How old are you? 87 /Senior%20of%20the%20Month/Barbara%20Grieco_thumb.jpg "Barbara Grieco")
Where were you born? Montclair, NJ
Are you currently employed? If so, doing what? If you had a career, what was it? I am no longer employed. I used to work as a teacher in Lincoln Park for 39 years.
Financing that degree was a challenge because I was one of ten children, and if anyone was going to go to College in my family, it was the boys. I always loved sports and after starting to work as a secretary, I also volunteered to work with kids in the Town’s Recreation program. One of the Town employees told me that I was good with kids and suggested I become a teacher. So, I took a job at a factory in the night shift to earn money (you earn more working the night shift!) to finance my college education and eventually became a history teacher.
How have you been engaged in the community? I have volunteered at the Cheshire House, lecturing on American History and showing slides of Europe. I am currently the leader of a weekly Montclair Folkdance Group at St. John’s Church. I have been folk dancing since the age of 16, first with my sister Rose in the Cosmopolitan Club at St. James Church and now on Tuesday evenings at St. John’s. For many years, I also taught Folk Dancing for the Montclair Recreation Department. Between my sister and me, we have taught many hundreds of people how to folk dance.
What are some of the most important lessons you feel you have learned throughout your life? One of my longstanding interests is alternative medicine and I tend to seek out natural remedies to illness whenever possible. I believe medicine ought to focus on the person and not just the illness. The most important lesson I have learned throughout life is: “be kind to people, treat people as you yourself want to be treated.”
What is your mantra or words you live by? The mantra or words I live by are “be faithful to God.”
What are your plans for future? How does Montclair fit into these plans? In the future I want to travel to Arizona to celebrate my great niece’s 21st birthday. I am not sure how Montclair fits into my future plans.