Barbara Sholz (McCarthy)

Hi fellow Piusites! I plan on going to the reunion and look forward to seeing all that will be there. I greatly enjoyed the last two, those being the 10^th and the 20^th. The 40^th sounds a bit drastic, but at least it’s not the 50^th, not yet at least. Yikes!

I graduated from Montclair State and became a Drama and English teacher at Clifton High. After two years, I headed for New York City and quickly got my Equity card performing in a long running comedy “improv” show. This got me as close to Broadway as The Manhattan Theatre Club. You could see me in movies, as long as you didn’t blink, lots of soaps and over 250 commercials. I became a model (yes, even non-skinnies can model); in print I was a nurse, secretary, a businesswoman and especially a mom. I performed in regional plays and musicals and those would often showcase in New York. I sang in operas and even got to appear with Placido Domingo and Richard Tucker. In the mid ‘90s I began another phase in my career. I became a cabaret performer. I work with a pianist, and sing popular songs from the 20^th century. We perform in restaurants, New York boites and at private events. I don’t make a lot of money but I get to dress up and sing my heart out. It’s a lot of fun. I even have a website: www.BarbaraMcCarthy.com.

I remember a lot about Pope Pius. I came from nine years of public school and found the nuns rather mysterious. What were they hiding under all that? Once, we saw a shock of brown hair peeking out of Sr. Catherine James’s habit. She actually had hair, and it was brown! I hated those late Tuesdays and First Fridays! I never went to First Friday mass and if the kids who did would’ve stopped going, we could’ve dispensed with the disrupted schedules. But like I said, I was from public school. I thought we had one of the best high school Glee Clubs around. Thanks to Sr. Catherine George, I developed a strong musical discipline, which has served me well. There were a lot of nice kids there ---we all were from middle class, hard working backgrounds with parents who wanted us to get the best education that they could afford. There are some good friends I made at Pope Pius: Paulette Genthon Nevels, wherever you are, I would love to see you, Joanne Szoda Martin who sat behind me all those years (thank you for your continuing friendship) and of course, my best friend in high school, Sophia Putykewycz Farmiga.

The best move I ever made in my life was to marry my husband Patrick, who I met when I was 14. The next best thing I ever did was to have three wonderful daughters. I enjoy being their mother and am very proud of each of them and their accomplishments: Siobhan, Rutgers ’05, Fiona, Georgetown ‘07 and Keara, Lafayette ’10. We live in Montclair, NJ, in one of the dozen solar electric powered houses in town. Our beach house at the Jersey shore is also solar powered. If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, we’ll have lots to talk about at the reunion. See you there!

Barbara