2014: PHYLIS SEITZ'S MERCERVILLE

What a wonderful taste of the WWII era and growing up in Mercerville! For years I have been imploring folks to recall the persons, places and things the recall growing up in their respective neighborhoods. The above very interesting recollection above, along with the 3 photos give a nice glimpse of the Mercerville School, Regina Avenue when it was a dirt road, and grandpa Seitz holding a very young Phylis. This set will be saved in the Hamilton Township Public Library "MERCERVILLE" and "NEIGHBORHOODS" folders.

2014: FINAL SUNDAY AFTERNOON SING ALONG

The last of my 2014 Kuser Farm Park singalong presentations was beyond all expectations as more than 50 and nearly 60 local citizens came to enjoy a summer evening of listenable music. It was my privilege to have my son Tom make an appearance at the event, and as usual, he had the audience in palm of his hand as he did a few of his Irish songs, mixed in with a few John Denver selections. We did a couple of duets together and found that we still have the ability to do perfect harmony. Lord willing, I will be back at the microphone next year and as the Lord allows me to keep my 81 year old voice from failing.

NOTE: TO KICK OFF THE LABOR DAY WEEKEND FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE "HOME BODIES," I WILL BE BRINGING MY MUSIC TO THE BEAUTIFUL LAWN AT THE HAMILTON LIBRARY ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 31 FROM 3 TO 5 PM.

2014: AS THE CURTAIN FALLS ON KUSER PARK SEASON 8

It's wonderful folks like Ms. Denise Darnell who has helped to make my summer Kuser Farm Park gazebo singalongs worth the time and effort I spend as I bring my musical presentation to the community. As I closed out my last Sunday Kuser program last evening and son Tom and I were putting our equipment away, along came Denise with the above framed replica of this website as a very clever "thank you." It will be a treasured addition to my "memories" wall in my Hamilton Library workshop. As a staunch proponent of community volunteerism, it really warms my heart when I hear all the wonderful POSITIVE comments I have received over these years. Comments from common, ordinary people who really enjoyed spending a warm and sometimes hot and humid evening under the stars once again hearing songs that are rapidly being forgotten by the present generation. No, we didn't have senators, assemblymen, assembly women, governors, nor mayors at these wonderful community gatherings; just those I call "folks in the nickel seats" as they gathered in numbers that ranged from 20 to nearly 60 at last night's final Sunday presentation.  Denise has been one of my "regulars;" seldom missing any of these weekly presentations. Above is Denise's special "thank you" to me; a scan of the front and back surface of a keepsake that will find a special place on the wall of my Hamilton Library workshop along with the huge photo I got last year from two other regulars, Nancy Briggs and her sister Barbara.

1950: THE STORY OF AN AWKWARD TEEN AGE BOY

This is a re-run of a post I posted back in 2009, re-telling the story of the experience of a typical teen age boy who had more problems than a math book. There are probably a number of viewers of this page who will relate to this Hamilton diary. My contemporaries will agree that coming of age in the 1950's was far, far different from this year of 2104.

1889: CHANGING THE NAMES OF TRENTON STREETS

This is a very comprehensive list of street names that were changed back in 1889. This was originally a 37 inch single Trenton Evening Times classified ad column and much too long to be legibly seen on a computer screen. It has been digitally converted to 4 columns. It provides an excellent reference for Trenton history minded citizens whose research lists old Trenton city names.

1983: TOM GLOVER'S COLONIAL FIRE COMPANY

I wrote a couple columns relating to the fire company of my youth. At the time, "Big John" Lenhardt was the Chief and as you can see in the column I wrote back in 1983, I was not cut out to be a fire fighter. My buddy, the late Jess Anderson was the epitome of the perfect fireman. I can still see him parked in front of my Hartley Avenue house as the distinctive Colonial siren went off. He'd hop into the 40 Ponitac, kick over the starter and zip up Newkirk hell bent for leather. Some of the names I remember from that great Colonial gang, beside all the Lenhardt boys, were Costigan, Norm Bade, and the Peterson boys.

 

1988: DON SLABICKI MY BEST FRIEND THROUGH THE YEARS

"Is there really a Don Slabicki?" Among the many questions I have gotten over these 32 years of writing my columns, that is one of them. My answer of course is "of course." The first 25 percent of my life was spent with Donald from the time we were old enough to walk around the block to and from each other's homes which I would guess would be around 1939 or 1940. We spent many years working for Fritz and Edna Kuser at Kuser Farm. When Fritz Kuser looked for a replacement for my brother Bud to run the 35 millimeter motion picture projectors, he approached us. Bottom line: Don was the guy who had the knack. I tried to learn it but always ended up with a mis-threaded film path that usually damaged the film. It was Don who was the expert replacement for my brother.

1930's - 1940's: WHEN MUSIC WAS MUSIC

Listenable and singable music: It was with us right up to around the last quarter of the 20th century when America's musical taste yielded to the younger generation who, even though they retained a number of easy listening "Barry Manilow" songs,  opted for the more modern, perhaps a bit noiser music. My 30 year crusade to keep that music alive resulted in my many appearances at local senior citizen clubs as we sang along to the great music of the eras from the 1930's to the early 1950's, before "Be-Bop," " Rock 'n Roll," "Acid Rock," non melodic "Rap," which is rhythmic poetry minus musical accompaniment. The above graphic shows a young Bing Crosby in 1933., and again in the WWII musical "Here Come the Waves."

