4,000 in attendance for

Paramus Catholic High School’s

Commencement on June 6.

This 17 year old Cliftonite came

to say hello to school founder

Vincent De Rosa. Soon teacher

Georgette Mandarakas ushered him

into a classroom to showcase a leg-

end. She even produced one of his

reports she still uses for other stu-

dents to emulate. “What a wonder-

ful writer,” she said. “So articu-

late.”

Others share that admiration.

Stobierski will be attending Yale

University in the fall, thanks to a

mix of scholarships, financial aid

and the support of his parents,

Polish immigrants Natalia, a teacher

in the Garfield Schools, and Marion,

a worker at a factory in Fairfield.

At Paramus Catholic, Stobierski

finished with a GPA of 101 and

earned 2360 on his SATs, a near per-

fect score. While at PC, he helped

found the Robotics Club, and partic-

ipated in Science and Math League,

Quiz Bowl Team and Chess Club.

He was also a PC Ambassador and a

member of the National Honor

Society and International Language

Honor Society.

Stobierski sees Yale as the first

stop on his path to becoming a

physician. He hopes that after Yale

in 2015, he’ll earn a seat at Harvard

Medical School in Boston.

“I’m a little nervous about it,” he

admitted. “I know it will be com-

petitive but meeting new people and

new instructors will be exciting.”

Looking back on his 12 years of

education—he also attended

Clifton’s School 13 and School 1

before PC—Stobierski said he rec-

ognizes he has a gift for learning

that was first inspired by his parents.

“They taught me the value of

education, that education is life-

long,” he said. “As we grow older,

we will constantly be exposed to

new and sometimes radical ideas,

and we must keep an open mind to

them,” he advised. In that spirit,

Stobierski expects to study Spanish

at Yale. He is already fluent in

Polish, conversational in Ukrainian

and knows more than a little bit of

Latin, thanks to the Classical

Academy.

While at PC, he had many

inspiring instructors and courses,

ranging from World Religions to

AP Biology. He also cited a sum-

mer program he attended between

Junior and Senior Year at Amherst

College where he studied mathe-

matics nine hours a day. “It broad-

ened my view of teaching and

learning mathematics and the

opportunities it offers.”

From Paramus Catholic to Yale...

Paramus Catholic H.S Valedictorian Damian Stobierski with Vincent De Rosaand Georgette Mandarakas at the Classical Academy Charter School of Clifton.


d r

973-772-8451Roofing • SidingSeamless Gutters

Additions • Alterations


Since August 2010, the CliftonCares Committee has collected

and packaged over 600 parcels of

items have been sent to US soldiers

and sailors serving in Iraq and

Afghanistan. Organizers Dona

Crum, Lizz Gagnon and Chris

Liszner said the project is ongoing

and expect to ship out the packages

during July. Thus, there is a need

for freezer pops and liquid powered

drinks, white socks, foot powder,

Visine, deodorant, shampoo,

healthy snacks such as nuts and

power bars, cookies, candy, gum,

word searches, Suduko and playing

cards. Clifton Cares is also in need

of funding to mail the packages so

if you would like to donate the cost

of one package ($12.95) mail your

check, made payable to Lizz

Gagnon, at Clifton City Hall Tax

Assessor’s Department 900 Clifton

Ave., Clifton, NJ 07013.

Take Back the Parks is a summer-long initiative to restore the beauty

of the city’s parks. It is a weekly

cleanup taking place each Saturday

at a designated field in Clifton.

Upcoming cleanups are: July 9,

Zelenka (10 Carol St.), July 16, Oak

Ridge (1061 Clifton Ave.), July 23,

Albion (201 Maplewood Ave.) and

July 30, Gregory Manor (180

Patricia Ct.) and Hillside (91

Paterson Ave.). Each cleanup will

run from 10 am to 1 pm. Bring

gloves and a water bottle. Call for a

full list of clean up sites. The Rec

Dept. also sponsors Play It Forward.

From Monday to Thursday each

week through August, the Rec Dept.

will have bags of bats, balls, frisbees

and other gear for families to enjoy

for free at a designated park each day

from 6 to 8 pm. The site rotates fre-

quently. Get a complete list by call-

ing 973-470-5956.

Musicians Wanted: The August

Clifton Merchant Magazine will

features stories about those make

up the music scene in Clifton.

We’re interested in all types of acts

and bands. Call 973-253-4400 or

email [email protected]

The Knights of Columbus Tank Pull took place on June 26 and raised over $100,000thanks to 25 teams and numerous donations. Donate at www.tankpullkofc.org.



