[MyVeronaNJ.com] Verona is a wonderful community. Our schools, town services and our jewel, Verona Park, make it an appealing place for people to live.
I grew up in Verona in the halcyon days of the early fifties, attending F.N. Brown School, and enjoying all Verona had to offer, belonging to a Brownie troop, playing an instrument, participating in town activities.
What my school friends didn’t know at that time was that my family was struggling financially. My father was diagnosed with tuberculosis when I was three years old, and was sent to the Essex Mountain Sanatorium on Verona’s Hilltop to recover. Fortunately, it was a world-class facility right around the corner. It meant that my mother had to go back to work at a time when most moms were stay-at-home mothers. It also meant we had little income.
I remember eating cereal for dinner, and that fortunately we walked home for lunch so that no one knew what little food choices I had.
There were many kind people that helped us back then. A local grocer would often give day-old merchandise to my mother. We utilized the thrift shop as our primary source for clothing.
The reason for telling this secret now is that it is not uncommon for families in a town like Verona to be struggling today. Uncertain economic times, divorce, illness or the inability to find income that provides enough for a family can all contribute to this “hidden poverty.”