1964: MY SACRED HEART CHURCH

The photo above was taken in 1964 when my dear friend, the late Father Leonard Toomey baptized my son Tom. He was very close to my wife Judy's family in his seminary years when he was a close friend of the late Father Jimmy Russell, who was Judy's cousin. He was also the man who converted me to the faith back in the early 1960's.

I spent many happy years as a communicant at Sacred Heart church on Centre Street in Trenton, serving as Lector, Eucharistic Minister and Usher. For 10 years I did Sunday Morning Communion services for the elderly and infirm at South Trenton's Village I on Lalor street (9 o'clock A.M.), and Village II on Stokeley Avenue (9:30 A.M.) 

1922: THE ST. JOHN'S FOOTBALL TEAM

When I started this local history website which is approaching 800,000 "hits," I added the slogan which will always be a part of this website, "Local History With a Personal Touch." In keeping with that slogan, I am presenting the photo which Ed's Secretary Katy Palombi sent to me today.
I received this scanned 1922 photo of the St. John's football team from Hamilton Councilman and friend, Ed Gore. His Dad is seen in the photo as the 4th man from the left in the back row.

By the way, Katy, the Palombi family played a very important part in the Glover family during those years in the 30's and early 1940's when we were deep in the depths of poverty. "Pop" Palombi and his two sons are still in my memory as I remember them way back when I was a young boy of 8 or 9 and went to their South Olden Avenue store. I can still hear "Sy" Palombi with his white butcher's apron singing opera and doing it quite well!

"2014 IF I WERE A RICH MAN"

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ehwvZXVKmPU

"If I were a rich man, ya da dah dah da dum..." So goes the song from "Fiddler on the Roof." Indeed, if I were a rich, rich, ,man, I would be first in line to seek out those historic sites that are being neglected and allowed to deteriorate due to the lack of funding to restore, or at least preserve them for possible future restoration. The link above was sent to me by my friend and auto historian Ray Paskiewicz. The link will take you to a video telling the story of the very first "Air Force One" which was a Lockheed "Constellation" used by President Eisenhower. A real sad story as we see at the end of the video the historic aircraft rotting away in the Arizona desert. Below is a photo of one of Hamilton's historic treasures which is now boarded up and presenting a depressing site on Nottingham Way here in Hamilton. It occurred to me that this historic old structure built back in the 1890's by Charles Fulkert would be a wonderful headquarters for Hamilton's exquisite "Grounds For Sculpture"or another local entity with the interest in historic preservation. Ahh, If only I were a rich man!"

2014: SONNIE BATTISTE AND TOM IN A DUET

Weather permitting, the 6th week of my 8 week Kuser Park Gazebo volunteer music sing along concerts will be performed on Sunday evening August 10th from 6 to 8 P.M. The program is free to all area residents from Trenton, Hamilton, indeed any area within traveling distance of beautiful Kuser Park in Hamilton. The graphic was taken by Trenton Times photographer Mary Iuvone who spent some time speaking with those 40 or so lovers of easy listening* music who were in attendance. Sonnie, Nancy, and "Barb" have all come forth when I ask for them to take the "open mike" and sing along. 

*Easy listening: Pretty melodies, understandable lyrics, no screaming vocals, nostalgic sentimental journeys back to the era when music was music. 

2014: THE NORMAL SUMMER SLOWDOWN

The graphic is an extract of the activity on this website. When I began this website back in 2005, I wondered how many would be interested in a site that concentrated on persons, places and things of LOCAL historical interest. As seen in the extract above, the interest has been quite positive. We are now in the summer doldrums when folks are doing less on the computer.

1914: THE "SEASHORE" 100 YEARS AGO

From the "WHIMSICAL" folder in the Hamilton Township Public Library, this remarkable article tells how to spend a week down the shore, or "seashore" as it was commonly known in earlier years. It is interesting to note that this article appeared 100 years ago; a mere 3 days shy of August 9, 2014!

1951: MARRIAGES MADE IN HEAVEN

One of the songs I sing at my numerous community singalongs is the Vince Gill classic, "Look at Us." The lyrics are especially apropos to those of us who have married our high school sweethearts. In my case, in my 61st year of wedded bliss. The couple on the left are two of my classmates from HHS 1951, Bob Beckett and Pat Stoy Beckett.

1947: HHS CLASS OF 1947 TO CELEBRATE 67TH!

I saw the notice of HHS 1947's 67th reunion in yesterday's Trenton Times and am proud to post it on this website as well as www.glover320.blogspot.com and my Facebook pages. As I paged through that beautiful copy of "RETROSPICE," many old friends were pictured. Eddie Kamp, Clem Edmonds, Merrick Francis, etc. Having just attended my class of 1951 60th reunion, it warms my heart to see that the orange and black lamp still glows brightly for the class of '47. God bless all of you and may you all have a wonderful afternoon remembering those good times we had in the 1940-1950 era.