Livingston community

January 1, 2021 will be the first day since 1978 that Mike Anello won’t be reporting for work at the township garage.

The superintendant of the Livingston Department of Public Works (DPW) is retiring after nearly 43 years on the job. Anello started working at the DPW in 1978 as part of a work-study program. After graduating from Livingston High School in 1979, he stayed with the DPW, and has never worked anywhere else.

The DPW has come a long way in that time. Anello, who became “the boss” in 1988, at the tender age of 28, recalls that when he started, the DPW had just six employees; he was number seven. During his career, the department grew to some 60 employees before it merged functions with the township’s Parks Department.

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On Tuesday evening, December 29, the Livingston Board of Education approved a three-year agreement with the Livingston Supervisors’ Association. The agreement, which will be effective from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, was the only item on the agenda for the meeting, which had been announced earlier that day.

The Association’s membership comprises 13 subject supervisors. The agreement calls for a 2.5 percent salary increase for 2020-21; and a 3.0 percent increase in each of the following school years.

Brian Carey, Livingston’s grades seven through 12 science supervisor and the Association’s president, said that the Board and negotiating team came up with a fair agreement.

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The West Essex Tribune is celebrating more than six decades of showering the first baby of the new year with an assortment of gifts generously donated by our advertisers. The first baby of 2021 born to Livingston parents will be named the winner of the Tribune’s 63rd annual First Baby Contest.

The rules to determine the winner are the same each year: The first baby of 2021 must be born in a nearby hospital to parents who currently reside in Livingston. The exact time of the birth must be certified in writing by the attending physician.

Entries must be received in the West Essex Tribune office by noon on Tuesday, January 5. The winner will be announced in the January 7 edition of the newspaper.

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A wind and rain storm late on Christmas Eve, December 24, battered the township, taking down trees and causing power outages.

The storm dumped more than two inches ofrain onLivingston, although official figures from the Department of Public Works (DPW) were not available at press time. Damage from the storm required DPW crews to work Christmas Day and throughout the weekend.

High winds and torrential downpours took down trees and power lines throughout northern New Jersey, leaving over 75,000 New Jersey households without power for a time.

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Former Livingston resident Arnold Decker died unexpectedly on December 17 in Webster, Texas. He had previously lived in Livingston as well as Parsippany.

Mr. Decker worked for Georgia Pacific before returning to work at the United States Post Office.

He was a member of Livingston’s BPO Elks; Lodge #1855. He served in many leadership roles including Exalted Ruler. He also portrayed Santa Claus at charitable events sponsored by the Elks.

Mr. Decker was pre-deceased by his son-in-law, Paul Fitzgerald. He is survived by his wife, Veronica (Ronnie); his children, Robert Courtney and his wife, Paula, and Cheryl Fitzgerald; and four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Alfonso M. DeCicco died in his Livingston home on December 21. He was 96 years old.

Mr. DeCicco was born in Newark in 1924. He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, serving in the 376th Anti-Aircraft Artillery in the European Campaign throughout Normandy, France and Germany. He received the campaign’s Victory Medal and in 2003 was awarded the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal and the Oak Leaf Cluster, a high-level decoration of the Purple Heart.

He lived for many years in West Orange, and spent summers in Long Branch, where he met his wife 75 years ago.

Benefitting from the G.I. Bill, he graduated from Seton Hall University in 1950, with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He was vice president of sales at Chicago Title Insurance, from which he retired in the 1980s.

Harriet I. Mechanik (nee Harrison), 94, died December 22 in Long Grove, Illinois. She had been a 35-year resident of Livingston.

Mrs. Mechanik grew up in Detroit, Michigan, before moving to New York City. There she met her future husband, the late Dr. Harvey K. Mechanik, who was originally of Plainfield.

She lived in New Jersey for 50 years before moving to Chicago, Illinois, to be near her daughters. She earned master’s of social work degree from Smith College and spent over 20 years working at the Essex County Hospital Center.

Mrs. Mechanik is survived by her daughters, Rebecca Mechanik (Robert Irish) of Inverness, Illinois, and Deborah Lamm (Joel) of Deerfield, Illinois; her step-daughters, Eileen Lebegue (Jean-Lin) and Kathy Kassover (Jeffrey) of Florida; and four grandchildren. She was predeceased by her brother, Hershel Harrison.

Sondra L. Falkenheim, age 87, a life-long resident of Livingston, died Sunday, December 20. Funeral services were held December 24 at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Iselin, with arrangements by Louis Suburban Chapel, Fair Lawn.

Mrs. Falkenheim was the wife of the late Erwin Falkenheim; and the mother of Jill Grayson and Eric Falkenheim and his wife, Ellen. She is also survived by four grandchildren.

She was a former member ofTemple Beth Shalom in Livingston.

The family has suggested that donations in Mrs. Falkenheim’s memory be made to the Make A Wish Foundation New Jersey at wish.org/nj.

T. Carter Hagaman of Rochester, Michigan, formerly of Livingston, died November 28 at the age of 82.

Mr. Hagaman grew up in Livingston, where he became an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Caldwell, and from Harvard College in 1960, where he had been the band manager in his junior year. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1964.

After college, he worked for Irving Trust from 1960 to 1989, becoming a senior vice president in the corporate finance department. He next worked as an adjunct profe ssor offinance and economics at Kean University from 1991 to 2008. During that time, he served as chairman of the New York (then later New Jersey) Council of Economic Education.

Former Livingston resident David Martin Dondershine died in Roseville, California on December 22 after battling Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19. He was 83 years old.

Mr. Dondershine was born in Newark, and lived for almost 70 years in the Livingston area. He worked in a variety of careers from selling adspecialty products, truck parts, and real estate, to providing financial planning services.

He spent the last years of his life with his partner, Barbara Lawson. He is also survived by his son, Steven and his wife, Marci, of Truckee, California, and Scott and his wife, Diane, of Vienna, Virginia; and four grandchildren.