By Joe Bucci, November 7, 2019 — I’m going to tell [a story] about dating my wife through High School and college. When we got together, I was living in Atlantic City and she had family that lived near me. We got together in our junior year of High School. We went to school together during our first two years of college, and we were the first graduating class in 1968. We both graduated from Atlantic Cape Community College, and we both went to teach. I ended up in Glassboro State because they wanted me to play for the basketball team for them, and I was a basketball player for the Atlantic City High School.
To go back a little bit, I used to walk from my house in Atlantic City to her house in Margate just to see her on the weekends. I was an athlete, so I would walk-jog, wall jog, and it would take me about half an hour from my house downtown Atlantic City to her house in Margate. I loved her very much. We dated our junior and senior years in High School, and then we dated through college at Atlantic Cape together, and then we went separate ways. The first year of college was at the Atlantic City High School at nighttime; that’s where our classes were for college. Then, our second year the Atlantic Cape Community College was built in Mays Landing. We would drive together to Mays Landing and got our degrees together. Like I said we both wanted to be teachers; we both wanted to be educators. She wanted to teach special ed kids, and I wanted to be a gym teacher. I had an aunt and uncle that lived on Campus at Glassboro, and they put me up, fed me, and gave me a room. They put me up for my junior and senior year and I played basketball for Glassboro state which is now Rowan. She got her bachelor’s degree going in summertime, and also going at nighttime. She did it in two years; I did it in two years. She got a job at Oakcrest High School in Mays Landing. She got the job because her cousin was a supervisor of special education, and she was getting her special education degree. She had another semester to go, but they said they were going to hire her, and then she would get her degree while she was working. So, she became a special ed teacher in 1969.
In her first year of teaching, it was my senior year at Glassboro, and I did my student teaching under a vice principal. It was for half a year and it was at Oakcrest High School with her, so we drove together to school. She was teaching and I was doing my student teaching. I love telling this story every time. So, we would drive together the year that I was doing my student teaching since she was already teaching. Our first year we lived in an apartment because we didn’t have enough money to buy a house.
So, at the end of the school year, I was going to become an Atlantic City police officer because I had relatives at the time that were police officers. It just so happens that at the end of the school year when I was going to go to the police training, they called me on the phone from Oakcrest. They said Joe the guy that you student taught for has just become vice principal, and he said that you did a fabulous job and he wants you to take his job. They said we have a contract here for you, and I said I’ll be out in a half hour. We were living in Linwood, and I had to drive to Mays Landing to dress all nice and all and sign the contract for $9,000. I was 28 years as a gym teacher; I was a track coach, a basketball coach, cross country coach and also won a lot of championships. On my 28th year the superintendent called me down to his office, and he said, “Joe, we need a favor from you.” I had my master’s in administration, and he said, “We need you to run the in-school suspension.” I said, “Sure!” So, I was the in-school suspension teacher for the last 12 years. So that was an interesting story about my life, you know it was 40 years of my life.
My wife passed away when we were 39 years together, and that’s the reason why I’m here. I have a lot of physical issues and I was at home living alone in Linwood. I would get up in the morning, have breakfast and go back to bed. I wasn’t doing anything; I wasn’t going anywhere, and they said we have to get you to go someplace that will help you with all the physical issues.
I have a bad back, it’s because of all the athletic stuff too. That’s the reason why I’m here, but I’ve only been here for 5 months, and I’m the baby of the group. I’m a 70-year-old baby. There are ladies here in their 80s and 90s, and one lady I sing to and she is a 100. She’s perfectly fine, and when she turned 100, I sang her Happy Birthday. I don’t know what I would be doing if I wasn’t here. I like to leave sometimes and like go to my kids; I have a daughter and a son-in-law and two kids 11 and 15 that live in Northfield. I also have a son and daughter in law with twin grandsons that are 5 years old that live up in North Jersey. I don’t see them as much as I would like because I’m here, you know I don’t have a car here. So, there is an interesting part of my life and the reason why I’m here.