Born in Fomento Las Villas in Cuba, Julia Valdivia of Union City is a living legend in her own right, in regard to helping her Cuban neighbors and other Hispanics since approximately 1974. Settling in Union City in 1957, she has never looked back, and has lived in her adopted city ever since.
Ms. Valdivia, as she tells her story, worked for the New York Telephone Company before the magic year of 1974, which is the year that she began her public entrance into community life, as she was asked by the legendary and now deceased Union City Mayor William V. Musto to join his administration. Mayor Musto was also a state senator at the time. Seemingly, her prior activities within the Cuban community, as well as her campaigning for his election to recapture City Hall, caught Mayor Musto’s keen political eyesight, and he asked her to become his assistant, mayor’s aide, etc., within the city’s public affairs department.
Ms. Valdivia has worked for every mayor of Union City government since Mayor Musto in 1974, even though she became involved politically in 1970. The last mayor of Union City that she worked for was Mayor Rudy Garcia, who was also a former state assemblyman. Thus, she is now retired from city government activities.
While in city government, Ms. Valdivia excelled in helping people attain citizenship and housing, as well as employment. She became active in the Cuban Day Parade Committee, became an elected member of the Union City Board of Education, and was recognized as a “Woman of Achievement” in 1978. She reminisces also about her activities under Mayors Arthur Wichert and Bruce Walter who is now deceased, in regard to activities under their leadership, and the duties she was assigned under them, on behalf of the people of the community.
Although out of much of the limelight, Ms. Valdivia speaks about her family, of which she has two daughters named Rita Salvador who lives in Union County, and another daughter Anna Shababb who lives in Union City, and is an employee of the Union City Board of Education. She has three grandchildren named, Michael, Stephanie, and Samantha.
Ms. Valdivia has traveled to Spain, Poland, Italy, and Germany, and maybe one day will be able to go to her native Cuba, fate permitting. In her retirement days she finds more time to keep track of old friends, and she is a member of the Saint Lazaro Christian Church in Union City. Ms. Valdivia also keeps her eye on politics and community affairs by having been appointed as a part-time legislative aide to State Assemblywoman Caridad Rodriguez of West New York. However, Ms. Valdivia is presently recuperating from breast cancer, and when she is feeling better, she plans to join an organization to support other cancer survivors!
In the meantime, it is said that a person is known for what they are by the friends and people who know them best, and their opinion of them. That said, Susan Shababb-Pirro of Secaucus tells us that Julia Valdivia has been a vocal and active advocate for the Hispanic community in North Hudson County for decades, and has nothing but respect and admiration for her! Union City Deputy Mayor Nicholas Mastorelli tells us that Ms. Valdivia is a very loyal person, who was and still is extremely active in the Cuban community, and is one of the original Cuban activists in Union City’s history, and that there is even a city street named after her because she is so well respected!
Former Union City Mayor Arthur Wichert said that Ms. Valdivia is of very high standing within the Cuban community and well appreciated by her community! Former elected Commissioner Rhyta Musto tells us that Ms. Valdivia was one of the first Cuban leaders in Union City, and was also co-founder of the old Cuban Lyceum when it was formed, and which was an active avenue for the Cuban culture. Ms. Valdivia was friendly to all, and was and still is a very vivacious woman, said Mrs. Musto! Finally, Emilio Del Valle the present president of the North Hudson Cuban Day Parade Committee from Union City, tells us that Ms. Valdivia is a good woman who helped many Cubans and other Hispanics become citizens, and has done a lot for people within the Cuban/Hispanic community on all levels. She is to be commended, Del Valle said! Thus, Julia Valdivia is basically also a “Grand Dame,” within her cultural community. – All The Best!!! …
The new Our Hudson Home 16-Month/2010 Calendar is out in distribution, and the art exhibits on a monthly basis by young North Hudson County artists are as great as ever! The winning artists from the Union City Board of Education from various schools are: Alex Dominguez, Yosse Guervara, Carolyn Vilchez, Erika Gonzalez and Tiffany Rivera. Two winners from the Mother Seton Inter Parochial School in Union City were Diego Pena and Clara Matamoros. Town of Secaucus winners from various Board of Education schools were Donald Cieciuch, Mirali Patel, and Emily Wong. The calendar contest is sponsored by the Hudson County Improvement Authority Earth Day Celebration, and the HCIA Chairman is John Shinnick of Secaucus. For a free delivery of a calendar, just call 1-800-540-0987. Congratulations to all the winners!!! …
Recent Seton Hall University/ Essex County graduates from North Bergen were: Stephanie Lilian Astuto, Virginia E. Lombardo, and Nevine A. Elshazly. Best wishes to all! …
Sister M. Frances Pastusek has become a 60-year/2009 Jubilarian, announced Archbishop John J. Myers of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Sister Pastusek, O.S.F., was a teacher at the Saint John Nepomucene School in Guttenberg. Many happy returns to your day! …
Weehawken Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey T. Fulcher, we hear, gets high marks for departmental innovations, and is praised by employee policemen on the beat. Great news, and more to come in future columns. Always a pleasure! …
And so it goes … until next time … see you around town … “MATT”
Readers who would like to contribute to this column can do so by mailing your news items, along with your name, address, and telephone number to: Matthew Amato, columnist, c/o The Hudson Reporter, 1400 Washington St., Hoboken, New Jersey 07030. Thank you!