Janet Laiso:  

Well, lets see, I was born in Newark, NJ. My father hated it and didn't want to bring his children up there, so he bought property in Montville and built his family a beautiful home. We were all very happy, but I missed Newark. I left my 3 cousins that lived upstairs for 10 years of my life. It was devestating to move away from them. The whole move from Newark to Montville was quite a trip. The silence in the evening made me crazy. We went from sidewalks and cars to grass and trees. We had trees that had vines in them so you could swing like Tarzan. We built ourselves a fort and camaflaged it so the boys couldn't find it, we had an empty lot and we'd play baseball every day and run around the grass in our bare feet. That was great!!! Sleigh riding was the greatest. We would all get on the top of our hill somehow attach all of the sleds together and then go wizzing down the hill until we came to the end of the street, half of us strewn all over the hill as we got bumped off the sled. My fathers parents died when we were very young so we never got to know them, my mother's mother died I was 13. My grandfather lived until his 80's. Our parents gave us the gift of teaching us the meaning of family. Every Sunday all of my mothers brothers and sisters (9 all together) would bring their young, growing families for a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a really big part of our survival in those days. Everybody would bring something to eat or drink and we would all sit at the table and break bread together. We were thankfull for what we had. Because so many people contributed to the "event" we always had quite an abundance of food. Bonding as a family was to be a great advantage. We may not have had much, but we never knew it. Italians always make family a priority - you were protected by a circle of love. No matter how bad/good things could get, you always had this large family to depend on for anything. My mother still lives in that house, the house her husband and brothers built for her in Montville. The problem was I was raised in Newark for the first 10 years of my life. That's when a child usually develops their personalities and nuances. My upbringing was based in the streets of Newark. My first memory of getting to school (which was down the block and across the street) was getting roughed around by some mean kids. Well that night I decided that no one would ever put their hands on me again, so when I went to school, I became the aggressor. I can remember holding some kid around the neck while I slapped him in the face. Needless to say, no one bothered me again, but it changed me. Using expletives was the norm, and the kids from Montville Twp were nothing like I was used to dealing with, they were going on hayrides. I was ready to pounce. I didn't fit in anywhere and I was very lonely - most of my family and friends were in Newark so I felt rather displaced and had a kind of a "rocky" start in high school but I managed. I got married and had a son, Sammy, in 1966. His father was stationed in Germany - he lucked out of going to VietNam. I was a hairdresser and worked in a shop in Rockaway, NJ for 4 years - I even entered shows, yep I got up in front of all those people and never once got scared. I think that's because I am such a extrovert - I love people and I love talking to them as you can tell by my biography. I used to get invited to parties just because they needed someone to start the party rolling. That is my forte - I am a people person. When I was in my thirties I moved in with my parents for a while. The kids on the street would come to the door and ask my mother if I could come out and play!!! I regress easily. So I couldn't stand being a beautition and decided to do something I was more suited for - I worked in the service department at Paul Miller Porsche Audi dealership in Parsippany. I had to deal with the customers all the time. One time my boss called me and asked me to come to his office because he wanted to "chat" with me - I couldn't imagine what I had done, but I went willingly. He told me I made too many personal calls and he wanted me to focus on my job, not my friends. I looked at him and said - I never make personal calls, what are you talking about? So he asked me who are you always talking to and laughing with? I said - your customers Mr. Miller. He knew I was a silly person, but he didn't know I was so in touch with his customers. So he gave me a title - Customer Relations Specialist. I acted as liaison between the customers and service writers just to make sure the customers were happy and treated well. That was a sinch. Mr Miller is a wonderful man and he was a great boss. I had so much fun there it didn't seem like a job. It's really a plus if what you do for 8 hours a day at work is fun. We were a good working, silly bunch of people that knew how to work and knew how and when to play. I still talk to him. He's a neat guy. If you ever meet him tell