Then and Now of Iselin - Volume 2

By John T. Miele and June Polanski Onder

John T. Miele and his co-author-niece June Polanski Onder are your tour guides as you travel and learn about Iselin "NOW" in Volume 2. They will show you how and where Iselin has grown into a super-suburbia town and has become a vibrant, multicultural community.

Iselin is a wonderful community interlaced with many cultures that contribute to its uniqueness. Journey with John and June as they capture the many changes throughout Iselin, along with established locations. See the development of the "old" St. Cecelia's Iselin Fairgrounds, the "legend and timeline" of Iselin's United States Post Office, the olde Iselin Movie Theatre, the Iselin Free Public Library (now known as the Woodbridge Free Public Library - Iselin Branch), and the dramatic State-of the-Art 21st Century changes at the Metropark Train Station, (with detailed hand painted artwork on both stairwells at Metropark).

Read where John and June meet with Mayor John E. McCormac of Woodbridge Township.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456756390

John T. Miele

John T. Miele is a 90 year life-long resident of Iselin. He was a prominent Iselin businessman for over 50 years; a member of the Iselin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 - District 9 and a Fourth Degree Knight with the Knights of Columbus - Iselin. A proud World War II United States Marine Corps Veteran, having served in the Pacific for three years. He loves to reminisce about Iselin "THEN" and talk about Iselin's rapid growth. You can find "Captain John" at the corner of North Juliet Street and Middlesex-Essex Turnpike (across the street from the Social Security Office Building, once the original site of Cooper's Dairy Farm).

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© 2011 John T. Miele Co-Author June Polanski Onder. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/10/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5640-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5639-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011906919

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Bibliography

Dedication

In memory of my sister Ethel, the Inspirer.

She gave me the incentive to write

Then and Now of Iselin.

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My sister Ethel Miele Dunnue (on left), our sister Anne Polanski McGhee, middle, and our cousin Carmella Aquila Textor (far right; first cousin—Carmella’s mom was our father, Tom Miele’s, sister, Frances). Here they are enjoying a summer day in Carmella’s cottage garden.

Picture taken August 31, 2007, by niece Elaine Polanski Bolger

My sister Ethel was the inspirer. She gave me the incentive to write Volume 1 of this book. She gave me mementos, postcards, newspaper clippings, and letters that I sent to my mother while I was overseas in the United States Marines Corps fighting in World War II. She also reminisced and shared family stories that our mother shared with her throughout the years.

She departed from us October 28, 2007—much too soon. It was a very sad day. We’ll miss her wisdom, reminisces of times past, and wonderful sense of humor … She is with us in our hearts and spirit every day.

Ethel enjoyed creating family photo albums from cherished family photos; she enjoyed being a mother to Maureen and Edward, mother-in-law to George, grandmother to Shaun, and great-grandmother to Justin. She resided in Iselin in the original family homestead, along with her husband, Leonard (who was a World War II veteran, having served in the US army in Panama, Greenland, and CBI: China-Burma-India) and with her son, Edward (an air force veteran). Leonard passed on December 25, 2007 (just two months after his most beloved wife).

Acknowledgments

To my beloved wife, Audrey, for her support, understanding, and patience for all the times she waited for me to stop working on this book so we could eat our meals together.

To my two sisters, Anne (Miele-Polanski) McGhee and Ethel (Miele) Dunnue, who stored my mother’s pictures and clippings throughout the years and shared family memories.

To my son, John, for taking photos and lending me some of his photo equipment.

To June Onder, my niece, for editing my stories and correcting my spelling. She spent endless hours grinding me. And to her mom, Anne McGhee (my sister), for assisting June in proofreading my book. To my nephew Richard Onder, for his endless patience and support to his wife, June (my niece, co-author, and editor), while she edited Then and Now of Iselin for submission to my publisher.

To my grand-niece Julia (June Onder’s granddaughter) for proofreading and correcting my spelling. To my niece Dawn Marie, daughter of the co- author, for giving her mom encouragement to finish this second book.

To my niece Elaine Polanski Bolger for taking photographs when we met with Mayor John E. McCormac on the presentation of the first book in August 2007,