January 24, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXX, No. 37
HIGHLIGHTS It’s tax season, and The Observer has it covered. See Page 26
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
A LIFE FULL OF GIVING One man’s quest to help anyone in need is succeeding By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
I
T TOOK A MATTER OF 10 MINUTES FOR PHIL Stafford’s life to turn upside down. It was 1999. Hurricane Floyd hit. “We thought we were safe, but a dam burst at high tide,” Stafford said. “We had to get out fast, so I told my wife, Renay, to get as much as she could off the floor.” With that, Stafford, his wife and two sons left their apartment in Wallington, never to return to it. For the next six months, the family of four lived in an 8’ x 10’ room at the in-laws. During that six-month period, Stafford thought he’d get help from FEMA and the Red Cross. The help never came. Photo courtesy of Phil Stafford
See STAFFORD, Page 25
Phil Stafford (l.) and his wife, Renay, prepare soup for homeless outside Newark Penn Station.
Kearny’s Bixler: ‘A gentle man who was a gentleman’ By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com “Across the years, I will walk with you In deep great forests, on shores of sand And when our time on earth is through In heaven, too, you will have my hand.” – “The Promise,” by Robert Sexton Over the last 17 years that I’ve covered sports for The Observer, I’ve written about countless sports figures and personalities. Between
Athletes of the Week and other features, I’ve written more than 2,600 stories in these editions and missed only one week due to a hospital stay. This week, I’m writing one about someone who wasn’t necessary an athlete, but was a sportsman in his own right and more importantly, he was my neighbor and close friend. Ed Bixler passed away last week after a brief battle with cancer. And
IN MEMORIAM he’s someone who deserves a tribute for all he did for so many people — including yours truly — for the entire eight decades he lived on this planet, all of which was spent in his native Kearny. Ed was a sportsman, an avid
hunter and fisherman. In recent years, with the help of some of his friends, Ed learned how to become a fly fisherman — and was so very proud to show off the skills he learned about the sport, even to a guy who was a Jersey City boy and the only fish he knew about were the ones in the fish market on Danforth Ave. near his childhood home. Ed wasn’t the biggest sports fan in See BIXLER, Page 14
#1 LIStIng And SeLLIng reAL eStAte COMpAny In 2015 & 2016!
201-460-8000
LyndhurSt OFFICe 761 ridge road, Lyndhurst, new Jersey C21Semiao@Century21.com
SCAn here! CENTURY
Semiao & Associates
www.Century21Semiao.com
Download
http://kay
21 Semia
o and Assoc
iates http://www.ce - Hudson Coun t... ntury21semi ao.com
QR Code
Reader (App
R3I
Store &Andro
KeArny OFFICe 531 Kearny Ave, Kearny, new Jersey
C21Semiaokearny@Century21.com
wa.me/aB
the Kaywa
201-991-1300
id Market
BASed On nJMLS, KeArny, nOrth ArLIngtOn, LyndhurSt, hArrISOn, eASt newArK ) and scan
your code!