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Oral History Interview
Marty and Pat Barbato Martino
WH072
(written transcript and digital audio)
On December 7, 2009, Marty and Pat Barbato Martino were interviewed at the Town
Hall Council Caucus Room at 10:00 A.M. by Brenda Velasco.
1. Identify individual-name, section, date of birth.
Brenda Velasco: Pat we’re going to start off with you.
Pat Martino: My name is Patricia Barbato Martino and I’m from the Port Reading
section of Woodbridge Township. I was born April 1, 1942, which is April Fool’s
Day.
Brenda Velasco: I know. I wasn’t going to say. Okay and Marty.
Marty Martino: My name is Marty Martino. I lived in Port Reading all my life. My
birthday is October 18, 1938.
2. How long have you lived in Woodbridge?
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so you both lived in Port Reading. You haven’t lived
elsewhere then.
Pat Martino: No.
Brenda Velasco: This is your home area then.
3. Why did you or your family originally move to Port Reading?
Brenda Velasco: Pat we’re going to go back to you.
Pat Martino: Actually my grandmother and grandfather wound up in Port Reading
from Italy. They came over on the boat and stayed in Port Reading because of the
Reading Railroad.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so it was for economic reasons.
Pat Martino: Oh, absolutely.
Brenda Velasco: Do you recall the year that they came?
Pat Martino: My grandmother and grandfather, no I don’t.
Brenda Velasco: Was it in the 20th
century?
Marty Martino: Yes, it was around 1902 or 1904.
Brenda Velasco: Okay around 1902, this was the massive wave of immigration
coming at that time and we needed it for our industry. And Marty?
Marty Martino: Same thing, my grandfather came from the town of Pietrastornina in
Italy around the same time, 1902/1903, to work on the railroad.
Brenda Velasco: And Pat, where did your grandparents come from?
Pat Martino: Pietrastornina, the same town as his father.
Brenda Velasco: As his father, okay, so you go back to this village which was
outside of Naples.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Pietrastornina.
Pat Martino: And the house is still there.
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Brenda Velasco: Wow!
Pat Martino: We have visited my grandfather’s home and we have visited Marty’s
father’s home.
Brenda Velasco: How far apart were they in that village?
Marty Martino: Half a mile.
Brenda Velasco: Half a mile, wow! And did they know each other, your
grandparents?
Pat Martino: They probably did. Well, his father was very young when he came
over. How old was your dad, Marty?
Marty Martino: My dad was just a small boy like two or three years old when he
came to this country but he was born there. My grandfather brought the family over.
He came over first.
Brenda Velasco: He came over first and his family remained in Italy?
Marty Martino: He had three children and he brought two over and he had one here.
That was my grandfather.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so that’s your grandfather who was born…..
Marty Martino: Over there.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, why did his father bring everybody over?
Marty Martino: Well this town in Italy is a farm town and there was no industry.
Other than the farm there was no way to improve your quality of life. They heard
about America and my grandfather decided that he was going to come to America by
himself without any family members coming with him initially.
Brenda Velasco: And he was going to take a chance.
Marty Martino: Yes, he was going to take a chance.
Brenda Velasco: And your grandfather worked on the railroad then, Pat?
Pat Martino: Yes. (After the interview concluded, Pat recalled that her father was an
operator on the coal dumper)
Brenda Velasco: Okay, and what about your……..
Marty Martino: He worked on the railroad, too.
Brenda Velasco: They both worked on the Reading Railroad in Port Reading which
was the big employer back then.
Pat Martino: Now that was my grandfather Barbato. Now my grandfather Zullo…..
Brenda Velasco: And we’re mentioning all these names which I’m glad because
these people still live here…………
Pat Martino: From what I remember my grandfather Zullo owned a trucking firm.
Marty Martino: He worked on the railroad too, initially.
Pat Martino: Then he went into trucking and then he had a store. I just remember
these little things. I was young then.
Marty Martino: Her grandfather had a pool, pool hall in Port Reading.
Brenda Velasco: I’m glad you said pool hall because when you say pool, at first,
everybody thinks of a swimming pool. Where was that located?
Pat Martino: Tappan Street.
Marty Martino: It was right next door to Benny’s Tavern. If anybody lived in Port
Reading they’d know about Benny’s Tavern.
4. What physical changes have occurred over the years in the area you lived?
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-houses, streets, services, stores, houses of worship, schools, etc.
Brenda Velasco: Marty we’re going to start with you. What street did you grow up
on in Port Reading?
Marty Martino: I moved very, very far. I grew up on 55 Port Reading Avenue and
then after we were married my father owned the house next door so we moved into
that house. We rented one of the apartments and then from there we moved to 20 E
Street which is on the same block.
Brenda Velasco: You were right around the corner.
Marty Martino: We built our own house there and we still live there.
Brenda Velasco: And Pat, when you were growing up, where did you live in Port
Reading?
Pat Martino: I lived on the corner of Tappan Street and Fourth Street which was over
the bridge from where we live now.
Marty Martino: Back then Port Reading was uptown and downtown.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so you lived……
Marty Martino: Downtown.
Pat Martino: I lived…..
Brenda Velasco: Downtown.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And Marty lived….
Pat Martino: Uptown.
Brenda Velasco: Uptown.
Marty Martino: The railroad tracks were the divider.
Brenda Velasco: The dividing line, okay.
Marty Martino: And I tease my wife that she was the social climber. She moved
from downtown to uptown.
Brenda Velasco: But the railroad, once again, was the main part of the economy and
it delineated where you lived.
Marty Martino: Absolutely.
Brenda Velasco: Uptown or downtown.
Marty Martino: Right before the bridge.
