By Joe Calamito
This past September 20th, marked 23 years the River View Observer has been in business, and in the early years we were fortunate to have a lead writer named Tom Dwyer writing our cover stories. He alone was instrumental in keeping our readers interested in all things Hudson County.
Always ready to tackle a new story idea, and creating ideas that made us worthy of our readers attention.
I was heartbroken to find out recently that on April 6th, 2021 the world lost a talented writer and musician when Tom lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
It is hard for me to fathom such a brilliant talent as Tom no longer doing what he loved best, spending time with his beloved wife Susan, traveling, writing and creating beautiful music.
Tom was my friend, and although we hadn’t worked together in years, on occasion he would contact me and offer a travel story he had written and excitedly, I would jump at the chance to have the name Tom Dwyer, grace the pages of our publication one more time.
He would offer advice that I knew would make us a better publication, and in one of our last conversations a few years back, we talked of him writing a regular feature on Travel. Here at the River View we were excited at the idea.
Tom was a talented songwriter and in that last conversation we had, he was proud to let me hear some songs he had written and sold and I was happy he did.
There is no way I can sum up our friendship and working relationship other than to let his work speak for itself, by posting a few of Tom’s stories for you to read. Tom’s earlier stories unfortunately were written before we had the River View Observer website and are only in print , however, I did manage to find some from 2008 and 2009 for you to read.
Tom Thank you for all you did for us-and for inspiring us to push on, you made me a better person and publisher for have knowing you.
I hope you enjoy reading some of Tom’s stories…
Happy Birthday Liberty State Park by Tom Dwyer
Travel Sanibel -Captiva Islands Beauty and Sophistication Fun by Tom Dwyer
The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor
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River View Observer’s “Site Seeing” Bringing you interesting posts from arount the internet
Anthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises. In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997. “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,†Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.
I first met Dan Morgenstern more than five years ago when I picked him up one Saturday morning outside his Journal Square apartment in Jersey City. Our destination was the Catskill Mountains home of the late George Handy, a genius experimental jazz composer/arranger from the 1940s’ and 50s’ with whom I had studied piano after getting out of the Army in 1970. Dan and I had never met until Handy’s widow, Elaine, asked us to drive up together that day to discuss archiving his scores, albums, and memorabilia with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. Dan Morgenstern is the director of the Institute, where he oversees the world’s largest collection of jazz-related material. Our two-hour drive to the mountains, that included a few wrong turns, was like my own personal history of jazz, in fast time. During the duration of our trip, as I asked Dan about some of the jazz greats and not-so-well-known players he had met over the years, he recalled stories and memories about the many musicians he was “lucky enough to meet.†We returned home to Jersey City that night; Dan had secured George Handy’s collection for the Institute, preserving his legacy for future generations of music lovers. And it was a ride that opened my eyes to a man whose life is jazz; and who loves every moment of it.
Liberty State Park will celebrate its 30th birthday on June 10th, and considering that last year alone 5 million people visited the park — this could turn out to be one heck of a birthday party. If you’re one of the lucky people who have already discovered Liberty State Park, then you might want to take a moment to honor Morris Pesin, the driving force behind turning a once-desolate Jersey City dumpsite into one of the greatest parks in America. Mr. Pesin, who passed away in 1992, was honored by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985 with a Volunteer Action Award for creating Liberty State Park, the Gateway to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.