St. Joseph's Village, Rockleigh, NJ

CLASS PICTURES & OTHER PHOTOS 

Class Pictures

These class pictures were shot at various times at Mother Evangelista School which was the formal name of the on-premisses elementary school at the Village. There are some discrepancies in the reports we received regarding the names of the children pictured and the dates they were taken. See the note below about dating of photos.

If you can identify any of the people we were not able to identify, please let us know. If anyone has class pictures of other grades or classes of other years, please contact us.

1st Grade, 1965-66 school year. In the first row across, (Unidentified), Linda Hamilton, Colette Blanacheo, second row, Bill Hamilton, Rosa Jiminez, Vivian Aviles, third row, (Unidentified), (Unidentified), Karen Orme, (Requested to be unnamed), fourth row, (Unidentified), (Unidentified), (Unidentified), standing, David Ortiz, (Unidentified), "J.J." Gaines Johnson, Richard Vallellanes, (Rest unidentified) One in the back row is Jimmy Rivera. The sister is Maria, a Polish nun that came to the U.S. just 2 years before and loved the Beatles.

2nd Grade, 1965-66 school year. In the first row across, Peggy Flusk, (Unidentified), (Unidentified), second row, (Unidentified), Aurea Figueroa, Iri Delia Figueroa, third row, (Unidentified), Betty Hamilton, (Unidentified), standing, (Unidentified), (Unidentified), Curtis Cook, Larry Rivera, and Mary Ellen Nicoles, (Unidentified), Jane DeChristofaro, (Unidentified), Bobby Kelly, Charlie Sylvester, and Richard Davis. Sr. James is their teacher.

3rd Grade, 1965-66 school year. (Some visitors believe this to be 1961-62) In the first row across, Peggy Vallellanes, Eileen Coogan. To the far right is Iris Aviles. (Or Elizabeth Aviles as one reader identified her to be.) In the second row, (Unidentified), Patricia Shields, Maria Felix. In the third row, Gene DeChristofaro, Barbara Geary, Mary Catherine Anderson. Standing are David Davis, Emilo, Timothy Walker, Larry Priest, (rest are unidentified.). Sr. Scholastica is their teacher. (This sister was originally identified by a reader to be Sr. Scholastica and was later identified by Peggy Vallellanes to be Sr. Zita.)PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHERYN

We have not yet obtained a photo of the 4th and 5th grades from this series of class photos shot in 1966.

6th and 7th Grade, 1966-67 school year.In the front row across, Steve Walker, Phyllis Carlone, and Mary Malinsky. Second row, (unidentified), (name witheld by his request), (unidentified), Sharon O'Connor. Third row, (unidentified), (unidentified), Marge O'Connor. Fourth row, James "Jimmy" Brown, (unidentified), Patricia Morris. Standing, Ken Walker, (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified), Bill VanNote, (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified), (unidentified). Their teacher is Sr. M. Thomasina. PHOTO COURTESY OF KATHERYN

Special Grade Class. Beverly Williams is pictured first on the left in the third row. All others are unidentified. Their teacher is Robert Lampert who also served as the senior boys prefect. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBYN ROGERS

Dating of the class pictures
There has been much discussion regarding the exact dating of the class pictures. As far as we know class pictures were shot in two consecutive school years. There is evidence to dating the 6th and 7th grade photo to be 1966-1967. Jim Brown, publisher of this site, has a time line chart of his early life that is accurately shows dates relative to specific events in his life. It shows that he was in 7th grade for the '66-'67 school year and he is pictured in that year's photo above. Sr. Thomasina, who's class is pictured, was his 7th grade teacher as indicated on his 7th grade report card which is one of the example report cards pictured here on this site. Sr. Thomasina was not his 6th grade teacher. The 2nd and 3rd grade picture has been identified to be '65-'66 by a veiwer who traced back from his and his brother's graduating year to show that date is correct.

Sports

"Lets Go! St. Joseph's!"

Yes!, In the fall of 1963 the Village had a football team and cheerleaders. Though it did not last long, they had uniforms for the players and the cheerleaders with the "SJ" letters. "Bush 'em back. Push 'em back. Push 'em waaaaaay back!" Kneeling are Rosemary Hickey and Patty Reilly. Standing first row, Claudia Eichen, Cathy McFarland, Carlos Rivera, Tommy O'Connor, Johnny O'Connor, (Unidentified), Cathy Guarini, and Kathy Noonan. Second row, Ed Milikowski, (Unidentified), (unidentified), Mr. Bob Lampert (Coach), Jimmy Di Pasquale, Tommy Hall, Eddie Rhodes. (This image is not big enough to enlarge.) PHOTO COURTESY JOHNNY O'CONNOR

At the Pool

The Village finally gets a swimming pool


Many great memories of days spent at the village pool. Michael Munzial is the first on the diving board, JJ Gaines is third, others unidentified. PHOTO BY JOE STUTZ

There was no pool at the Village for many years. All there was was three circular wading pools, one at the girls end, one at the boys end and one at the Givernaud Cottage. That was until the mid 60s when the diggers came in and started construction and we anxiously watched from the windows of the long corridor as they dug the hole that was to become our new pool. Opening day came and a musical grand opening featured many water and beach related songs. Songs like such as "By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea" and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles." A new era of memories began. (This image is not big enough to enlarge.)