Brenda Velasco: What physical changes, Marty, have you seen?
Marty Martino: It’s been tremendous. I think if you look at probably the most
dramatic change probably occurred when it was Project Bowtie.
Brenda Velasco: Okay and do you want to explain what Project Bowtie is because
many people now a day don’t recall Project Bowtie which was redevelopment.
Marty Martino: It was a redevelopment program. It was back in the, best of my
recollection, in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s and it was the housing urban development
initiated redevelopment program and one of the areas was in Port Reading and it was
on both sides of the Central Railroad and it was in the shape of a bowtie. It covered,
going west, Port Reading Avenue, West Avenue down to what is now Milos Way,
and all the way over to the Reading Railroad property. That was one part of the
bowtie. The other part was the downtown section which was Port Reading Avenue
going east to I believe it was Turner or Tappan Street and then cut back to the
railroad. But that entire area was developed under the Bowtie.
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Brenda Velasco: So this was the uptown/downtown and it impacted both of the
areas.
Marty Martino: With the older homes, the property owner had to bring the home into
compliance with the building codes as of that time. Some of the homes were in such
poor condition they were purchased and demolished and new homes were built in
their place. But at that time the Bowtie Pool was put into Port Reading.
Brenda Velasco: This was one of the few sections of Woodbridge Township that
actually had a public pool.
Marty Martino: That’s correct, yes. The Bowtie Pool was built at that time and I
guess from the transformation that that was the major impact in changing the
community from what it was to what it is today.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, Pat, how about the stores? Were there stores around there or
any big stores or were they small stores?
Pat Martino: They’re all little deli’s. My aunt actually had a little deli.
Brenda Velasco: Which aunt was that?
Pat Martino: My aunt Louise Ragucci.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, a Ragucci.
Pat Martino: Yes, that was my mother’s sister and they owned a little deli there and
then Albino D’Alessio’s parents owned a deli also on the other corner.
Brenda Velasco: What street are we talking about?
Pat Martino: We’re talking about what used to be Third Street where my aunt had a
deli and Albino’s parents had one on Fourth and what is now Port Reading Avenue.
Brenda Velasco: We’re talking about basically an Italian neighborhood, too, and the
deli’s were important.
Pat Martino: Two little Italian deli’s right.
Brenda Velasco: And what did they sell there?
Pat Martino: Just like if you were to go into a Quick Chek.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, your meat……
Pat Martino: Some lunchmeat and bread, those types of things.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, milk.
Pat Martino: Milk.
Brenda Velasco: And Italian bread?
Pat Martino: Yes, Italian bread and I think Albino’s parents had pizza.
Marty Martino: It was a pizzeria.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: It was mostly mom and pop stores we’re talking about.
Pat Martino: That’s it. Oh yes, we had nothing more large.
Brenda Velasco: Did you have……
Pat Martino: There was a little candy store, Micharelli’s. That was on Port Reading
Avenue. This was all before the bridge, you know.
5. What public buildings/property were there?-post office, library, parks,
firehouse, schools etc.
Brenda Velasco: How about a post office, did you have a post office there?
Pat Martino: We had a post office.
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Marty Martino: Now we have to go back a little bit on the post office because my
mother was a McNulty; she was the Irish side of Port Reading if you will. Her family
was always involved with the post office system and with the mails and they also ran
a hotel.
Brenda Velasco: Where was the hotel?
Marty Martino: It was on Port Reading Avenue right across from what they called
the brown house for the railroad. They’d bring the engines in, repair them and turn
them around and send them back again. Now as part of that I had a great aunt,
Christine Richardson, who was the post mistress. Is that what they’re called,
mistress?
Brenda Velasco: Yes.
Marty Martino: I don’t want to get it wrong but she was in Port Reading and that
post office was located where Milos’ Park is today.
Brenda Velasco: Which is right by the church?
Marty Martino: Not too far from the church. Then the post office was eventually
moved down to downtown down by where……
Pat Martino: Tappan Street, right?
Marty Martino: Yes, I want to say Turner Street, it was moved to Turner Street.
Then you may recall Nicky D’Aprile.
Brenda Velasco: Yes.
Marty Martino: He was postmaster in Port Reading for a short while.
Brenda Velasco: All these names are still here in Woodbridge, in Port Reading.
Marty Martino: Then, as best I could recall, when Bowtie became part of the
program, they built in the post office which is where it is today.
Brenda Velasco: And that’s on Port Reading Avenue.
Pat Martino: Actually is that where the post office was? Wasn’t it where
Cherbenko’s is?
Brenda Velasco: Cherbenko Funeral Home.
Marty Martino: I don’t remember. I remember it being over there where……
Pat Martino: Do you remember the post office by, I remember, I don’t know why I
remember.
Marty Martino: Where Tom Zullo has it?
Pat Martino: It was there but then when they built another one they built it where
D’Alessio’s had their deli, across over there. Turner Street, it was over there also.
Marty Martino: I said Turner.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, that was one of the streets.
Pat Martino: Oh, you said Turner?
Brenda Velasco: Yes, he did.
Pat Martino: Because that’s where I remember.
Marty Martino: Across from A&P, Chevron over there by the corner deli.
Brenda Velasco: So it moved around quite a bit.
Marty Martino: I guess it was all political back then.
Brenda Velasco: What changes? Okay, so your aunt though at one time……
Marty Martino: My great aunt, Christine Richardson, was postmistress.
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Brenda Velasco: Going back to the hotel that your mom’s family ran, it seems
unlikely that there would be a hotel in Port Reading, but did they have the boarders or
tenants?
