On June 17, John S. Grywalski, Jr. came back to Woodrow Wilson, the elementary school from which he graduated in 1955.
Grywalski didn’t have to reach back deep into a distant memory to recall what his grammar school looked like, even though he took his last class there nearly 50 years ago. With his wife Catherine Quinn as principal of Woodrow Wilson and Grywalski still a resident of Bayonne, he just has to meet his wife for lunch to walk down memory lane.
But this visit was different. On this morning, Grywalski came to Woodrow Wilson to give back a little something to his old school, unveiling a marquee that will bear his name and help convey the strong feelings of kinship with the school that helped teach him his ABCs.
Since every other public school in Bayonne had a marquee outside, where current events are displayed and students get their names put up for their accomplishments, he decided Woodrow Wilson should have a marquee as well. So he took it upon himself to donate one.
Yet any returning to the roots can’t help but bring a sense of nostalgia, and in strolling through the halls in anticipation of the marquee’s unveiling, Grywalski noted how little Woodrow Wilson School has changed from when he attended here, maintaining all the special qualities he still recalls from a half century ago.
He said he remembered the teachers best, and said they reflected the caring nature of the community of Bayonne.
“This is still very similar to the way it was when I was here,” he said. “There is still a very strong support for family values. I can’t think of any other community where parents and teachers put so much into education and values.”
He said the Parents-Teacher Organization holds pasta nights, dance nights, and even lip sync nights in which many parents and teachers turn out.
An American success story
Grywalski is very much proof of the American dream. Born and raised in Bayonne, he lived around the corner from Woodrow Wilson.
Grywalski graduated from Bayonne High School and went on to Rutgers University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Certified Public Accounting. Still later he earned his MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, then went on to become a very successful corporate executive, rising to a position as national partner for Deloitte and Touche, an International Consulting and Public Accounting firm, from which he retired to become Senior Vice President of Aon Consulting, Inc., a Fortune 500 company.
Currently Grywalski serves as chairman of the Life Sciences Division of Aon Inc. and is responsible for providing consulting services in Aon’s U.S. operations for pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers. Graduating from Woodrow Wilson is a kind of family tradition, said his daughter, Sheila A. Grywalski, noting that other members of the family that have passed through the doors, including her grandfather in the 1930s. His family grew up within a few blocks of the school, and one member served as the area’s fire captain in the 1950s.
A bright and sunny day
Coming back to the school on this bright and sunny day, Grywalski seemed genuinely moved by the crowd of schoolkids filling the front lawn where his donated sign stood.
The faces of the students glowed in anticipation of graduation and the long summer vacation that would soon be upon them.
Indeed, Schools Superintendent Patricia McGeehan and Principal Catherine Quinn have already planned the first message for the board, congratulating the graduating class of 2004.
McGreehan told the students that Grywalski would make a good role model and hoped he would return to the school from time to time to talk to the kids.
Grywalski smiled broadly and told the assembly he wanted to give something back to the school. Standing on the corner of Avenue B and 56th Street, the children sang a song written for the event called “Hark! The Marquee is Here,” and presented Grywalski with a large card that contained images of his past, including yearbook photos of those with whom he had graduated. The card drew his attention and seemed to move him strongly. Not only was it signed by every student, teacher and administrator, but also drew out of him memories of those whose lives he had shared during that period.
In accepting a memento, he made note of the many successful people had come from that class, and recalled one of fellow student, Harold Harrold, who had served as an ace pilot in Vietnam.
He said returning here brought back memories of the teachers and the importance of education. He joked recalling advice one teacher gave him, ” ‘Pay attention and you’ll do much better,’ and I did.”
Not to be outdone in wit, McGeehan noted that Grywalski once had a dream that he would see his name up in lights. “Well this may not be Broadway, but his name is up on Avenue B,” she said.