Between my junior and senior year in high school I got a summer job at a paint factory in Carteret in one of the buildings along the railroad tracks across from the Holiday Inn (which was not there at the time). There were 3 of us who got the jobs. We had to get “working papers”. I worked in the main warehouse while Frank Cundari worked in the lab. Continue reading
While going to college I got a job at Kappa Networks at the corner of Roosevelt Ave and Carteret Ave in Carteret. I got the job through my neighbor who worked there. They hired me because I was studying to be an engineer and they wanted someone like me. Continue reading
Rose and Joe first met on October 30th, 1965. Rose was 16 and a junior in High School. Joe was 18 and a freshman in College. Rose was having a “house-warming” party to celebrate her moving into the upstairs rooms in her home in Colonia. Her uncle had moved back to Long Island. Rose invited Joe’s cousin Tony who was her friend but Tony did not drive so he asked his cousin Joe to drive him and stay at the party. That’s how and where Joe and Rose met – at Rose’s house in Colonia.
Rose’s mother was upset that a “college” kid was coming to the party but was surprised when he turned out to be a skinny quiet Joe.
They started dating shortly after that. Here is the first photo taken at a New Years Eve party later that year. The photo was taken by Tony Ragucci….
As we are about to leave on another Disney World vacation, it brought up the need to add stories about “memorable” disney vacations like:
In the early years of our marriage, we lived in an apartment in Carteret. It was very common for us to spend our Saturday nights at Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Tony’s home in Port Reading. It didn’t matter who was home, we just enjoyed each others company.
On one Saturday night, we had an unexpected difficulty. Continue reading
Recorded by Joe Ragucci.
When I began dating Rose, she lived with her parents at 2 Village Green in Colonia. Before I met her, her Uncle Jack lived with them for a while and had the upstairs finished into 2 rooms and a bathroom. After he moved out Rose claimed the upstairs as her own – with a bedroom and a living room.
In the center of the upstairs living room was a ceiling lamp in the shape of a upside-down bowl. One day when I was there, she said that the light wasn’t working. So, I decided to open it up and see what I could do. The bowl shaped light was held on with a nut in the center. Unknown to me, the ceiling leaked water. So as I finished unscrewing the nut, the light bowl quickly came down and spilled water all over the place. It was filled with lots of water! Once the lamp dryed up, the light worked again. From that day on I would check the light and empty any water that it collected. Obviously the roof was leaking and that’s where it would accumulate.
I was just a little girl walk down South 5th Street in Brooklyn holding my mother’s hand. Still holding mom’s hand, we arrived at the corner. Suddenly, my mother felt a pull holding her back from crossing the street. In an instant a car jumped onto the sidewalk directly in front of us. Fortunately, neither of us were hurt. My mother said our guardian angels held us back and kept us safe. I’m sure they did!
It’s my birthday!
Birthdays are fun: cake, ice cream, presents and family. On one particular birthday, when we were still living in Carteret, the entire family gathered as usual to celebrate my special day. I was sitting at the head of the table; my brother-in-law Michael was sitting at the opposite end of the table. Michael, the practical joker that he is, decided to make a derogatory comment about teachers. Since my blood was boiling from hearing Michael’s comment, I wasn’t about to allow that comment to be ignored. So I took a huge scoop of whipped cream from my cake and flung it across the table towards Michael. I must have been a good shot because the whipped cream hit him smack dab in the middle of the forehead! After a period of histerical laughter, Michael said I had gotten whipped cream on my new brown dining room carpet. My reply: it was totally worth the shot! 1 point for me; 0 points for Michael.