West Essex Tribune

The Livingston High School boys’ winter track team had a good season, reported coach Nancy Petryna. “The team was led by a handful of seniors and a large group of hard-working developing underclassmen who ran, jumped, and threw together throughout the season. They were ever the competitors, and the coaches could always count on each boy to fight for every inch or second.” Team captains were Philmon Mehari, Sean Miller, Jacob Kogut, and Siraj Akmal.

The standout individual performer for the season, said coach Petryna, was senior Philmon Mehari, “a fierce competitor on the track who showed the ability to excel at a variety of races including the 800, 1,600, and 3,200 meter distances, in which he achieved the season’s best times on the team.”

WINNING SEASON FOR WRESTLERS: The Livingston High School wrestling team finished with a 14-8 record. Season highlights included a first place finish at the Secaucus Patriot Invitational; a third place finish in the Essex County Tournament; and a second place finish in the District 9 Tournament. Team members include, rear, coaches Dan Brill and Chris DiIanni, Stratos Kantanas, Max Lee, Michael Petrillo, Anthony Newman, Jason Quirk, Nico Ramirez, Tyler Stolfi, Azel Bishop, Shaun Quirk, Alessandro Zacheo, Eddie Padilla, Aidan Carmody, Vinnie Militello, Zack Vera, and coach Ernie Cuneo; middle row, Aidan Kessler, Ben Smolensky, Brody Gutenberg, Josh Millman, Rory Subarsky, Ryan Kedrie, Matt Martin, Gabe Kanchek, Phenol Morlan, Roberto Camean, and Davis Dauti; and front, Kevin Risch, Nick Slotnick, Gabe Fleisher, Johann Ramirez, James Rossi, Lorenz Najjar, Josh Scherr, Dan Silverman, and Henry Dagistino. Don Schwartz Photo

Former Livingston resident Kurt Stern died March 15 at the age of 99.

Born in Germany, he had lived in West Orange for 20 years. Earlier, he resided in Livingston and East Hanover.

Mr. Stern was predeceased by his wife, Florence. He was the father of Heidi Sussman and her husband, Mark, of West Orange; and the late Dr. Kenneth Stern. He is also survived by five grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.

Private graveside services were held March 17. A memorial service celebrating Mr. Stern’s life will be held at a future date.

World War II veteran and former Marine Betty Fingerhut, nee Vener, died Sunday, March 15, at her home at Inglemoor Care Center. She was 97 years old.

Mrs. Fingerhut was born in Albany, New York. Shortly after the United States entered World War II, while working as a legal secretary she “accidentally” joined the Marine Corps after a photo of her standing near a recruitment poster was published in a local newspaper. The photo featured a caption which noted, incorrectly, that “Betty Vener was the first girl from Albany to join the Marines.”

The newspaper piece inspired her to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, and she worked her way through the ranks as a radio and telephone technician at a time when women in the military had limited opportunity.

Stavroula Grafas, 100, passed away on Sunday, March 22, 2020.

Stavroula was predeceased by her beloved husband, Demetrios, as well as her son, George. She is survived by her loving daughters, Alexandra Kerrigan and Angela Peliotis, and her daughter-in-law, Margaret Grafas. She also leaves behind her dear grandchildren, Maria Southworth, Eleni Karolidis, John Psaradellis (Doris), Elizabeth Kalwinsky (Chris), and Georgia Grafas (Joseph Pacheco, Jr.); her adoring greatgranchildren, Jimmy, Mia, Maggie, Chase, Stephen, Alex, P.J., Justice, Marie, and Nate; and her brother, Anthanios Marmaras. She will also be missed dearly by her close friends, Bernice and Ward Anthony, and Ralph Bace.

Funeral services will be private. A memorial service will be held at a later date.

As we deal with the continuing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, we don’t have all of the answers, and that’s scary. We have best case scenarios (which look bleaker with each passing day), and we have worst case scenarios. We don’t know how bad this will get. We don’t know how many people will get sick, and how many of them will die. We don’t know which small businesses will be able to survive this. We don’t know how long this nightmare will last. It’s hard to function through all this uncertainty.

But we persist. We persist because this too, eventually, shall pass, and because, frankly, we have no other choice. This is our reality and we have to do what we can to get through it.

It can help to look at the bright spots in all of this (yes, there are a few, even if you might have to squint to see them).

Today, March 26, is the anniversary of the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, an American victory that spelled the beginning of the end of the war in the Pacific. Three days from now, March 29, is Vietnam Veterans Day, when we (belatedly) honor those who served in a conflict that was unpopular, and whose veterans were unfairly reviled for many years.

Let’s stop and think about those men and women who, when their country needed them, answered the call.

We are currently undergoing a global crisis, a pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. While not the same as war by any means, it is uniquely challenging and devastating in its own way. And we are being called upon now to do our part to help our country.

Mary Virginia Weber was born in 1928 in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Kathleen (Bernardin) and Edward Habbe. “Ginny” was raised by her mother and stepfather, Harry Bissell, whose career took the family to Riverside, Palm Springs, and Coronado, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Elizabeth, New Jersey; and White Plains, New York.

As a young child, she discovered her passion for reading, which remained with her through the rest of her life.

Ginny attended Good Council High School in White Plains and Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, graduating in 1948. She was soon hired as a production assistant at Time-Life in New York City.

Livingston Philanthropies, Inc. (LPI), the Livingston-based charity that runs a seasonal coat drive and a year-round collection of toiletry items for the poor, has shifted its focus during the coronavirus pandemic.
“LPI has re-invented itself during the current crisis.,” said founder and director Jeff Friedman. “Rather than volunteers personally delivering items to Essex County’s homeless and profoundly poor, we are now ordering cases of food items, in bulk, for direct delivery to our distribution associates.”
Some agencies, Friedman explained, have reached-out to LPI because they are running out of food in their pantries. “All types of food items are needed, more than ever now,” said Friedman. “LPI is reaching out to Livingston’s civic organizations, families, and individuals for emergency funding to help feed those living below the poverty line.”

The Livingston Police Department held an anti-bullying poster contest as part of the Livingston Committee for Diversity and Inclusion’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Winners of the contest, shown here holding their posters, including Izzy Muser, Lydia Ebinger and Catherine Ileya. Behind them are Officer Ralph Kolbusz; Billy Fine, chairman of the Livingston Committee for Diversity and Inclusion; Police Chief Gary Marshuetz; Township Council member Michael Vieira; and Officer Joy Klapal. The contest winners also included Violet Holtz.

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