Rosemary Malba (McCartney)

Rosemary checks in from Parsippany, NJ. She is employed by AT& T as a Strategic Bid Manager.

Rosemary and her husband Joe have been married for 27 years and have 2 daughters, Katie and Kelly. Both girls should be done with their degrees in May and after 33 years with AT&T Roe can then look forward to her next adventure: retirement. Roe and Joe love to travel and play golf. They have recently been to Ireland, Hawaii, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and California. They've played golf everywhere but Ireland and hopefully that's next. They recently came in third in a golf tourney in the Poconos and Roe won the longest drive.
Roe has fond memories of her friends at Pope Pius and is anxiously awaiting the reunion to revisit some of the great times they had.

Barbara Popek (Giarmo)

From home in Paramus, New Jersey Barbara writes that she finds it hard to believe that 40 years have passed. She has many fond memories of PPXII and her friends there. Unfortunately she will miss the reunion since she will be away on vacation. Barbara enjoys traveling, gardening, spending time in NYC and her work as a gay rights activist and educator.

“Funny how you never know where life will take you - after high school, and Montclair State I continued working at NJ Bell (where I started as a telephone operator - working part time in Passaic). I enjoyed a 36-year career there, retiring from Verizon Yellow Pages just 4 years ago. Loved the work - diversity training, change management, communications and I introduced the first bilingual yellow pages in the former Bell Atlantic. My involvement in diversity at Verizon was a big help when our son at age 13 told us he was gay. This led me to become involved in the gay rights movement and today I am co-president of PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) of Bergen County and currently am part of a coalition of concerned community leaders in Northern NJ working to create a "safe space" for gay teens to meet. As a family, we march annually in the NYC Gay Pride parade, have lobbied our Congress in DC for equal rights for all citizens and we do presentations at schools and corporations in North Jersey. I am so proud of our son - he produces events for a non-profit in NYC, and is an accomplished actor/dancer/singer/composer/choreographer. I recently returned to the work force, working as a Special Events Manager for the YWCA of Bergen County. Have a great reunion - who knows, maybe I will see you all at our 50th!”

The photo is of Barbara, husband Tony and son Chris.

Marilyn Ratzer (Harding)

Marilyn checks in from East Hanover, New Jersey. This will be her first reunion and she is looking forward. "I have fond memories of the years at Pope Pius. Especially the fun in Glee Club, the sports and class trips. Also walking down Jefferson Street everyday and listening to the Beatles singles at the record store." Marilyn is widowed and the mother of one daughter (Pamela) and has 2 grandchildren. She is employed as a bookkeeper.

Jack Coco

Jack checks in from West Hartford, CT where he is an architect. Married with one son (24), he enjoys gardening, reading and home repairs. He is looking forward to the reunion to see old friends and catch up on 40 years.

Kenneth Swatt

So finally I should post my own blog. My wife Joan and I just celebrated our 35th anniversary. We have two married sons, Ian (Kristina) and Christopher (Meghan) so we are empty-nesters (well sort of) since Chris and Meghan recently moved in to stay with us while they wait for their house to close. We have lived in Bloomfield, NJ for the past 33 years and last year bought a condo in Sarasota, FL. I have been in banking and finance for my entire career. For the past 12 years I have been self-employed as a mortgage broker doing a wide variety of commercial transactions. There are many challenges. I graduated from Lehigh University in 1971 and Rutgers with an MBA in 1975.

Hobbies include reading, gardening and lap swimming. We enjoy our trips to Sarasota where we just chill out, eat out and get quality beach time with long walks. No thought of moving there for good but rather an oasis that we will spend more and more time in as we move toward semi-retirement.

We are looking forward to the reunion next month and seeing everyone.

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

Ruth Wood (Waller)

Ruth currently resides in Clifton, NJ as well as maintaining a shore home in Cape May near the beach. Divorced in 1988, she is Mom to Michael (31) and James (29). Her first grandchild is scheduled to arrive shortly.

Ruth has been an RN for 38 years working in the ER at Passaic General (PBI) and St. Mary's.