Saint Anthony

Closter was about 20 years behind Madison and Florham Park. In Madison, Saint Vincent's was like a cathedral. The schools were newer and larger in Florham Park and Madison. The trains there were overhead, with a beautiful train station. In Closter, the church, Saint Mary's, was small and quaint. We liked our priest, Father George. The trains were on the ground. After a few years we got used to all the differences and Closter became home to us.

Once I wanted to light a candle for Saint Anthony, but there was no statue of Saint Anthony at Saint Mary's. I asked Father George and he said, “Light a candle in front of a different saint. They will not fight.” He made me laugh.

One day Father George called me and said, “I was in New York City this week and I saw a nice statue of Saint Anthony. Someone else is also interested in getting a statue of Saint Anthony. I want to know if you and your husband would pay for half or perhaps the whole cost.” The price was not too bad, so I told Father George that we would donate it ourselves. Now I could light a candle for Saint Anthony.

Our niece Dolores got married in December, 1947. She asked her cousin John to be the best man for the wedding. Our son John, two of his sisters and I made the trip through the deep snow. There were no cars on the road. People thought we were crazy to go out in that weather. The ride was normally one and a half hours. It took us over two and a half hours. When we got to the church the wedding was just starting. They had another fellow take John's place by proxy. It was too late for John to get in the wedding party. After the wedding was over John took his place in the wedding pictures. He also sat at the head table with them. Later, John and his wife Rosemarie would be sponsors for Dolores and Hank's child. They named him John after our son.

I had not been feeling right after the rupture operation. It had not been a success. I had to have the same operation the following March. I went through misery. Thank God, this time it was a success. I had to stay another week in the hospital. It was hard for my husband to come from Closter to Morristown to visit me in All Souls' Hospital.

In a few weeks I felt much better. I was in the swing of things again. I did all my housework. I also helped a few hours a day grading roses, taking buds off the carnation plants, packaging stephanotis, putting 50 in each plastic bag. My husband was glad to get the extra help. When spring came my husband planted a very large garden. I canned and made jellies. It was hard work. It used to tire me out.

If one of the men that took care of the boilers got sick, my husband would do his work also. He went to bed very tired, got up at 6:00 a.m., had breakfast, shaved and went back to the business by 7:00 a.m. His two sons did the same thing. The first three years were wonderful. The flowers were paying well, we were meeting our mortgage, payroll and all other bills.

Mr. Asmus had given us the mortgage. He used to love to say, “If you don't pay your mortgage payment every month, I will take the business back.” We talked it over with the bank managers, and they said they would give us a mortgage. Mr. Asmus was surprised when we paid him off.

This time we had the bank separate five acres from the rest of the land. We now had two separate mortgages. In case we should lose the business, we would always have five acres of land. We would joke and laugh, “We can always pitch a tent and have a roof over our head.”