Born in Jersey City in 1926, John Raymond Lawrora is a true survivor who still gets up every morning, looking to see what else needs to be done!
Mr. Lawrora, who lives in North Bergen, was delivered by a mid-wife and was raised by his grandparents Anton and Helene Balliel. His mother Hedwig had ill-health, and his father Frank died when he was two-years old. His first language, of course, was German, and he learned English later in his youth. A product of the Jersey City school system, beginning at the A. Harry Moore School for Crippled Children and then attending the Snyder and Dickenson High Schools, he went on to the Jersey Preparatory School, also in Jersey City, but due to ill health finally achieved a G.E.D. High School Diploma.
He went to work afterward at a North Dakota farm, as the dry climate there helped cure his deafness, and he learned grain farming procedures, to drive a tractor trailer, and to raise farm animals. Coming back to the East Coast, he took course-work at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City and later on at the Hudson County Community College, and studied health science.
After working at the Joseph Harbeke Farm in North Dakota, he went to work at various factories, Western Union, and The March of Dimes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thus, office work there also gave him a new working outlook, as his life progressed. Upon returning to New Jersey, Mr. Lawrora said that he went to work in 1947 in a customs brokerage firm in New York City for 10-years, and from there he moved into office management in several other firms, including the Jersey City Medical Center and private industry, until he retired in 1991.
In between this time, he enjoyed learning about his cultural heritage working at the Federation of American Citizens of German Descent in Union City. However, he was not finished yet, as he opened up a Gak-Law Computer Training Institute in Jersey City, and taught computer applications, secretarial course-work, resume typing, Microsoft, Excel, Power-Point, and Word-Perfect.
Then, retiring again in 2000, he moved to the Fritz Reuter Altenheim Retirement Community, where he keeps himself busy in the reception area at the North Bergen center. He lives there with his lovely wife Elsie Adelheidi Gakstetter-Lawrora, and they will be happily married for 48 years this June. Mr. Lawrora has a brother Gerard who lives in Ocean County, and a sister Joyce who lives in South Carolina.
Living at the retirement center in North Bergen has given Mr. Lawrora ample time to study and get active in learning about his roots. He has been a member of the German-American World Historical Society since 2003, and he has been active in the General Frederick Von Steuben American Day Parade in New York City since 1966. In 2009, he helped organize the Beauty Contest with 2-Floats, at the Little Miss Scheutzen Park Pageant in North Bergen, at the Fritz Reuter Altenheim Retirement Community Center.
Mr. Lawrora also is involved in cultural shows and bus rides to the Amish Country in Pennsylvania. Mr. Lawrora is a Roman Catholic, and his wife is Evangelical Lutheran Christian, and he loves soccer.
In the past, Mr. Lawrora said that he was a reporter for German-American cultural newspapers, and in the future he would like to author a book on the German society that he is a member of, for cultural educational benefit.
What is next for him to do? Get a haircut, of course from Hairstylist Giorgio “The Barber” Barlaam whose shop is in North Bergen, but who resides in Guttenberg. Mr. John R. Lawrora – All The Best!
Religious Sisters Mary Anicetus Tangney and Kathleen Egan are celebrating their 70th and 60th Jubilees respectively, announced Archbishop John J. Myers, of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. Sisters Tangney and Egan, M.F.I.C., are both Union City teachers at Saint Francis Academy. Best Wishes! …
Bryan Bartell of Secaucus, and Carolina Castro of West New York, were both recent cum laude graduates of Kean University in Essex County. Congratulations to you both! … ditto ….. Diana Giraldo, who graduated magna cum laude, also from Kean University. Leaders of tomorrow, make us proud! …
Congrats to volunteers like Cathy Marchetti, Lillian Martinelli, and Kim Szmaida, who recently took part with the Woman’s Club of Weehawken in their recent Heavenly Hats event, which provided hats for children, sponsored by the Heavenly Hats Foundation. These good ladies are but a few who volunteered their time and energy to the event. Great going ladies! …
Secaucus readers, looking at the new candidates for the Board of Education elections in April, I noticed the names of educator and former Town Middle School student Francis O’Keefe and Maryann Weiner, who is the wife of Secaucus attorney-at-law Peter Weiner. With the likes of new blood on the board like Charles Krajewski III, additions to him would make the board even newer for public consumption, and public thought. This is a viewers’ observation, as Secaucus seems to have such lively and independent-minded elections. Secaucus is really a great town! Of course, check out the other candidates, too! …
Hudson County Surrogate Judge Donald W. DeLeo of North Bergen will be addressing the members of the Telephone Pioneers on the subject of “Updated Information on Wills, Living Wills, Living Trusts, and Stories from your Hudson County Surrogate’s Court” on Wednesday, April 7, at 1 p.m. The location will be at the Bayonne Senior Center, at Story Court and Fourth Street on the second floor, in Bayonne. Further information about this free seminar can be obtained by calling (201) 795-6378. Don’t miss it! …
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 and photographs, along with your name, address, and telephone number to: Matthew Amato, c/o The Hudson Reporter, 1400 Washington St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Thank you!)