Chatham resident Bob Higgins works as an executive television producer for Fremantle Media. One year after being nominated for his production work on "The Ricky Gervais Show," Higgins is now preparing for the television premiere of "My Babysitter's a Vampire," airing Friday on The Disney Channel. The series, taken from the Canadian television film from 2010, "My Babysitter's a Vampire" is a comedic spin on pop culture vampire movies about three teens who discover their babysitter is a vampire, and have to save the town. The series premiers Friday at 7 p.m. The idea for the film was generated…
Chenita Santos, 39, grew her hair long throughout her life in the Philippines. By the time she reached adulthood, it fell below her shoulder bones. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36, she faced losing it all. As a healthy woman who jogged and swam daily, she couldn't understand the diagnosis. Santos said her first thoughts after hearing the news were, "Why me? I'm not a bad person, I'm nice to other people, and I'm so active and healthy." At the time of her diagnosis, Santos was working as a nanny for an English family, Kate and Andy White, looking after their daughter…
The children at Lafayette Avenue School (LAS) will raise money to benefit the Chatham Senior Center by running in a non-competitive 2.6-mile run/walk Monday around Chatham from 3 to 4 p.m. The course will start at LAS, run through Longwood Avenue to Washington Avenue, Fairview Avenue to Dellwood, and then end up back at LAS. The race is overseen by physical education teachers Randy Raffo and David Shellenhammer. More than 20 parents have volunteered to run the five weeks of practices, which took place after school on Mondays and during afternoon recess on Thursdays. LAS students (326 in all) …
Before his wife Kelley died of breast cancer on May 19 of this year, she prepared Jack Bradley for the most important role of his life. "Kelley prepared me to be both a good father and mother for our four children," Bradley said. Since her death, Bradley has raised funds for and awareness of breast cancer. His efforts paid off when, through the connections of a neighbor, Nancy Grace invited him onto her CNN show in September. Bradley told Grace about raising four children between 2 and 8 years old alone, and about recruiting 40 Chathamites to participate in the Komen NYC Race for the Cure. On…
The Chatham Chronicles recognizes October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in honor of those have contracted breast cancer at some point in their lives. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women (excluding skin cancers). According to the American Cancer Society, women ages 40 and older should get a mammogram every year. For information on diagnosis and treatment of this devastating disease, the National Cancer Institute is one of many sources for information on different types of breast cancer, treatment and other educational literature. Incidences of breast cancer…
If you see a man riding through town on a horse, don't mind him. That's just Vincent "Whitey" Vitale. Vitale wanted a horse ever since childhood, and after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer 10 years ago he decided to stop waiting and buy one. His first horse kicked him under the chin. Whitey underwent a significant amount of plastic surgery to fix his broken jaw. He continues to ride, though, undaunted by the experience. Now Vitale keeps his new horse Heidi, an American Quarter Horse, at a farm in Green Village. Every now and then, Heidi and Whitey ride out to nursing and retirement homes …
Cindy Steffens grew up in a family where volunteering and public service were encouraged by example. Her grandfather spent countless hours volunteering for the Red Cross. Her father was the vice president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. Her mother, Barbara Hall, was a council member for Chatham Borough for six years and mayor for 12 years. Now, as chair of the Chatham Borough Green Initiatives Committee (a full-time volunteer job), Steffens continues that tradition for the next generation of her family. Steffens has a Master's degree in Government Administration from the Fels Center of…
Helen Polise and her family moved to Chatham from Secaucus in the fall of 1999, the day before school started. "I felt like an awful parent because the kids were up until midnight as we were putting their beds together," Polise said. "I kept asking myself why we did this." But before long, Polise was Rollerblading to the train station in her work clothes with a backpack that carried her computer and shoes. At that point, she said, she wished she had "done [the move] sooner." Now, Polise is settled in Chatham. And she has a pretty cool job working for her production company, "The Funky Pumpkin…
Bob Higgins majored in communications at Boston College, thinking that he could be a television journalist one day. But when he started reporting for a news channel in Cape Cod, he realized he hated doing so. "My job was to go up to people after they just lost their house in a fire and ask them how they felt, because that was news," explained Higgins. Years later, he's been nominated for an Emmy in a field that doesn't have much to do with television reporting. Higgins works in New York City as a senior vice president for FremantleMedia, which is one of the largest creators and producers of …
If you pass through Loantaka Park by a bridge on Kitchell Road, you might notice a brand new bench. It may look like the other benches in the park, but it's particularly special to the Simonetti family. It was dedicated to Trudy Simonetti, the family's matriarch, who died of cancer two years ago. A brass plaque on the bench commemmorates the years of her life. The Simonettis made a donation to the Morris County Park Commission to dedicate the bench in her name. And on July 23, her husband, three children and six grandchildren gathered together to honor their loved one and dedicate the bench…
Kathy Allocco is a woman who was meant to stay in Chatham. She is now the proprietor of Studio 360, a full service salon in the Hickory Tree shopping center in the township. She grew up in the borough and graduated from Chatham High School. She has been a hairdresser ever since she was 18 years old and never strayed from her passion. "I like what I do because I like people. I like the creativity of it," says Allocco. But Allocco also likes to give back. She found out about ways to donate hair to the Gulf Coast oil spill through Matter of Trust—a group dedicated to collecting hair and using it…
Alan Hauser's face is familiar to all Colony Pool members. Hauser has been dependably managing the facility for 22 years and going strong. He can be heard several times throughout the day, making announcements to remind members of daily activities. He walks around the pool to manage staff and talk with members as he picks up stray objects such as sticks and rocks so children don't step on them with their bare feet. Simply put, he loves the pool. "This is a beautiful place and a lot of families and old timers stay with us through the years," Hauser says. Hauser was born and raised in …
It's an inherent community spirit that makes Janice Piccolo's job feel so very natural to her. Piccolo is an administrative secretary for the borough, but she does a lot more than share her secretarial talents. She is involved in any new mayoral project. Having come from a family which started five generations of plumbing in the Madison area, Piccolo learned from a young age what working together is all about. "I got my sense of volunteerism and community spirit from my dad," says Piccolo. Piccolo's father started the Madison community pool. The town wanted a pool, but didn't have money to …
Suzanne Foy is a woman who knows boys. With three sons and a husband who are all very active in scouting and other activities, there's not a lot of time for sitting still. With a full time job in St. Luke's Daycare, Foy goes from changing diapers to den leader to laundry queen all in a day's work. Suzanne was born and raised in Shropshire, England and decided to come to America on New Year's Day in 1986. She was 18 years old. "I was ready for an adventure," said Foy as she explained how she answered an advertisement in a local England paper for a nanny position. "In Europe it is very common …
Editor's note: This article is the first in a series that will feature profiles of various Chatham residents. She stirs the tomato sauce in the kitchen while speaking on the telephone, secured between her ear and shoulder, and receives a fax from an attorney to close a deal on a listing. But it's just a day in the life of longtime borough resident Stacey Scerbo. "I needed to be around adults and feel useful," Scerbo says as she describes why she decided to juggle a full-time job and twin children for the past 5 1/2 years. Scerbo is currently one of the top agents in the Coldwell Banker …
