Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
VOLUME 27 ISSUE 36
NOVEMBER 20, 2023
PARK RIDGE
BACK-T0-BACK BACK-TO-BACK FAREWELL Holiday TO TWO LEAGUE CHAMPS Shopping PV girls in romp, 16-3-1, with breakout players WHO
Guide
SERVED LOCAL HISTORY
See page 11
Pascack Historical Society salutes its late trustees Francesca Moskowitz, Helen Whalen
TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON
FORMER SWIM CLUB IS SEEN GAINING ON REFUNDS Bondholders, many waiting for years, say theyʼre finally being made whole
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Nearly two years after the township purchased the former Washington Township Swim & Recreation Club for $750,000, bondholders—many waiting far longer than that—appear to be receiving their refunds. Following the public purchase last year, township attorney Kenneth Poller said that the bondholders would need to contact the former club owners, a private notfor-profit corporation, to discuss payment on their bonds. Council President Desserie Morgan announced Nov. 8 that she was notified that former Washington Township Swim Club bondowners had received cash payments for bonds that had once been invested in the defunct swim
See FORMER on page 434
Front to back, left to right: Maddie Wu, Natalie Weissman, Ciara Dersimonian, Lidia Guerriero, Allie Polyniak, Gabby Velecela, Amanda Polyniak, Jade Dabros, Avery Stein, Ella Saxon, Celina Bussanich, Margo Perlman, Emma Sandt, Alex Lambrinos, Ava Burke, Alia Moreira, Lana Freedberg, Sarah Mastowski, Anya Dembowski, Tara Stewart, and Katelynn Park.
C
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS ONGRATULATIONS
TO
the Pascack Valley High School girls soccer team, league champs once again. Many of the girls also emerged from the fray with individual accolades. History teacher and head coach Leah Jerome told Pascack
Press the girls came up strong with a 16-3-1 record, falling to NVOT in the semifinals, in Little Falls, Nov. 2. Jerome said, “They went undefeated in their league and won back-to-back league championships. They were Top 8 in the county tournament and lost in the sectional semi finals. The girls had an outstanding year!” Sarah Mastowski fired in
PVʼs lone goal of the game, though these players brought the heat relentlessly since their Sept. 7, 2-0 start against River Dell. In their wake nursing shutouts and other decisive losses were the likes of OT, Pascack Hills, Bergenfield, Tenafly, Fair Lawn, Teaneck, Demarest, Bergenfield, Paramus Catholic, Becton, and Lakeland.
Continued on page 33
Editorʼs note: We thank the nonprofit Pascack Historical Society in Park Ridge for permission to reprint these two remembrances. “In Loving Memory: Francesca M. Moskowitz” appeared in the Society membership newsletter “RELICS” in September. “A True Matriarch: Helen Whalen” is forthcoming in the December “RELICS.” The John C. Storms Museum at Leach Chapel and Ellen Berdais Hall together make up the headquarters of the Pascack Historical Society at 19 Ridge Ave., Park Ridge.
O
In Loving Memory: Francesca M. Moskowitz N A U G . 1 3 we lost a great woman in Trustee Emerita Francesca M. Moskowitz of River Vale. Francescaʼs roots in the Pascack Valley ran deep. Francesca was a proud Hillsdale girl. She often said that growing up in Hillsdale in the 1940s and 1950s was idyllic, a true heaven on earth. She graduated from
See FAREWELL on page 404
VETERANS DAY
B ck in time...
Local American Legion posts were among service groups and many others marking Veterans Day this year, backed by patriotic students and scouts. PAGE 29
Kristin Beuscher sets the table for fond memories of Pascack Grange, which for years had its headquarters on Woodcliff Avenue in agrarian Woodcliff Lake. PAGE 4