City of Montclair Township

How old are you?   I am 91 years old.

Where were you born?   I was born in Beth Israel Hospital, Passaic, New Jersey, on December 7.

Why did you move to Montclair?  After I married Irving, we moved to Flushing, Queens-L.I. and lived there for a few years. My Aunt Hermina Brody was selling her candy store. I used to work in this candy store when I was five years old. I worked there every summer until I graduated junior high school.  Believe it or not, I held the first Superman and Batman comic books in my hands. My Aunt said only boys read comic books. Imagine if I kept these comic books, I would have been a millionaire today.  These comic books are worth way over a million dollars today.

re you currently employed?  If so, doing what?  If you had a career, what was it?  My late husband Irving and I had a candy store on the corner of Walnut and Forest Streets in Montclair.  I attended N.Y.U. to become a dietician and then worked at Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc., in Nutley, N.J., doing various office jobs. I quit working there when I got married.

Some of my favorite customers at the candy store were Linda Tate, Fire Chief Allen, Lenny Coleman, Judge Michael Chavies, Mayor William Dill, Rod Groot of the Montclair Times, Robert Cummings from the Police Department, Gail Boggs (the movie actress who played in Ghost), Jarvis Hawley of the Montclair Fire Department,  Dale Berra (Yogi Berra’s son), the Lever brothers (one is with the Fire Department), Fire Chief Robert Pizzutti and his daughter Tracey, Fire Chief Louis DeStefano, actor Louis Zorich and his wife, actress Olympia Dukakis, Ronald Murphy, Roger Terry, Denise and Allison Renwick, Sam Rose, Tillie Lee, Violet and Richard Malone, Hal Newman, Joe Rusnak, and  June Hunter.

My 3 children helped in our candy store. My oldest son, Robert, at the age of 5 worked at the store with his two aunts, when his two-year-old brother, Carl, had open heart surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.  He knew every customer by their names and what they came to buy.

Working in the store gave my children the feeling of belonging and getting along with people from all walks of life.  My daughter Andrea had her friends over and treated them to ice cream, candy, and potato chips.

How are you engaged in the community?  I used to belong to Temple Shomrei Emunah, Hadassah, B’nai B’rith, the Mr. and Mrs. Club, and the Rand School, Hillside School and Montclair High School PTAs.

I also belonged to the Deborah Hospital Bloomfield Chapter, the Jolly Seniors in Little Falls, the Golden Age in Little Falls, the Lake Hiawatha Seniors, the Verona Park Senior Citizens Club, and the Parsippany Seniors.  I worked at all fund-raising affairs and always baked for their cake sales.  I obtained donations and gifts for their card parties and Chinese auctions.

What are some of the most important lessons you feel you have learned throughout your life?   I have learned to keep my brain active by playing scrabble. And to keep busy all the time so you don’t get bored.  You should be kind and helpful to your neighbors. And exercise and walk as much as you can.

What are your plans for future? How does Montclair fit into these plans?  I plan to try to be more active in our Pine Ridge social activities.  Because I no longer have transportation to go to all the other meetings, I will be active in our building.  I am called the Computer Queen because I keep in touch with friends and relatives all over the United States with the e-mails.  I am also famous for my chocolate cakes and vegetable pudding. I always bake for the cake sales and when it is my turn to bring things for meetings.