Marty Martino: The major employer in Port Reading was the Reading Railroad and
there were a number of transient workers coming into town to work on the railroad
and they needed a place to stay.
Brenda Velasco: And that was one of the areas?
Marty Martino: Yes, that was one of the hotels.
Brenda Velasco: Because they also had shacks that they had.
Marty Martino: Yes, but this was not on railroad property, it was on……
Brenda Velasco: Private.
Marty Martino: Private.
Brenda Velasco: And better conditions than living in the shacks because the gandies
were coming in some times to work on the railroad.
Marty Martino: Right.
Brenda Velasco: I think your brother had mentioned that.
Marty Martino: They called them gandy.
Brenda Velasco: Gandy dancers, that’s right. Because of the rhythm of hitting the
spikes down. How about the library?
Marty Martino: One of the stores, there was one store uptown which was Louie
Martino’s……
Brenda Velasco: Any relation?
Marty Martino: Yes, it was my father’s first cousin.
Pat Martino: Wasn’t there a barbershop also?
Marty Martino: And there was a barbershop, Chiubbo’s Barbershop. There was a
candy store down by the railroad called Mac McGettigans.
Brenda Velasco: Here comes the Irish, Mac McGettigan.
Pat Martino: God, we had a lot of candy stores.
Marty Martino: Mac was also the janitor in School #9.
Brenda Velasco: You also had a lot of children around there too then I think.
Pat Martino: Oh, yes.
Marty Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And children loved candy stores.
Pat Martino: Every block there seems to be a candy store.
Brenda Velasco: They keep the candy stores going. Okay, let’s get to the library.
Pat, what do you remember?
Pat Martino: The library, I remember…. Father Milos built the library on what is
now West Avenue. A little brick building and that is the only library that I recall.
Marty Martino: Before that library I remember there was a library down on the
corner of Tom Zullo’s house on the corner of Port Reading Avenue and Tappan
Street. But it was really a dilapidated library.
Brenda Velasco: Was that run by the church, too? By St. Anthony’s?
Marty Martino: I’m not sure who ran that one but when Father Milos came to town
he knew that he’d open up a new library and close that one down. That was not run
by the church; he ran the other one. He built the other library.
Brenda Velasco: He built it up and where did he get the books and the money?
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Marty Martino: Father Milos was a very capable and industrious type person. I
guess he would beg and borrow and ask people to donate their building materials. He
would buy whatever he could afford but he relied on the labor volunteers in the
community to build this library. I remember as a kid when they were doing the
foundation and they had a lot of cinder blocks and bricks to move around. Father
Milos would come around the corner looking for the kids, he’d go move all the bricks
and we’d all run and hide. He’d eventually find us and call us over to the library and
do the bricks.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so he took labor from wherever he could.
Marty Martino: Volunteer.
Brenda Velasco: Volunteer labor and that’s the key here.
Marty Martino: I remember my father worked and a number of residents did also.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so this was a community built library at that time.
Marty Martino: Yes, it was.
Brenda Velasco: And it lasted for a long while.
Marty Martino: It really did.
Brenda Velasco: Because you don’t have a library there now, do you, in Port
Reading?
Marty Martino: Well we do down by School #9.
Brenda Velasco: Oh, okay.
Marty Martino: I don’t know if it’s still a library or?
Pat Martino: I don’t know.
Brenda Velasco: Because I know there’s a Sewaren Free Public Library.
Pat Martino: There was a library right next door to School #9.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, how about parks?
Pat Martino: Well, actually I lived right across from the main park.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so you were downtown but you…..
Marty Martino: We didn’t have any parks.
Pat Martino: That was on Fourth Street and we had a pool there, a swimming pool,
which his father built.
Marty Martino: It was like a wading pool, three foot.
Pat Martino: Yes, but it was……
Marty Martino: It was pretty big.
Pat Martino: Yes it was big.
Marty Martino: Bigger than this room.
Pat Martino: Oh, yes, and we would go there and swim.
Brenda Velasco: It’s not there anymore.
Pat Martino: No.
Marty Martino: No. But it was where the current park is now.
Pat Martino: There is a park there now.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, but they filled in the…..
Pat Martino: They filled it in, yes.
Brenda Velasco: Then you have the Bowtie which is down there and now run by the
Y.
Pat Martino: But that pool was much earlier than the Bowtie pool.
Brenda Velasco: And it was right across the street from you.
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Pat Martino: Yes, it was great. We’d just go right across the street. There were
swings and they would have doll shows and all kinds of games.
Marty Martino: And the Township Recreation Department……
Pat Martino: Yes, the Recreation Department ran different programs there.
Brenda Velasco: So that goes back awhile. So we’re in the ‘40s that they had the
Recreation Department providing something there.
Pat Martino: Early ‘50s.
Brenda Velasco: Early ‘50s, okay.
Marty Martino: My father was a carpenter and he was hired by, I guess, the Town to
build this pool.
Brenda Velasco: And it was downtown not uptown.
Pat Martino: It was downtown.
Marty Martino: Social climber.
Brenda Velasco: But she had the pool. Okay, how about the firehouse?
Pat Martino: Uptown.
Marty Martino: The firehouse was uptown.
Pat Martino: There was an old firehouse first with two stories, right?
Marty Martino: Yes, that was the old firehouse.
Pat Martino: That’s where I had my bridal shower.
Brenda Velasco: And that was at the current location……
Marty Martino: Right.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Of the new firehouse which is brick and very nice; and it just
replaced that. So that has a long history in Port Reading. Okay, how about the
schools?
Marty Martino: Most members of the community belonged to that. The men
belonged to the fire company. That was kind of the social political……
Pat Martino: There was a waiting list to get into that.
