Aiden's 2nd Birthday

My little buddy Aiden turned two last week

He had a birthday party with lots of people and great food.

Aiden & his Mom Debbie

Debbie, our neighbor & Grandma Glo with the birthday boy

WOR TV Tower Plane Crash of 1956

One of my first memories was of the WOR TV Tower crash in 1956. The tower was built in 1949 and was built right next door to our apartment building, 7111 Palisade Ave in North Bergen, NJ. My apt. is the black building in the photo below, bottom right. The tower was 740 ft tall and stood 1040 feet above sea level. At night, red neon lights on the tower blinked WOR.

At the time it was built, the tower was 10th largest man made structure in the world. It always scared me.

Here I am with my godmother Carole in front of our apartment building with the tower behind us. This was taken May 1953.

On November 8th 1955, a small plane fit the tower in a heavy fog,the plane coasted 10 blocks and crashed into the top floor of an apartment building. The pilot and two passengers died as well as three ladies in the building. One lady jumped to her death because of the flames. The plane's engine landed in my future grammar school's play yard. Seven years later we would play on the cracked concrete where the engine landed.

I clearly remember our neighbors knocking on our door and telling us we had to evacuate the building. Everyone in a five block radius had to evacuate, because there was a real threat that tower would come crashing down.
We packed up and stayed at my Aunt Bertie's house in Wurtsboro for about a week until it was deemed safe. I remember it was so strange to see our neighborhood in the newspapers and on TV

Here's a picture of the tower from the west side of NYC the day after the crash. It's amazing how tall the tower was and that the town would have let it be constructed in a residential area. By 1957 the tower was torn down completely.

Back to Blogging

Hello, loyal Wurtsboro Boy readers, I am back on the world wide web after five months.

As most of you know I've been dealing with the passing of my beloved Dad on February 11th.

Dad passed very quickly at his home with my Mom next to him. Eventually I will write about Dad, but it's going to take time. Mom is a nursing home in Liberty NY. We tried to keep her with us, but it didn't work out with her Alzheimer's. She is safe & healthy, though scared, which just breaks my heart. I try to visit her every day.

In April we received an invitation for my cousin Patti's wedding. Toni & I decided we needed some healing and to see some family, so we flew to Bradenton, FL. for the a long weekend

Patti & Elliott hosted a wonderful barbecue at the beautiful home so that their families could meet before the wedding. It was so good to see my family and catch up with all the family news. It had been nearly 40 years since I had seen my cousins Carol & Richard. We had met up with Patti & Elliott when they were in NYC last fall.

The next day Patti & Elliott were married overlooking Bradenton Bay at Mattison's
Riverside Restaurant. After the ceremony we enjoyed a lovely champagne brunch in the restaurant>


><At the wedding brunch, cousins Richard, Patti, Jack & Carol

The same evening Patti & Elliott had their wedding reception at the Bradenton Country Club.

Over 100 people enjoyed the delicious food and danced to a wonderful band.

We had such a wonderful time and it meant so much to me to see my family after all these years. We will definitely stay in touch now.

The next day Toni & I dragged our pale bodies to beautiful Anna Maria Island for a day of sun & relaxation. Cocktails on the beach


This guy caught a small shark while fishing

I am always the happiest when I have my toes in the sand!

In May we had a comfort weekend at Maur & Eric's in Lake George with the Kilgores & Durdovics. It was one of our usual weekends, lots of delicious food and a lot of laughter with good friends

The one sad part of the weekend was when we found out that Maur & Eric's dog Wilson passed away from old age. "Willie" was a therapy dog , Eric would bring him to his medical office. He was such a good dog and we all loved him. Spencer, our dog, spent the weekend looking around the house for his buddy Willie.

Here's a picture of Willie resting his head on my leg on his boat on Lake George.

When we got home it was time to work in the garden. I'll post some flower pictures late, but here is the small waterfall I built. As soon as it was done a small toad jumped into the water.

Incredible! Even more incredible the little toad was instantly fried.

I have since learned not to use three indoor extension cords to hook up the waterfall pump.
That little guy took one for the team