The Clifton Rocket Club will

begin its fourth eight week session

in September. Children of all ages

learn how to assemble a toy rocket,

which is launched more than 1,000

feet into the air. Created and direct-

ed by volunteer Norm Tahan, a total

of 18 kids have turned out for the

club, which meets each Sunday

from 10 am to noon. The $25 fee

includes a rocket kit with engines.

Call the Rec Dept. at 973-470-5956.

The Athenia Veterans PostClassic Car Night is on Mondays

from 5 to 9 pm through the summer

at the Post, located at 147 Huron

Ave. Entry is free, and there is a

menu with a selection of BBQ food.

The Post will also hold its annual

Labor Day Picnic on Sept. 4, from 1

to 6 pm. Tickets are $20 for this all-

you-can-eat and drink event which

includes clams, burgers, hotdogs,

sausage, peppers and onions and

more. Call 973-778-0931.

Eighteen time Grammy Awardwinner Jimmy Sturr and hisOrchestra will perform on July 28

at 7:30 pm at Passaic’s Third Ward

Park, corner of Passaic and Van

Houten Aves. Be sure to bring

chairs and blankets while listening

to the group dubbed ‘the #1 Polka

Band in the Country,’ For more

information, call Greg Komeshok

at 973-473-5111.

Members of the CHS Class of ‘71will be among those celebrating on

Nov. 4 at the Parsippany Hilton for

a joint reunion for graduates from

1970 to 1974. The event will run

from 7 pm to midnight and features

a cocktail hour, buffet dinner and

desert, four hour open bar and

entertainment. Tickets are $99.

For more information, or to register

for the event go to www.reunions-

unlimited.com.

Children from the Clifton Rocket Club pose with rockets they assembled andlaunched. The club was formed by volunteer Norm Tahan, who is also a DeputyClifton Fire Chief. To join the next class, call the Rec. Dept. at 973-470-5956.

Jim Melzer (far left), was a former Cliftonite who excelled in football and base-ball at CHS from 1968 to 1971. Forty years later, his son is also dominating inathletics. On May 30, Wyatt Melzer, a junior at the University of Virginia, wonthe lacrosse National Championship as his team prevailed over Maryland 9-7.Pictured above is Melzer, his son, Griffin (a high school lax standout inFlorida), wife, Debra and, Wyatt. Melzer, who grew up in the Allwood section,is a district representative for Macy’s and resides in Davie, FL.

The Clifton Police National NightOut Against Crime is Aug. 2 from

5 to 9 pm at City Hall. Clifton cops,

equipment and vehicles will be there

and members of Operation Porch

Light will give away a low energy

light bulb for each home. There will

also be free food and refreshments, a

DJ, and parents can get ID cards and

finger printing for children. Call

Crime Prevention Officer Jim

Flanagan at 973-470-2245.

The 15th Annual Free SummerConcert Series, sponsored by the

Clifton Board of Recreation, is on

Sundays at Main Memorial Park at

7:30 pm. Prior to each show at Main

Memorial, join a walk around the

park at 6:30 pm. In case of rain, con-

certs are cancelled. Producer Bob

Obser recommends guests bring

their own chair. Call 973-470-5680.



On June 18, dozens of Boys & Girls Club of Clifton members joined communi-ty gardeners, volunteers and Amway staff to plant an organic garden and par-ticipate in healthy eating activities. Clifton was one of five Clubs around thenation selected to participate in Amway’s Positive Sprouts program. The projectteaches youngsters about nutrition, organic gardening practices and cookingfrom the garden. It supports and celebrates Boys & Girls Clubs commitment toenabling youth to lead healthy lifestyles and achieve great futures.

St. Peter’s Haven Food Pantry celebrated 25 years of helping those in need onJune 18 with an appreciation night for the many volunteers who help run the facil-ity that currently provides assistance to 2,800 people on a six week rotation.Food is distributed Tuesday through Thursday, as well as Saturday, from 9 to 11am. Back row, from left: Milton Millis, Barry Rochester, Kathy Aldheit and DebbeBreen. Front: Evelyn Post, Linda DiLeone, Elizabeth Zapata and PresidentPamela Fueshko. To volunteer or donate, call 973-546-3406.

VFW Post 7165 on Valley Rd. hon-ored several Clifton residents at aceremony on June 26. Among themwere Alvin Kipnis, pictured above, asOutstanding Citizen, Mark Zidiak,EMT of the Year, Lt. Patrick Tanski,Firefighter of the Year and JohnBiegel III, City Employee of the Year.For more on the Post, call Cmdr. RipVan Winkle 973-279-1991



Walter Diduch, B.S.R.P. Walter Voinov, B.S.R.P Lisa Saeman, B.S.R.P. Alex Voinov, Pharm-D Dorothy Duffy, B.S.R.P.