Brenda Velasco: Wow!
Marty Martino: Yes, political.
Brenda Velasco: They performed political functions as well as putting out fires.
Marty Martino: Oh, yes.
Brenda Velasco: And that was the center.
Marty Martino: Yes, that was the center. I would say, too, that it was probably their
social activities that were the main center of the community.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so they provided some of the social activities.
Marty Martino: They’d have parades and picnics and Memorial Day was a big day in
Port Reading. At that time there was sixty members in the fire company and there
was a waiting list of thirty or forty members wanting to get in.
Brenda Velasco: And it was volunteer?
Marty Martino: Yes, volunteer.
Brenda Velasco: And today all of our fire departments are facing problems with
volunteers as well as our first aid squads. So times have changed.
Marty Martino: And then the Board of Fire Commissioners, which we still have, and
because the fire company was the heart of the community I would say. When it came
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to the leadership of the community, it had to be a fireman. That was it. You were
recognized as a community leader if you were a fireman.
Brenda Velasco: Alright, so, we’re going to get down to schools. Okay, we’ll start
with you Pat.
Pat Martino: Okay, we had, in Hagaman Heights-which is another section of Port
Reading-the Chicken Coop.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, you better explain that Chicken Coop.
Pat Martino: That was the name given to I think it was kindergarten, first grade and
I’m not sure if second grade was there also.
Marty Martino: It was like three rooms or four rooms.
Pat Martino: It was two rooms.
Marty Martino: Two rooms?
Brenda Velasco: Okay, that was uptown then.
Marty Martino: Downtown.
Pat Martino: Downtown.
Brenda Velasco: Downtown, okay.
Marty Martino: Do you know where the Center Bar is?
Brenda Velasco: Okay.
Marty Martino: In that section.
Pat Martino: And that’s where, I guess, were we the cut off to go the Chicken Coop?
Marty Martino: Yes, you were.
Pat Martino: Yes, our area was the cut off to go to the Chicken Coop.
Marty Martino: So you went to the Chicken Coop.
Pat Martino: I went to the Chicken Coop.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, which is no longer there?
Pat Martino: Right and we walked there every day and then after that we went to
School #9.
Brenda Velasco: And School #9 was second grade to eighth grade?
Pat Martino: Actually I think you had kindergarten also because uptown…..
Marty Martino: It was kindergarten to eighth grade.
Pat Martino: Yes, they went there.
Brenda Velasco: School #9 was uptown so it had kindergarten through eighth grade,
okay.
Pat Martino: And Mr. Brown was the principle for years there.
Brenda Velasco: At School #9?
Pat Martino: Yes, and one of the teachers I think everyone will remember is Miss
Kean.
Brenda Velasco: What grade did she teach?
Pat Martino: Seventh.
Marty Martino: Seventh.
Pat Martino: We all remember that.
Marty Martino: Tough but good.
Pat Martino: Tough, right.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, then you learned.
Pat Martino: Yes, because everyone remembered her, right.
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Marty Martino: When you look back and you look back at the teachers that were
pretty strict and made you do things, you appreciate it.
Pat Martino: But we walked over the tracks every day to the school.
Brenda Velasco: Now when you say you walked over the tracks this was a grade
level crossing. Am I correct?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Because that bridge was not…..
Pat Martino: No bridge, right.
Brenda Velasco: You had to walk past those railroad tracks then.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And over them.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Were there any accidents there?
Pat Martino: No.
Marty Martino: One of my great uncles was a crossing guard and raised and lowered
the gates for the train; the McNulty/Richardson side.
Pat Martino: And my grandmother Zullo would go to church every morning. She
would walk to church and I would be going to school. On the way home from the
church, she would always give me a little nickel. She’d pick up her dress and there
was a little nickel so I could go to Mr. Micharelli’s.
Brenda Velasco: You had a lot of family around which most people don’t have this
advantage right now.
Marty Martino: Because of where we all came from.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, that same village and it was a very protected environment.
But I assume you both went to Woodbridge High School?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: What year did you graduate Pat?
Pat Martino: 1960.
Brenda Velasco: 1960 and then you were a little bit earlier.
Marty Martino: I graduated from Woodbridge in 1956.
Brenda Velasco: Was it on split session back then?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Yes. I was the last class, I think, out of Barron.
Pat Martino: I never went to the Barron, I was the first of the……
Brenda Velasco: Oh, okay, and that’s what we have to mention, the Barron Avenue.
Pat Martino: That’s where he went.
Brenda Velasco: The Barron Avenue location. So the class of 1956 was the…….
Marty Martino: I don’t know if I was the last but you were the first Pat?
Pat Martino: I think I was the first at the new high school, ’60.
Marty Martino: Then I was not the last class.
Brenda Velasco: So then you entered high school about 1956 then? It was a four
year high school, right Pat?
Pat Martino: Right.
Brenda Velasco: And this is the first time you’re really out of the Port Reading
enclave then?
Pat Martino: Oh, yes.
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Brenda Velasco: You were on Main Street into Woodbridge.
Pat Martino: I went far in life.
Brenda Velasco: And no grandmother to give you a nickel every day.
Pat Martino: No, no.
Brenda Velasco: And you had bus service to the high school?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Both of you?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Was it public transportation?
Marty Martino: School bus.
Pat Martino: School bus.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, school bus. Have we covered everything in there?
Oh, houses of worship.
Marty Martino: I just want to make a point from my education I graduated
Woodbridge High in ’56 and then I joined the Marine Corp and after the Marine Corp
I worked for a company called M&T Chemicals which was on Rahway Avenue in
Rahway and I went to school at nights, I have an Undergraduate Degree in Chemistry
from Rutgers and an MBA from Rutgers.
