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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 25, 2023 14:38:39 GMT -5
My condolences, Rob Allen. Your mom had an inspiring journey, and I thank her for giving us such a great and knowledgeable friend. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Apr 25, 2023 15:18:37 GMT -5
I am sorry that I don't have the right words to say. The closest I have lost was grandparents. But my parents are in their 70's but thankfully in good health. I remember watching a lot of old westerns with my paternal grandfather. I quite enjoyed those times together. Thankfully you have the memories of her to remember. It's not anything like death but in the last year I have said goodbye to two friendships as they moved on in life. Saying goodbye either way sucks.
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Post by foxley on Apr 25, 2023 16:23:50 GMT -5
Sad news, but I must admit that Harry Belafonte was another one of those celebrities that I hadn't realised was still alive.  |
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 25, 2023 18:22:58 GMT -5
Found the pictures. This is the most recent, taken about four months ago:  And this is from my last visit, for her 90th birthday. That's my brother Tom on the left.  |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220 
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2023 4:06:33 GMT -5
Sorry to hear of your loss, Rob Allen. Your mother clearly led a very full and interesting life -- and I really enjoyed reading the potted history of her life that you posted. Clearly she and your father were very hard working, up-standing citizens and no doubt they passed those qualities on to you. Thinking of you and your family in this time of sorrow. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,220
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Post by Confessor on Apr 26, 2023 4:20:21 GMT -5
That Colgate factory was a mainstay of Jersey City employment for over 150 years. Depending on what was being done in the factory on a particular day, that area downtown (and maybe beyond) smelled either of the perfumes that went into the soap or the fat it was made from. The factory, which dominated much of the neighborhood where many of my older relatives lived from the 1870s through the 1930s, is gone now, but the enormous Colgate clock remains on the site.  Maybe it's just because I've been there, but I find old photos or footage of the industrial, pre-gentrification Jersey shore fascinating. I didn't get to see the Colgate clock when I was in Hoboken in 2018, as my wife and I never went quite as far south as Jersey City, but the above photo really reminds me of some of the existing old factory buildings in Hoboken (now converted to private flats, of course) and the likes of Hoboken Train Station. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 26, 2023 11:13:00 GMT -5
That Colgate factory was a mainstay of Jersey City employment for over 150 years. Depending on what was being done in the factory on a particular day, that area downtown (and maybe beyond) smelled either of the perfumes that went into the soap or the fat it was made from. The factory, which dominated much of the neighborhood where many of my older relatives lived from the 1870s through the 1930s, is gone now, but the enormous Colgate clock remains on the site. Maybe it's just because I've been there, but I find old photos or footage of the industrial, pre-gentrification Jersey shore fascinating. I didn't get to see the Colgate clock when I was in Hoboken in 2018, as my wife and I never went quite as far south as Jersey City, but the above photo really reminds me of some of the existing old factory buildings in Hoboken (now converted to private flats, of course) and the likes of Hoboken Train Station.  In the same vein, here's a portion of the Lorillard Tobacco Company's factory, which was also a vital part of the Jersey City economy from 1870 until 1956 or so. It was in the same neighborhood as the Colgate plant. My maternal great-grandmother (among other relatives) worked there in the 1890s. At that time, the factory produced plug tobacco, snuff and chewing tobacco. For a time, it was renovated by artists into studios and apartments, but eventually, as the waterfront became gentrified, the owners forced out the artists and sold the lot at 111 1st Street so that condos could be built. Here's what remained after it was razed in 2007...  That part of the site is now a parking lot. Don't know what became of those beautiful bricks. Sorry to go on, Confessor. I'll stop now.  |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 26, 2023 11:43:04 GMT -5
