October 8, 2014 • www.theobserver.com • Vol CXXVII, No. 20
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD
• EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
Scouts’ mission continues
Uniform salute By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent
By Ron Leir Observer Correspondent
NUTLEY –
KEARNY – On March 20, 1960, the Girl Scout House in Kearny opened its doors, thereby kicking off a new era for a then-growing scouting movement among girls in West Hudson. Today, with membership slacking off a bit locally and nationwide, the Kearny-based girl scouts want to send out a message to the communities of Kearny, Harrison and East Newark that the scouting mission is still operating. But the home base at 635 Kearny Ave. could use a shot of adrenalin to keep it going so, to that end, the West Hudson Girl Scout Council – revamped in 1963 as the WeHudCo Trust to maintain the building – will hold a “rededication” of the Kearny House and kick off a fundraising drive on Saturday, Oct. 11, from 10 a.m. to noon. Mayor Alberto Santos will preside at a ceremonial ribbon-cutting slated for 11 a.m. Girls from kindergarten to grade 12 and their parents are invited to attend the open house. There will be crafts for kids and everyone is welcome to pitch in with preparing decorations for the Girl Scouts float for the town’s upcoming Halloween Parade. see SCOUTS page
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urrently hanging in the office of Daniel Jacoby at the Nutley Bureau of Veteran Affairs, 149 Chestnut St., are two uniforms. One is Jacoby’s own camo garb, worn during the former U.S. Army specialist’s deployment in Iraq. The other is a bit older. Nearly a century old, in fact. It was worn during the war that was supposed to end all war. Jacoby has displayed the two next to each other, but with the World War I uniform slightly in front of his, “to show respect for the generations that have gone before,” he explained. The older uniform has breeches, resembling jodhpurs, that are laced at the bottom, the better to accomodate puttees and boots. The jacket bears a sergeant’s stripes and an
Photo by Karen Zautyk
embroidered caduceus, indicating that the wearer was a member of the Army Medical Corps. That wearer was Sgt. Luke A. Kenney, who lived in Nutley from 1959 until his death at age 80 in 1973. It was his daughter, Pat Rush of Nutley, who donated the uniform to the Nutley Museum, to honor not only her father, but all veterans of the Great War. No date has yet been set, but sometime in the coming weeks there will be a special Historical Society ceremony, after which Kenney’s uniform will be permanently on display at the museum, 65 Church St. Despite its age, the uniform is pristine, no apparent restoration necessary, despite the fact that, over all those decades, there were no special efforts to preserve it. “It was just hanging in his closet at see UNIFORM page
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All creatures great and small By Karen Zautyk Observer Correspondent KEARNY – If you were out and about Saturday morning, you know that the rains were torrential -- biblical, one might say. But this did not deter pet owners
from gathering at the Archdiocesan Youth Center (formerly Boystown) for the annual Blessing of the Animals. (We expected to see some ducks, since it was nice weather for them, but none attended.) Various events in Observer towns were postponed
because of the downpour, but we knew this particular one would go on on rain or shine. A large canopy was erected on the Belgrove Drive property to protect the pets and people who huddled there. And despite the deluge, this was a place of warmth and
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brightness, for it is a joy to be among humans who care so much for their non-human companions. As he does each year, Msgr. John Gilchrist presided at the ceremony, which took place see BLESSING page
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