Brenda Velasco: I’m glad you mentioned that.
Pat Martino: So the little boy from Port Reading went far.
Brenda Velasco: Yes he did, he did very well.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And you were not the only person……..
Marty Martino: Not the only one but it’s……
Brenda Velasco: Because when I’m interviewing people and I’m interviewing
Albina (D’Alessio) she went into the Board of Education and ran one of the finest
programs of Special Education. Throughout the State of New Jersey she was known
because I was in college and I knew about what was going on in Woodbridge with
Special Ed. It was one of the best and still continues to be one of the best.
Marty Martino: I would also say that we have two children, twins, and one is a
gynecological oncologist, a doctor, and one is the Head of the English Department at
J.F.K. High School in Iselin. So they’re both professionals.
Brenda Velasco: So he hasn’t gone too far then, excellent.
Marty Martino: It’s important along the…….
Brenda Velasco: Pat you had the twins?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: God bless you. What an experience but at least you stayed Port
Reading.
Pat Martino: I stayed in Port Reading.
Brenda Velasco: So you had the support network right there.
Pat Martino: I did. My family was right around me.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, you were very fortunate.
Marty Martino: Both sides of the family
Brenda Velasco: And sometimes everybody has different advice too. You survived
it.
Pat Martino: I survived.
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Brenda Velasco: You know what we forgot to mention, the houses of worship. I’m
bouncing between Question #4 and Question #5. Okay, houses of worship.
Pat Martino: St. Anthony’s has been the focal point of everything in our community.
Growing up that’s where we had all our social activities.
Brenda Velasco: And what were some of those social activities?
Pat Martino: We had the Sodality, Children of Mary it was called, and we ran
dances. We had dances the first Fridays. Father Milos would have the crumb buns.
Marty Martino: Hot cross buns.
Brenda Velasco: Hot cross buns.
Marty Martino: From D’Orsi’s Bakery.
Brenda Velasco: Which is right across…….
Pat Martino: Right.
Brenda Velasco: We forgot to mention D’Orsi’s Bakery. That’s one of the big
highlights; one of the best bakeries in the township.
Pat Martino: And Father Milos had the band, right?
Marty Martino: Oh, yes, St. Anthony’s Fife and Drum.
Pat Martino: I guess Father Milos kept us busy as children.
Marty Martino: He did. He kept us active.
Brenda Velasco: Very active. That was a very active parish and it still is but in
different ways.
Marty Martino: But that Fife and Drum Corp I think was almost all the kids in the
community. They had to be in this band because of both their parents.
Pat Martino: And march up and down the streets. How did we do that with the cars?
Marty Martino: And a lot of us learned instruments during the music at that time
which was new to us.
Brenda Velasco: He broadened your horizons.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Absolutely, no question about it.
Brenda Velasco: It wasn’t only the church, it was the library.
Marty Martino: Oh he believed in education and he spoke seven languages too.
Brenda Velasco: Wow!
Marty Martino: One was Chinese.
Brenda Velasco: Unusual priest.
Marty Martino: He really was and he built the honor roll in Port Reading, the first
memorial, during World War II.
Brenda Velasco: Do you remember when he came to the parish?
Marty Martino: I think it was 1942. (In 1943, he became the first resident pastor of
St. Anthony of Padua and served for 32 years)
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so World War II was going on then and seeing people leave
and so on.
Marty Martino: He built the memorial, what they called at that time, the War
Memorial.
Brenda Velasco: And where is that located now?
Marty Martino: It’s on the corner lot by the firehouse. It’s been renovated but that’s
where it is.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, anything else you want to mention about St. Anthony’s?
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Marty Martino: Just that we were both baptized in St. Anthony’s.
Brenda Velasco: You were not only baptized….
Marty Martino: We made our communion……
Pat Martino: Everything and married there; had our wedding reception at St.
Anthony’s hall with five hundred people.
Brenda Velasco: Wow!
Marty Martino: We had to do it because of the community.
Pat Martino: Everybody in Port Reading is related and they all had to be invited.
Brenda Velasco: And it was close by Pat.
Pat Martino: Right, I didn’t even get out. I’m still there.
Brenda Velasco: Yes you are. Alright, that was a big reception.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And this was in the older church and your kids were christened
there.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so you’ve gone the full life cycle basically.
Marty Martino: Our daughter was married there.
Pat Martino: Yes.
6. What did you do for recreation?
Pat Martino: Like I said we had the park across when I was a child and we’d go over
there. We had Twinny’s Ice Pond where we used to go skating where, I call it the
new development but its’ all houses now.
Brenda Velasco: Around what street?
Marty Martino: Fifth, Sixth and Seventh.
Pat Martino: Fifth, Sixth and Seventh.
Brenda Velasco: Alright so that was ponding then…
Pat Martino: Twinny’s Pond we called it.
Brenda Velasco: Twinny’s Pond, okay. You went ice skating.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And what about during the summer?
Pat Martino: We played outside at the pool.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, Marty what do you remember?
Marty Martino: I remember during the summertime….
Pat Martino: We had carnivals also, right?
Marty Martino: Yes, we used to have carnivals in town and……..
Brenda Velasco: Who provided the carnivals?
Marty Martino: Our town.
Brenda Velasco: So there was a lot of activity just with the neighborhood kids?
Pat Martino: Absolutely.
Brenda Velasco: Did you have bikes?
Marty Martino: Oh, yes.
Pat Martino: Yes. Like today you can’t just let your kids go out in the street and
play, but years ago we’d just go out.