(...) In the same vein, here's a portion of the Lorillard Tobacco Company's factory, which was also a vital part of the Jersey City economy from 1870 until 1956 or so. It was in the same neighborhood as the Colgate plant. My maternal great-grandmother (among other relatives) worked there in the 1890s. At that time, the factory produced plug tobacco, snuff and chewing tobacco. (...) Sorry to keep the digression going, but what you said about the aromas from the Colgate factory spreading all over the downtown area and then mentioning the tobacco company reminded me of my first apartment in Zagreb, which was about a block away from a cigarette factory - yes, until about the late 1990s, it operated right at the edge of the downtown area, so the scent of dried tobacco always wafted about the surrounding streets. (For those who don't know, before it's actually lit to be smoked, tobacco has a very pleasantly sweet aroma.) |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 26, 2023 14:28:53 GMT -5
(...) In the same vein, here's a portion of the Lorillard Tobacco Company's factory, which was also a vital part of the Jersey City economy from 1870 until 1956 or so. It was in the same neighborhood as the Colgate plant. My maternal great-grandmother (among other relatives) worked there in the 1890s. At that time, the factory produced plug tobacco, snuff and chewing tobacco. (...) Sorry to keep the digression going, but what you said about the aromas from the Colgate factory spreading all over the downtown area and then mentioning the tobacco company reminded me of my first apartment in Zagreb, which was about a block away from a cigarette factory - yes, until about the late 1990s, it operated right at the edge of the downtown area, so the scent of dried tobacco always wafted about the surrounding streets. (For those who don't know, before it's actually lit to be smoked, tobacco has a very pleasantly sweet aroma.) Not around the plants in Virginia and the Carolinas. I have driven near Richmond, VA and Durham, SC and I wouldn't describe the smell as sweet or pleasant, and I grew up near a city (Decatur, IL) with a soybean processing plant (2 of them!) and a hog farm, just outside of town. Either of those was preferable. Maybe you get a better smelling class of tobacco, in that part of the world. |
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Post by Calidore on Apr 27, 2023 10:12:39 GMT -5
A different class of legend, Jerry Springer has died at 79.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 27, 2023 10:31:10 GMT -5
Less infamous...Pittsburgh Pirates legend Dick Groat passed away at age 92. Groat not only played for 14 seasons (he lost two seasons to the military), he also played college basketball for Duke, was drafted in the first round of the basketball draft and played one season for the Fort Wayne Pistols. The fact that Groat isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame is ridiculous as his numbers are as good or better than many contemporary infielders who are there.  |
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 28, 2023 3:31:36 GMT -5
A different class of legend, Jerry Springer has died at 79. He will be remembered. What an industry he created... |
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Post by berkley on Apr 28, 2023 3:51:12 GMT -5
I suppose I should have mentioned this during the Zoom meeting yesterday. My mom died on Thursday afternoon. Jo Ann Heald Allen 7/1/1931 - 4/20/2023 She was born in Alabama and died in Virginia, but wasn't a Southerner. She spent most of her life in New Jersey. Her parents were from Ohio; her dad was a chemical engineer who got his first post-grad job at a company in Anniston AL. The company went bust - it was the Depression - and he was hired by Colgate-Palmolive in Jersey City NJ, where he worked for 30 years. She grew up in Nutley NJ and became a nurse - an RN with a Bachelor's degree, which was rare at the time. On her first clinical rotation as a student nurse, she met an orderly who worked on the psych ward while studying at night. My parents enjoyed telling people that they'd met on the psych ward. She worked as a nurse until my brother was born and I was 3, then went back to work part-time as I was entering my teens. Part-time soon became full-time and then up the management ladder - she ended up being Director of Nursing at three different long-term geriatric care facilities in NJ. When she and my dad were in their sixties (i.e. the age I am now) they and my brother bought a derelict 1857 farmhouse in rural Virginia and turned it into a country inn/farm vacation place. It was like a bed-and-breakfast but they had to provide all three meals because there was no place to eat nearby. They ran Loblolly Plantation for ten years until the insurance premiums suddenly increased. They sold the big house and bought 20 acres nearby, where they put two manufactured homes, one for the folks and one for my brother. My dad died in 2011 and Mom spent most of the last dozen years watching old Westerns on TV. I'll find some pictures to post.
All condolences Rob.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 28, 2023 7:27:11 GMT -5
A different class of legend, Jerry Springer has died at 79. He will be remembered. What an industry he created... "He WAS the father..." Let the screeching ensue. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 28, 2023 9:10:33 GMT -5
A different class of legend, Jerry Springer has died at 79. He will be remembered. What an industry he created... He unfortunately created. |
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