Arts and Entertainment

One day when Carmela was about eight years old, we went to Olympic Park, an amusement park in Irvington, N.J. [Editors note: Unbeknownst to Ann, Olympic Park's playfield was her future husband's favorite. Richard DeVenezia lived across the street from the field and recalls playing ball amongst the circus animals pastured there.] They had swings, a merry-go-round, all kinds of rides, animal acts and dancers performing. We packed a nice lunch. We ate it on one of the picnic tables. When we finished eating we walked around. All of a sudden we looked around and we couldn't see Carmela. We walked all around the park looking for her. She was nowhere to be found. We wondered where a little girl like that could have gone. We expected to find her crying for us, but suddenly one of the children yelled, “There she is!”

The dancers were performing and there was Carmela crouched under the ropes and enjoying the dancers. She was so fascinated by them that she was not missing us. When we got home, Carmela asked her father if it was possible to give her dancing lessons because she would love to learn to dance.

My husband was touched by the way she asked, so he told me that we would give Carmela dancing lessons. Carmela was overjoyed. She loved dancing. She practiced all over the house. She learned well. Our floors were covered with linoleum; she danced so much that she wore holes in many places on the floor. We enjoyed watching Carmela dance, because she looked so cute trying to do her best. Of course, our watching her encouraged her to keep going. She was so good that she was chosen to dance in school plays. There was another girl in her class, Doris Eaton, who was as good as she was. Carmela danced from the time she was nine until she graduated from high school.

In high school there was a fellow named Jimmy Hedges who also danced, so Carmela was paired with him. My husband would buy her chocolate bars and give them to her during intermission. He said it would give her energy. Of course, she was pleased to get them. Carmela and Jimmy danced the Mexican hat dance one evening. The people who went to see the show commented what good dancers they were. Some of our friends came to congratulate us for having a daughter who could dance so well. It gave us great pleasure to see our daughter perform. When she was 16 years old her father would take her to Summit, N.J., for her dancing lessons.

Our second daughter Phyl took dancing lessons also. She danced at recitals but didn't care for it. She wanted to take piano lessons. We owned a piano, so my niece Dolores would walk about one and a half miles from high school to our house once a week and give her cousin piano lessons for 75 cents for one hour. Then we gave her supper. Dolores enjoyed coming to our house. In the summer my husband would give her fruit and vegetables, then take her home with his car. This niece still loves me very much. She now lives in Trenton, N.J. We write to each other. She was a sponsor for Phyl on her confirmation. They are very close. Phyl enjoyed playing piano and still does. When she got older she went for a few night courses; she plays very well now.

A few years after that our son Tony took lessons in Hawaiian guitar. He practiced and all that. He played for us for a while, then he gave up. Our son John wanted to learn to play the drums. My husband and I talked it over and we decided the noise would be too much. The family wouldn't be able to stand it. He didn't want to learn to play anything else, so it became a closed case.

We still had Ann. She played the clarinet at school. She liked it, so we gave her clarinet lessons. She progressed very well in it. She played for school functions in grammar school in Florham Park. When we moved to Closter, she took clarinet lessons from an elderly man who had played in the Sousa band when he was younger. He was a very good teacher.

Ann ended up playing for Closter High School in many school affairs. She really enjoyed playing the clarinet. She would practice without being told. She was using a clarinet that a cousin of hers loaned her. While in high school she bought a very good clarinet for herself. Today she has six children. The oldest is a girl in college. The youngest is 11 years old. Ann plays the clarinet for them once in a while. Ann now teaches three freshmen English classes and two senior classes. Her students found out she played the clarinet so they asked her to play it for them. They were surprised to hear how well she plays. She loves to teach.