Brenda Velasco: Well, your grandmother was around the corner or whatever.
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Pat Martino: Right and when it was time for dinner they would yell from the
window, come on and eat.
Marty Martino: But as a kid we would play baseball and football and in Port Reading
there was what they called the P&R Baseball Field which is where Hess is today.
And there were a lot of baseball leagues in Port Reading at that time on the P&R
Field.
Brenda Velasco: So you had fields………..
Marty Martino: Yes, they were not municipal fields but they were playground fields.
Brenda Velasco: Did St. Anthony’s ever have a parochial school?
Marty Martino: Yes they did.
Pat Martino: Our children went there.
Marty Martino: Father Milos was a great believer of education and when the new
School #9 opened, what is now School #9 in Port Reading. In the old School #9,
Father Milos wanted to have a parochial school so he purchased that school from the
Board of Education and made it into St. Anthony’s School.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, so that was the old School #9 that became the parochial
school………
Marty Martino: Parochial school St. Anthony’s. And he staffed it with nuns. Both
our children went there. I guess that lasted twenty years. (1964-1987)
Brenda Velasco: Now it’s just an empty lot then.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Yes, they weren’t able to keep up. Like most parochial schools not
able to keep up.
Brenda Velasco: Most parochial schools are having some difficulty.
Marty Martino: They had sold that to Hess. This is long after Father Milos passed
on that they did that.
7. What was the focal point of your community at that time?
Brenda Velasco: Basically I think we sort of covered it. What was the focal point of
your community at that time, Marty, and then we’re going to get to Pat. What would
you consider the focal point Marty?
Marty Martino: I would say in Port Reading it was the firehouse and the social
activity that surrounded the members of the firehouse. Everybody would hang out at
the firehouse and that’s where the political center of town was, that and the church,
St. Anthony’s Church. The church was where a lot of the community activity
occurred.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, and Pat?
Pat Martino: I would say the church for me. I think the firehouse was more for the
uptown people. Like my father never belonged to the firehouse.
Marty Martino: No, but your uncles did.
Pat Martino: Yes, my uncle lived over the bridge. So for us it was more the church.
There was more activity there and being a girl I guess it was more the church.
Brenda Velasco: I was waiting for you to say that.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Being the female, the church.
Pat Martino: For the female, it was the church.
15
Brenda Velasco: And they had the processions, the May processions, am I correct?
Pat Martino: Oh yes I was a crowner. I was the president of the Sodality and when
we had May crowning, you know, you dressed up as a bride and the whole bit. It was
beautiful.
Marty Martino: I guess as part of that both my father and my grandfather were
carpenters and because of that, well my grandfather lived right next door to the
church, St. Anthony’s, and we lived across the street. And whenever the priest
needed any kind of repair work or carpentry work done he would call my grandfather
or my father which meant that I was the laborer.
Brenda Velasco: And all volunteer, correct?
Marty Martino: And all volunteer.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, just like the masonry work for the library.
Marty Martino: And we’d go over and do whatever had to be done. I remember as a
kid, I’m not sure how this involved with it, my mother used to open and close the
church each day and my job was to ring the church bell each morning.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, there was nothing automated at that time.
Marty Martino: But I’d have to go over like quarter to eight in the morning and ring
the bell and for funerals I had to ring the bell. That was my job, ringing the church
bell. It’s funny you’re bringing back memories.
Brenda Velasco: I know. See, when I saw what you wrote, I knew there would be
more coming and I wanted Pat here because Pat has a different perspective.
Marty Martino: Oh, downtown.
Brenda Velasco: Oh she’s also got…….
Marty Martino: Social climber.
Brenda Velasco: She also has the female perspective which was somewhat different
at that time.
Marty Martino: I agree. I’m just teasing.
8. What did you like about living in your section of Port Reading?
Brenda Velasco: Pat, we’re going to start off with you and then we’ll go to Marty.
Pat Martino: I think I liked the close knit of the family. It’s just so different now.
Then everybody was so friendly. You could go next door and my aunts would be
coming for coffee or they’d come in the morning. Now there’s just nobody, it’s
changed a lot. There are a lot of people we don’t know. It’s not like years ago you
knew everybody.
Brenda Velasco: Years ago for you there was a lot of family there which was great.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Yes.
Pat Martino: It was wonderful. It’s a lot different now.
Brenda Velasco: How was it for your kids growing up because you still have……
Pat Martino: My children enjoyed having the family all around also which was
convenient for them. Like if we would get mad at them, my son would wind up over
my mother’s. Now they branched out. They don’t want to live in Port Reading
anymore.
Brenda Velasco: That’s part of life, they’re growing up.
Pat Martino: Right.
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Brenda Velasco: And Marty, what did you like about Port Reading?
Marty Martino: I think it was a close knit community and you knew everybody.
Like early into school we went to school at School No. 9 and there was only one class
per grade.
Pat Martino: And you knew everybody.
Brenda Velasco: Everybody knew everybody. Even if you weren’t family you’re
saying.
Pat Martino: Oh yes, you knew everybody.
Brenda Velasco: But Pat, you were a Barbato, you were never alone.
Pat Martino: Ragucci and Margiatto.
Brenda Velasco: It was a very tight knit community. Then you had the McNulty and
the bridge, two different cultures there. So it was just extended family for you.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: That was extended family and that was exceptional growing up in
the United States like that.
9. Did you experience any significant happenings in Port Reading-
construction, accidents, sports events, riots discrimination, etc.
Brenda Velasco: We’re going to concentrate on Port Reading now and then we’ll go
to the event that is the tie in with Italy as well, but anything significant?
Pat Martino: Actually when they built the bridge that was very significant to us.