him that Janet Robinson (2nd husband - keep up) said hi. I betcha he'll smile. I don't even know how many years I worked there but I wanted to do more and working in a dealership really has a way of wearing you down. So I looked for another job and got one in West Orange where I did bookkeeping, payroll, A/P & A/R and poof, I was on my way to a new career. I was also tired of Parsippany and believe it or not I moved back to North Newark where I could be closer to all of my relatives. I moved to North Newark the park is off Lake Street and believe it or not I can't remember what the name of the park is I just remember there was a guy that sold the best hot dogs in a truck parked just outside of the park but on Bloomfield Avenue. That's the park with the cherry blossoms, it was beautiful and clean and everyone went there to run, ride bikes, you know, the usual park stuff. North Newark was "safe" because (I was told) the Mafia was centered there - I mean the houses were beautiful, it was safe to walk around. Tony Imperialdi was there protecting the citizens (for real) so I was never scared. North Newark is where Bloomfield ends and Newark starts so it was a really nice area. I used to run in the park 3 miles every single day - all the Italian women who lived in our little condo area were great cooks and they were very willing to share their cooking secrets with me. Between them, my mother of course, and the cooking channel I became an excellent cook. Now I absolutely love to cook - I don't do well with desserts, eh, but I try and everyone gobbles up what I bring anyway - so I do my best. After the job in West Orange I was offered a job at the Meadowlands as an administrative assistant for a company (vendor) that had a site at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. My office was under the Racetrack - not the track itself because we would have gotten trampled by the horses - but inside where they had the bars and some food stands and OTB. The company was called Unico and we did all of the cleaning, electrical, plumbing and HVAC work in the Stadium, Arena and Racetrack. We had more than 800 people on our weekly payroll. I also had to deal with 4 different unions. That was just so much fun???? We were allowed to go upstairs and gamble on our breaks or lunch time although I never did. We could have gone to anything that was going on at the stadium (I met all the Giants, drove on the 50 yard line where Hoffa is supposed to be buried, went to all the events at the Arena ie., hockey and basketball. We had cart blanche and that was a blast. I saw the Stones, Pavoriti, the Pope, I can't even tell you how much we got to see, it was great. Then I moved down neck (the other end of Newark) I moved into the house where my mother was brought up, with my Aunt Jo. I had my own apartment that became party central - everyone (a million relatives) congregated at my place. But of course, it all came to a halt on Jan. 18, 1998. I lost my only child that day. My son Sammy, that was the day he died.. The pain of losing your child no one should have to go thru. It knocked me off my axis. It was a horror that hit the whole family. It was oh so very sad. After my first marriage fell apart I met up with a man who wisked me off my feet - well for 9 months he did. Then I found out why he had no hair on his arms or legs, or why he was so wired all the time. He was arrested for the manufacturing and distribution of methamphetimines (spelling?) I know it sounds hoakey, but I didn't have a clue. So he went off to jail for 15 years and I went on with my life. I had moved to Atlantic City with him and wound up staying there for another 7 years. I got a really nice house in Brigantine, a good job in AC and how about this, my babysitter lived next door to my job. It was perfect. Sammy and I had a blast because we both loved the beach. Brigantine was pristene then - the water was clean and the beach was white. We even slept on the beach. No one bothered you there. When I was 25 I met and fell head over heals in love with a man named Cliff. Meeting him was like what the Italians call the "thunderbolt". (I'm 100% Italian). We dated and were together for 5 years so he got to know my son very well. Now I hadn't seen Cliff since 1976 when we broke up, but I needed to talk to him, so I called his number - do you know he still had the same phone number. We talked for a few months and finally decided to meet again on the 4th of July holiday. I was nervous, but the second we saw each other we knew, we were soul mates. Get this, he still had my recipe box, a scarf and an ashtray that my Aunts gave me from Italy. He held that stuff for 22+ years, always knowing in the back of his head that he would see me again. Well, it didn't take long, but slowly I moved back to Atlantic City and we got married in 2000. I still have the same phone number I had all those years ago!! I got a job at City Hall in the City Clerks office - it was a l...Expand for more