April 25, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXX, No. 50
IN MEMORIAM The Rev. Msgr. John J. Gilchrist + 1929-2018
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COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
‘BRAVEST MAN I KNEW’ Belleville’s Fred Stockham, once forgotten as WWI hero, finally remembered for his sacrifice By Karen Zautyk kzautyk@theobserver.com
Top photo: John Singer Sargent’s 1919 painting ‘Gassed’ depicts Allied troops on a World War I battlefield in the aftermath of a German mustard-gas attack: the dead, the dying and the blinded leading the blinded. Above: Stockham’s grave in Union. Left: A color portrait of Stockham.
Earlier this month, historian/writer Timothy Daudelin, a former Belleville resident who is a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor Historical Society, visited this town’s veterans’ memorials on Union Avenue. And there he noticed a significant omission. While there is a special Medal of Honor monument
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honoring Henry Svehla, killed in Korea in 1952, Daudelin knew it should also have listed the name of a second Belleville man, awarded the U.S. military’s highest honor for heroism decades before — in World War I. Daudelin contacted the Belleville Historical Society, which has confirmed that yes, indeed, a name was missing: That of U.S. MaSee STOCKHAM, Page 25
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
KHS alum wins drama Pulitzer By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com
A Kearny native has been named the 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner in the category of Drama. Martyna Majok, a 2003 Kearny High School alumna, was recognized for her play “Cost of Living,” that premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival on June 29,
2016, and had an Off-Broadway run at New York City Center by Manhattan Theatre Club during 2017. The Pulitzer Committee described the play as “an honest, original work that invites audiences to examine diverse perceptions of privilege and human connection through two pairs of mismatched individuals: a former trucker and his recently paralyzed ex-wife,
IN THE ARTS and an arrogant young man with cerebral palsy and his new caregiver.” The 14 Pulitzer winners in 14 journalism and seven letters, drama and music categories were announced April 16. Majok will collect a $15,000
cash award from the Pulitzer program. Even as a youngster, Majok evidenced signs of creativity. In an email, Kathie Williams, a teacher in the Kearny public school system, recalled having Majok in her eightgrade class at Franklin School in the late 1990s. “As a little girl,” Williams said, “[Majok] would tell me that someday she would write a book.” And, as an eighth-grade student, Williams recounted, Majok “wrote a play called ‘Ivory and Onyx,’ which I sent to the New Jersey Playwrights Contest in New Brunswick. It won, then, and was performed on the stage as a readingwithout-scenery. As a class, we went to see it at the State Theater.” Her recollection was that it delved into the relationship between two elementary school-aged inter-racial youngsters during segregation in the Deep South. The young boy, who is black, finds an onyx ring in an attic and as an act of friendship, presents it to the girl, who is white. Their forbidden relationship is discovered and the KKK steps into the picture, killing the boy. “She wrote another play in freshman year about a European Jewish family going into hiding during the Holocaust, and we submitted that, too,” Williams said. That play wasn’t showcased, however. “I am so thrilled that she has found success! It is
Martyna Majok
certainly well-earned and deserved,” the educator added. “You could tell early on, she definitely had a call for writing.” Majok went to study English Literature at the University of Chicago, earned a master’s degree in playwriting at the Yale School of Drama, studied at Julliard School and Yale School of Drama. “Ironbound,” Majok’s newest production, with Women’s Project Theater, began previews March 3 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York. The playwright’s husband, Josiah Bania, is in the cast. The play focuses on a character named Darja, a Polish immigrant who is a factory worker and a house cleaner. The play earned kudos from a Washington Post reviewer who called it a “knockout.” In a Feb. 17, 2016, interview See MAJOK, Page 19
Inside this edition ... Opinion....................................................................8 Food & Dining Directory.............................................12 Sports & Recreation...................................................13 Health & Wellness Directory.......................................16 Real Estate..............................................................18 Real Estate Directory................................................20 Obituaries...............................................................21 Classifieds..............................................................22 Business Directory....................................................24
THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018
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Follow the brick road to KHS entrance By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com KEARNY — Wanna buy a brick? As the Kearny Board of Education prepares to tackle the last big piece of its lingering high school improvement project — restoration of the front lawn — it’s enlisting help from John Q. Public. BOE member Sebastian “Zibbie” Viscuso elaborated, saying the board has bought into a concept creating angled walkways diverging from the base of the high school’s front steps and extending onto both sides of the lawn area. Each section of this path would run 140 feet and the path itself would measure six feet wide, he said. And now — here’s where you come into the picture — each path will be filled in by dedicated brick pavers to be offered for public sale as family memorials or as tributes to the living … similar to the setup at Lincoln Middle School and an analogous layout in front of the North Arlington municipal building. “We’re calling them ‘memory lane pavers,’ for the people of Kearny,’’ Viscuso said. The pavers will be designed in patterns of blocks repeating every five feet along each path, he said. Also, 10% of each paver purchased will be donated to a Kearny High School athletic team or extracurricular club so designated by the buyer, thereby offsetting some of the taxpayer money supporting student activities. Viscuso said he’s in for at least two pavers — one for each side of his family — with the 10% contributions being donated to some of the teams for whom his grandchildren play. Julia Viscuso, a tri-athlete, splits her time among soccer, indoor track and softball while Joseph Viscuso can be seen on the volleyball court. He credited past members of the KHS Student Government Organization for actually coming up with the concept.
Photo by Ron Leir
A good chunk of the Kearny High School front lawn — currently a serious eyesore — will soon be replaced by brick pavers that could be used as memorials or tributes.
“The idea came from meetings I had with them two years ago,” Viscuso said. “They wanted a pathway and a place to sit down. And bike racks. In essence, nobody had seen the front of Kearny High, with the scaffolds and trailers there, for 12 years.” Benches — how many has yet to be determined — will be installed at intervals along each pathway and the bike racks will probably go on the perimeter of the south lawn, he said, with each rack accommodating 12 to 16 bikes. Work on the pathways will be entrusted to a stonemason to be subbed out by Bennett Construction, the Kearnybased general contractor hired in July 2016 to complete the high school renovations, said Mark Bruscino, BOE operations director. Val Hadshinow, a KHS alumnus of the 1950s, will execute the engravings on the pavers, he noted. Getting the front lawn back in shape, putting in a sprinkler system, signs and a flagpole, along with the walkways, benches and racks, figures to run an estimated $100,000 — all of which is factored into the contractor’s price. “We’re hoping to have it all done by June with a grand opening in September,” Viscuso said. By his reckoning, there should be room enough to accommodate more than 4,000 pavers. As of last week, KHS
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Athletic Director Vincent Almeida, who is keeping track of the pavers end of the project, said “about 50” orders had been placed for the commemorative bricks. Three categories of pavers are available: 4 inches-by-8 inches, 3 lines with 15 spaces per line, one character (including spaces) per box, for $100; 8 x 8, 4 lines with 15 spaces per line, for $150; and 12 x 12, 5 lines with 60 spaces per line, for $250. Order forms may be picked up at the KHS main office and returned to Almeida, care of the KHS Athletic Office, 336 Devon St. Checks should be made payable to Kearny Board of Education.
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