Brenda Velasco: The bridge over the Reading?
Pat Martino: Yes, because we didn’t have to stop for those long trains. I mean, if
you had an ambulance you didn’t have to wait there; if there was a fire truck you
didn’t have to wait. That was important.
Brenda Velasco: Do you recall when that bridge was built? Were you out of high
school or still in high school?
Pat Martino: I think I was in high school.
Brenda Velasco: Marty, do you recall the year?
Marty Martino: No I’m not sure.
Brenda Velasco: Okay.
Marty Martino: I would say around the late ‘50s or early ‘60s, somewhere around
there.
Brenda Velasco: So that made a big difference.
Pat Martino: It did.
Brenda Velasco: There was no uptown/downtown anymore.
Pat Martino: Right; now it’s over the bridge.
Brenda Velasco: Marty, do you recall anything significant?
Marty Martino: I guess when we were kids we used to swim I guess what is called
now the Sewaren Creek but the Port Reading section of the Sewaren Creek. That was
our swimming place and that is now the site of the Hess Oil Refinery. And there was
also another swimming hole called the Pump House. I don’t know if you’ve ever
heard of these places before.
Brenda Velasco: Was that by……….
17
Marty Martino: The Pump House was where the Colonia Pipe Line is and the Pump
House provided a source of water for the steam engines for the railroad. It was a very
large pond of water, natural water. Then again it was tied to the railroad.
Brenda Velasco: Once again.
Marty Martino: Yes, before the Bowtie Swimming Pool that’s where everybody used
to go swimming.
Brenda Velasco: And no longer.
Marty Martino: No longer.
Brenda Velasco: It’s probably safer where you’re swimming right now at Bowtie.
Okay, anything with sports or accidents that you can recall in Port Reading or
Woodbridge?
Marty Martino: I remember when the train derailed.
Pat Martino: Yes, I remember that one.
Brenda Velasco: Okay, that was in 1951 so you were still young kids then.
Marty Martino: I was an altar boy by then in St. Anthony’s. You had to be.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, it was all volunteer. Whether you were helping build the
library or ringing the bell they got you, Father Milos got you.
Marty Martino: That’s the way you stayed out of trouble by doing those things.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, especially when you lived across the street. You couldn’t get
away from the church. Then you still stayed in Woodbridge and some of your family
still stayed but I know that they’re getting older now, Pat, so.
Pat Martino: Yes, my family?
Brenda Velasco: Yes.
Pat Martino: I think they’re all gone.
Marty Martino: Her brother lives there.
Brenda Velasco: Right, your brother.
Marty Martino: He was a school teacher in Woodbridge.
Brenda Velasco: Okay and that was Pat Barbato?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: And he was a coach?
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: He was a football coach.
Pat Martino: Football coach for seventeen years and Athletic Director also.
Marty Martino: He retired.
Pat Martino: All these years I was Pat Barbato’s little sister. Going to Woodbridge
High School I was, oh you’re Pat Barbato’s sister.
Brenda Velasco: So you were the younger sister which was even worse.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: There was only the two of them.
Pat Martino: There was only the two of us.
Brenda Velasco: Okay.
Pat Martino: And I would go to school and the teacher would say, oh you’re Pat
Barbato’s sister. And I would say, yes I am.
Brenda Velasco: You had the older brother syndrome which meant everybody was
watching out for you Pat.
18
Pat Martino: Yes, and in an Italian family, you know, the boy goes to college and the
girl goes to work.
Brenda Velasco: Right, unless there are two girls and there’s no son. So
therefore……
Marty Martino: Can you tell us about your family?
Brenda Velasco: That will be after the interview but I can relate very well.
Pat Martino: Yes, you have to be a secretary you have to go to work. Patsy, you’re
going to college.
Brenda Velasco: How much older was your brother?
Pat Martino: Five years.
Brenda Velasco: So that was a big gap there, too, and you were the little sister Pat.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Her brother, Pat, was one year ahead of me in grammar school. So I
knew Patsy from the time I went to grammar school, all the way through grammar
school. I didn’t know Patricia I knew Patsy and when I went to high school he was a
year ahead of me.
Brenda Velasco: And he allowed you to marry her.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Let’s keep it within.
10. What do you like about Port Reading today?
Pat Martino: Its home, Port Reading is home. I just love my house; I don’t know its
home.
Marty Martino: I think the church has a lot to do with it too. It’s still an important
part of our life.
Pat Martino: We still know a lot of people there but there are still a lot of people we
don’t know.
Brenda Velasco: It’s changed; its demographics.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: I was a volunteer fireman in Port Reading for thirty-three years and I
was a fire commission for eighteen years.
Brenda Velasco: And you’re just tied to this community.
Marty Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: It’s been part of your life, both of your lives.
Pat Martino: Yes.
Marty Martino: Yes.
Brenda Velasco: Whether it was your brother with education, the church which you
were involved in and the firehouse.
Marty Martino: And with Vin, my brother, in politics.
Brenda Velasco: Yes, and let’s mention your brother. Who was your brother?
We’ve been concentrating on you.
Marty Martino: My brother, Vinny, was active with politics from his teen days.
Pat Martino: Well that’s because your mother loved politics.
Marty Martino: My mother was a Democratic committee woman in Port Reading.
Brenda Velasco: So it’s inherited.
Marty Martino: Inherited.
19
Brenda Velasco: Inherited in those genes, okay.
Marty Martino: And she was a Democratic poll clerk and I guess because of being in
a political family my brother Vinnie became politically active.
Brenda Velasco: And became a councilman.
Marty Martino: A councilman and the freeholder.
