Livingston community

Former Livingston resident George G. Hill, Jr., died at home in Saint Augustine Beach, Florida, on November 11. He was 67 years old.

Mr. Hill was born to Marcia Bissell Hill and George G. Hill of East Orange. In 1955 the family moved to Livingston, and Mr. Hill graduated from Livingston High School in 1971. He was in the top ten percent of his class and a three-letter athlete in football, basketball and baseball. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree with distinction in geography from Rutgers University in 1975, where he lettered in soccer.

In 2017, he retired from a 40-plus year career in data processing.

He married Margianne (Margie) Wilson in 1979, and they lived in New Hampshire for 36 years, moving to Saint Augustine Beach, Florida, in 2016.

A Heritage Middle School student hit his first-ever hole-in-one earlier this month, just one week after his Bar Mitzvah. OnNovember 7, Jordan Harris, an avid golfer, hit the ball in the cup on the seventh hole, a 135-yard par three, at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell. He used a 5-hybrid and played with his dad and two friends.

“I couldn’t see if it was going to go in or not because it’s an uphill hole,” Harris said. “I didn’t think it was going to be a hole in one.”

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LANCER SPIRIT: The Lancer football team played its last home game on Friday, November 20, and the cheerleaders, color guard, and band performed for the last time this season. The cheerleaders, band, and color guard kept Lancer school spirit high. Shown at top, cheerleaders include, rear, Imani Medy, Sasha Lederman, Haleigh Harte, Ally Fong, Emma Michaels, Amanda Magenheim, Avery Smidt, and Jamie Britt; and front, Yemmanuella Bragarnik, Ja’Nasia Hansome-Conover, Genevieve DeRosa, Nicole Rojas, Vivian Turner, Laine Kowalski, and Vanessa Villalobos. The other photos here show members of the color guard and marching band performing. At bottom is Elias Porter on drums. Don Schwartz and Greg Margolis Photos

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Claire Ann Lister (nee Flanagan) of Frederick, Maryland, passed away on November 18 at the age of 95.

She was born onAugust 15, 1925 in Orange, New Jersey, to Joseph and Mary Flanagan. She was the oldest of three children, which included her younger brother Joe and youngest sister Marilyn. She attended Clifford J. Scott High School in East Orange, New Jersey, and graduated in 1943.

On June 7, 1947, Claire married her roller skating partner and high school sweetheart, Kenneth Vail Lister. They were married for 62 years until her beloved Kenny died in 2009. They lived inNewark, New Jersey, and Clifton, New Jersey, before moving to Livingston, New Jersey, where they remained for 40 years. After raising their four children and retiring in 1997, the couple moved to Pennsylvania for five years, and then to Frederick, Maryland, where Claire remained until 2018. Her last two and a half years of life were spent at Copper Ridge Nursing Home in Sykesville, Maryland.

Livingston Philanthropies Inc. (LPI) has issued an emergency appeal this week. Founder and director Jeff Friedman said, “We are reaching out for immediate help. The pandemic is causing massive and increasing homelessness, extreme poverty and deadly despair just minutes away from Livingston.”
Long food lines have popped up all over Newark, he said. “Parents living below the poverty line find themselves waiting, each day, to feed their families adequate or sometimes Spartan meals. Then, it’s on to the next food pantry for yet another queue.”
Through Livingston Philanthropies, which is now in its tenth season of operation in town, Livingston residents can reach out immediately to help.
“Here’s how to help right now,” Friedman said. “You can send a tax-deductible contribution to LPI, P.O. Box 247, Livingston, NJ 07039 or go to paypal.me/lpinj to empower LPI to purchase food, toiletries, diapers, coats, gloves, scarves, hats, masks and more.

Livingston High School theater students will present the ancient Greek tragedies Oedipus and Antigone by Sophocles next weekend. The production, director by theater teacher Scott Patteson, will feature modern adaptations of the plays by Ian Finley.

The production will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 19, 20, and 21, at 5 p.m. each day, outdoors in front ofthe high school, Patteson explained. “The school’s main entrance is literally part of our set.”

Livingston was lit up with oil lamps, fireworks, traditional food and sweets, decorated homes and socially distanced celebrations this past weekend in observance of Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. Men, women and children donned traditional fancy Indian attire, and safe individual fireworks were set off in driveways and private roads.

“Diwali, also known as the festival of lights, is the most popular holiday in India,” explains Fal Pandya, who participated in the celebrations. “Diwali means rows of oil lamps made with clay. People from all four indigenous religions of India Hindus, Sikhs, JaMs and Buddhists — came together this past weekend to celebrate Diwali, a spiritual triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance.”

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Livingston Public Schools (LPS) last week launched a COVID-19 Dashboard. It displays a two-week summary of the number of school staff and students who have tested positive or have been required to quarantine as a result of recent cases. Also reported are 14-day building closures.

Information on the dashboard include both students and staff, and is broken down by school.

Matthew Block, the school district superintendent, said that the database will be updated periodically to help keep the community informed about the impact that COVID-19 is having on Livingston’s schools.

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One suspect has been arrested after an attempt to steal two vehicles out of a township driveway, Livingston Police said.

At 2:42 a.m. on Wednesday, November 11, a Ross Road resident called 9-1-1 to report that two people were in his driveway and trying to steal two SUVs, a Mercedes and a GMC. A key for each car had been left in the GMC.

Livingston Police Sergeant John Maggiulli was the first to arrive and observed both vehicles idling in the street. The sergeant pulled in front of the Mercedes, blocking its path. The GMC then reversed, made a Kturn, and fled towards South Orange Avenue.

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The COVID-19 Grinch will not steal this Christmas tradition. The Camuso Holiday Display, for years a beloved Livingston holiday tradition, will open this year, despite earlier doubt that the pandemic would put a lid on it.

“The decision to set up this year was not an easy one,” said “Chief Elf’ Tom Cooney. “There were clearly two sides to the issue. Many felt that, if ever the community needed something positive to boost spirits, this would be the time, and the Camuso Display fits the bill perfectly. Others suggested the risks to our volunteer group and visitors may warrant tak-ing a year off.”

Following a series of discussions, emails, and Zoom calls among the volunteer “Elves,” and consultations with town officials and medical experts, the Camuso Holiday Committee members decided to go ahead and set up the display.