The Friday Night Free ConcertSeries in Historic Botany Villagecontinues through August. The event

starts at 6:30 pm in Sullivan Square,

and moves to the Italian American

Cooperative Hall if there’s rain. The

lineup: July 8, The Apache Twins,

July 15, The Robert Ross Band, July

22, The Midnight Ramblers, July 30,

Jimbeau and the Retrocasters and

Aug. 5, The Frost Kings. For info:

www.historicbotany.com.

Cliftonites supported some goodcauses this month. On June 4, 39

teams and over 700 participants

raised more than $88,000 at the

Relay for Life event at Clifton

Stadium, which is pictured at left

during the later hours of the walk.

Over 900 luminaries were lit

around the track, representing those

who have battled cancer. At right,

Clifton Police Lt. John Burke bears

the Special Olympic torch, as he

runs down Main Ave. with support-

ers. Burke was one of 3,000 offi-

cers to carry the torch to the Games

which were held on June 10 to 12

in Trenton.

James J. Marrocco was appointed

to the NJ Board of Mortuary

Science by Governor Chris

Christie. Marrocco is a fourth gen-

eration funeral director and is the

owner and manager of the

Marrocco Memorial Chapel &

Powell-Marrocco Funeral Home on

Colfax Ave. He is also the owner

of the Faithful Companion Pet

Cremation Service by Marrocco.

Paramus Catholic High SchoolPresident James P. Vail was elect-

ed to the National Executive Board

of the Secondary Department of the

National Catholic Education

Association. For his three year

term, Vail will represent Region 3,

which encompasses all Catholic

high schools in New Jersey and

Pennsylvania. He has been at

PCHS for 14 years.

VFW Post 7165 on Valley Rd. hon-ored several Clifton residents at aceremony on June 26. Among themwere Alvin Kipnis, pictured above, asOutstanding Citizen, Mark Zidiak,EMT of the Year, Lt. Patrick Tanski,Firefighter of the Year and JohnBiegel III, City Employee of the Year.For more on the Post, call Cmdr. RipVan Winkle 973-279-1991



The 9th Annual Free Outdoor Concert featuring the Clifton Community Band is on July 9 at 6 pm on the

City Hall campus. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket and enjoy an evening of classic American music, showtunes

and more under the baton of Marching Mustang Band Director Bob Morgan. Call 973-777-1781 or write to

[email protected].

Dance Under the Stars inDowntown Clifton July 8, from 6

to 10 pm, when the big band

Swingman and the Misfit-Mutts cre-

ate a night of dancing and fun at the

parking lot at Clifton and First Aves.

Presented by the Downtown Clifton

Economic Development Group,

there will be dance contests, events

for the kids, food vendors and a DJ.

www.downtownclifton.com or call

973-253-1455. Raindate July 15.

The City of Clifton’s IndependenceFirework Show is on July 9 at 7 pm

at Clifton Stadium. Prior to the

show, enjoy the City Picnic next

door at Main Memorial from noon

to 6 pm. Call 973-470-5757.

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Dance Under the Stars inDowntown Clifton July 8, from 6

to 10 pm, when the big band

Swingman and the Misfit-Mutts cre-

ate a night of dancing and fun at the

parking lot at Clifton and First Aves.

Presented by the Downtown Clifton

Economic Development Group,

there will be dance contests, events

for the kids, food vendors and a DJ.

www.downtownclifton.com or call

973-253-1455. Raindate July 15.

The City of Clifton’s IndependenceFirework Show is on July 9 at 7 pm

at Clifton Stadium. Prior to the

show, enjoy the City Picnic next

door at Main Memorial from noon

to 6 pm. Call 973-470-5757.

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Nicholas Calvo is 2 on July 11. Herbert ‘Poppie’ Schwartz celebrates his 88th Birthday on July 4th.Christina Tacchi turns 17 on July 29th and Jenna DeLiberto turns 17 on July 8th

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1036

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Excludes Kiddie Cups &

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Expires 6/30/11. Limit one coupon/person. Not valid with

any other offer or promotion. Clifton store only.


Above: Michael Biondi and Gretchen Alonso.Pics by Matthew Biondi, Janet Goulbourn-Mozolewski, Cathy Malesky-Anzalone and IreneMendoza.

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clifton merchant magazine - july 2011

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