Brenda Velasco: And served in both positions very well and highly respected and
very well represented Port Reading.
Marty Martino: Oh, yes, absolutely.
Brenda Velasco: So you come from a political family and that is probably one of the
reasons you still remain with the church and the fire; you know people.
Marty Martino: Our lives change though, Brenda, like with the fire that’s all different
groups and whatnot. But it’s still, as Pat said…..
Pat Martino: Its home.
Marty Martino: Its home.
Brenda Velasco: That’s a good way to describe it.
11. Do you have any family members still living in Woodbridge?
Pat Martino: Cousins, I have just cousins.
Brenda Velasco: Cousins and I know, Marty, your brother is still here.
Marty Martino: Oh yes, my brother and the McNulty’s are my cousins and the
Zullo’s are her cousins.
12. Are there any other stories or events that you would like to discuss?
Brenda Velasco: I really would like you to discuss this connection with Italy, that
village. Marty, do you want to take the lead on that?
Marty Martino: I’ll take the lead on that. When I joined the Marine Corps, I was
stationed in the Marine barracks in Naples, Italy. My father, who was born in this
little town, came over to visit me in Naples. At that time he had first cousins living in
Naples and we all got together and went to visit this town and my father showed me
where the family house was in the town and the town church. That made an
impression on me that I guess is still with me today. However looking at the history
of this little town called Pietrastornina it turns out, from an historical view point as I
understand, it was that the Reading Railroad in Port Reading needed work and needed
laborers and a number of townspeople from this little tiny town immigrated to the
United States and went to work for the Reading Railroad. That was their view of a
better life. However, from my perspective, the Reading Railroad was like another
day older and deeper in debt. They ran the company store, they provided the housing
and once you worked for the railroad it was very hard to break away from the
railroad. But as the families grew they eventually were able to move away from the
Reading Railroad. But in any event, a lot of the townspeople came from this little
town. Then I recall that the cornerstone of this church in this town said 1937 when
back then the church was in need of repair and they didn’t have any money there
being a foreign community. The priest back then sent a letter to St. Anthony’s asking
the parishioners of St. Anthony’s to donate to remodel, redo, the church and a number
of parishioners did, the residents of Port Reading did and………
Brenda Velasco: This was even during the Depression in 1937.
20
Marty Martino: 1937, yes, and they did and they sent the money there and what the
priest did in this little town he put this cornerstone on this church with everyone’s
name who donated financially towards restoration of the church. Not only Port
Reading but other communities in the northeastern part of the United States like
Staten Island, I guess there is Boston and some other locals on the cornerstone. I
guess what was missing was my grandfather’s name and I don’t know why his name
was not in there. But my grandfather’s brother’s name was on there, Ralph Martino.
He contributed but my grandfather’s name was not on there. So it was something that
was always on my mind, this cornerstone. So Saint Anthony’s was approaching the
hundredth anniversary and we put together a trip to Italy, my wife, myself, Albina
(D’Alessio) and Father Smith and a couple of other on the committee. When we went
there, we stopped at the town and the mayor and the priest brought us into Town Hall.
They made a big welcoming ceremony for us that day and Father Smith extended an
invitation to the priest and to the mayor to visit Port Reading on St. Anthony’s
hundredth anniversary. They accepted that invitation and there was a group of
eleven that came through Port Reading in November of 2006 to celebrate the
hundredth anniversary of St. Anthony. As part of that, the mayor and his group
visited Town Hall in Woodbridge and met with then acting mayor, Senator Vitale,
who was the interim mayor in Woodbridge; both mayors exchanged plaques and
appreciation awards. However, when they left, this plaque business was still
bothering me so I got the idea one day and I spoke to Father Smith and said if we put
together a memorial plaque and we went back to Italy and put it on this church. He
said if you want to put it together put it together and we’ll do it. So what we did is we
put together a plan, my wife, Albina, myself and the priest and we put together a
plaque program where we asked that those still living in Port Reading, their children
and the parents and grandparents if they would like to do a memorial for them and
also even for themselves as a gift. We contacted a number of people that we knew
the families were still in Port Reading but they may have moved out of Port Reading.
We put this plaque together and when we got over there we dedicated on July 6th
and
it was one of the most fantastic weekends in my life. I mean everybody that was on
that trip will always remember that dedication ceremony.
Brenda Velasco: It’s the sister city.
Marty Martino: Yes, with the mayor of Pietrastornina, the little town, and the priest,
Angiovanni Morello and we have a DVD of the celebration weekend and Albino
D’Alessio was the interpreter.
Pat Martino: She’s great.
Brenda Velasco: I’ve interviewed her but what an experience!
Marty Martino: Oh, yes.
Pat Martino: Oh, yes, it was wonderful.
Brenda Velasco: This is your home here but it is also tied to Italy.
Pat Martino: It was an experience that I will always remember.
Brenda Velasco: And the two of you were instrumental in promoting this.
Pat Martino: And we stayed in this little farm town for two nights. It was just
wonderful.
Marty Martino: You could not believe. There was no air conditioning, the
temperature was a hundred degrees, there were no ceiling fans……
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Pat Martino: And it was wonderful.
Marty Martino: In the morning, you know what you woke up to….
Pat Martino: The roosters.
Brenda Velasco: This is not Port Reading. On that note we’re going to close the
interview. I thank you very, very much for sharing all of your memories and I’m glad
both of you were here because you had two different perspectives to bring here but
you’re instrumental in preserving the history of Port Reading. So thank you both.
Pat Martino: Thank you, Brenda.
Marty Martino: Thank you, Brenda.
Marty and Pat also donated a photo of the plaque discussed as well as a map of
Avellino.
