Bonnie L. Cramer; Monday, May 13, 2013 • 6:16am
MADISON, NJ – All across the country, people are preparing to celebrate Mom on Sunday. In the spirit of Mother’s Day, TAP of Madison asked some local business owners what lessons they’ve learned from their mothers.
At the dental office of Dr. Sam Romano, his mom was helping around at his office and she said, “The most important lesson I taught is to be honest, to do your best in school and be self-sufficient. I taught both my sons how to cook,” said Mrs. Carrie DeMarzo Romano. Doc Romano indicated that what he learned from his mother at an early age was this, “The greatest gift you can give is the gift of helping others. Be caring, have integrity and dedicate yourself to excellence.”
In uptown Madison, Louisa DeRose, owner of Hair We Are, said, my mother always told me to “respect yourself. It’s the only way you can respect others.”
Mary Roberta Murphy, 88 years old, a resident of Sunrise Assisted Living, had just finished having her hair done at DeRose’s shop. She was walking arm and arm with her daughter, Sue Ballance, toward their car, and her daughter said, “C’mon, Mom, what did you always tell us when we were kids?”, and Mrs. Murphy replied, “Behave.”
Arleen Gaetani, Owner, of New Leaf Consignment said, “My mom passed on a life-long appreciation for fine things and beautiful surroundings.”
The new manager at Coccia Realty is Kathy Ricketts. She said “My mother always dressed up, even now at 70 years of age. It doesn’t matter what you have, but you should always look your best. Be neat, be clean and never leave the house without your makeup on.”
Joanne Dauber, the owner at Once and Again Consignment said, “My mother always told me to never get mad, that only dogs get mad. Wake up every day with a song.”
“Never settle, my mom would say. I’ve been working since I’m 14, and now I’m a store manager. I think she was right about that,” said Olesia Senezak, Manager of the newest store in town, Second Time Around.
From Cramers Carpet One, owner Brad Cramer said, “My mother has been a widow for over 30 years, and she is a strong woman. She’s 90 and still mows her own lawn. My mom taught us self-reliance, and if you want something, you need to be the one to work for it.”
Just down the street, Nina Karamallis , one of the owners from The British Emporium said “the most significant lesson my mother taught is to always believe that God has a will for us even if we often don’t understand.”
Nicole Francoeur from Rose City Framemakers said, “My mom would tell me to follow my passion. That’s why I majored in Art, not Education.”
These were the lessons learned from mothers of some Madison Merchants.
As part of an 18-member team, he traveled to Guatemala for one week in February to offer much-needed dental care to poor children. “I always wanted to do mission work, but I didn’t know how to go about finding the best, organization,” he said. When Dr. Gregory Keiser, a Morristown oral surgeon and board member of Healing the Children, asked Romano if he would be interested in a trip to the Central American country, he leapt at the chance. “I said, ‘I’m going – I don’t even have to think about it’,” Romano said.
“I’ve lived in Madison all my life, and I didn’t realize how good we have it,” said Romano, who lives on West Lane. “It’s one thing to see pictures, and another to smell, feel and touch what it’s really like. Nothing is clean, and everything is covered with grit. It changes how you look at life. We waste time on trivial things, and never reflect on what’s important,” he said. After his heart-wrenching week, Romano was jarred backed to reality while on the plane trip home.
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