In thanks to Kearny’s own LisaAnne Schalago for all she’s accomplished

The beauty of errors is in being able to rectify them. And, a week ago, in anticipation of the 2023 United Irish Associations of West Hudson’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, a story profiling LisaAnne Schalago misspelled her first and last names as well as the names of two of her daughters.

We’re not going to get into a tit-for-tat over why this happened or how it happened (though we do hope the United Irish sends us more information throughout the course of the year starting now) but we take this time to single Schalago out today because March 12, 2023, was her day — and when she opened the newspaper on March 7, we know her disappointment was brutal. None of it was intentional, but we nonetheless wanted to remind all our readers of what a special human being Lisa is.

I first met Lisa in 1998. I was walking doorto-door in Kearny’s Second Ward, campaigning with my friend Nancy Ware, as I ran for Town Council. Nancy introduced me to Lisa when we knocked on her front door on Ivy Street.

It didn’t take much convincing. She agreed to put my sign on her front lawn, which, in 1998, was a big deal. At the time, I was misguidedly a Republican, and Lisa — not a Republican. She was a member of the Franklin School PTA, a most non-partisan position, but she still said “yes,” she put up the sign, she wound up walking the neighborhood with me several times, in both the primary and then the general election. And in November of that year, I lost the election by an unimpressive 400+ votes, to the eventual Mayor Alberto G. Santos.

Fortunately, her reputation survived this — for years to come — and she went on to do so many great things, up to and including being an elected member of the Kearny Board of Education.

Lisa congratulations on your accomplishments. We are grateful for all you have done for the little town you love so much.

And of course, we extend the same praise to the other two honorees — James Lawless and Marybeth Kennedy — for their special day, too.