How Bud Amenta And Jan Met

 

Janice in the red coat.

How Angelo (Buddy) and Jan Met.

My friend, Judy was dating a friend of Bud’s, Dennis  and they needed a date for Bud so they could doubled date. Judy and I were on the cheerleading team at St. Joseph’s High School in Paterson, NJ, so Judy wanted either me or their friend, Jackie to meet him. Judy, Dennis and Bud were sophomores. I was a freshman in 1966. 

For some reason Jackie couldn’t make it to that afternoon and Judy took me to the old mill beside the nunnery to see Bud. The boys were working out with the with weights and Bud had his shirt off. The old mill, a aged-ridden brick building called the gym, was used for gym classes and after school activates like the cheerleading squad practices. Our squad had a schedule practice and we were going there to practice through we knew we would be waiting for the boys to finish their scheduled weight lifting.

Judy pointed Bud out to me as we entered. One look and I thought, 'I could never get a guy like that.' Bud was so good looking. I agreed to go on a blind date to meet him anyway.

1966

It was that Friday night, Halloween. Bud's father drove the boys to Judy’s house on Madison Avenue, three blocks from my own house, to pick Judy and I up. The date would be at Bud’s house where the boys had decorated the basement for our Halloween party date.

There must have been some talk among the boys where Bud said something like, 'Hope she doesn’t look like a frog,” because when I got into the car, Dennis said, ”clanged your magic twanger, froggy!” A clear reference to the Andy Devine’s children show from the 1950’s where a frog puppet would appear to have a conversation with Andy Devine. It was a fun night, though I felt awkward this being my first date.  

One day not long after that, on the back stairwell of St Joe's, Judy and Jan were 

Bud and Jan, Eastside Prom, 1969

going down the stairs to the exit door heading for the old mill and Dennis and Bud were going up having just come back from it. I was wearing a red duffle coat, that Bud still remembers. Dennis and Judy were commenting back and forth, and Bud and I remember it was something amusing though what was said we don’t know. Bud said that that moment is the moment he knew he loved me, though he didn’t realized that was the feeling at the time.

Ira Reese Day and Ruth Catherine Dunn: How my father and my mother met.

 

Ira Reese Day and Ruth Catherine Day

On the photo: To Ruth
with Love, Ira

The story I was told by my mother that she worked in a lab for Curtis-Wright Inc. and my father worked there too as an accountant, though she worked there first. This was in the 1940s. 

My father was a member of the Holy Name Society* in Paterson New Jersey along with his friend Martin Baron (who later, because my uncle). And at a parade in Paterson that my father was with the society and my mother and her sister Frances were spectators in the crowd. They met after the parade and they began dating.

                                  

They then got my father’s friend, Marty Baron and my mother’s sister,

Frances (Nicknamed, Babe, because she was the youngest child in the family until their brother, Ed was born,) Dunn Baron together.

Ira, Babe and Marty taken at Pennington Park, Totowa, NJ

Ruth took the photo.

* The Confraternity of the Most Holy Names of God and Jesus (Holy Name Society) promotes reverence for the Sacred Names of God and Jesus Christ, obedience and loyalty to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, and the personal sanctification and holiness of its members. Members are called to contribute to the evangelization mission of the Church and to make perpetual acts of reverence and love for our Lord and Savior. The apostolate of the society is to assist in parish ministries by performing the Corporal Works of Mercy: to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, tend the sick, visit those in prison, and bury the dead; as well as the Spiritual Works of Mercy: to convert sinners, instruct the ignorant, counsel the wayward, comfort the sorrowing, bear adversity patiently, forgive offenses, and pray for the living and the dead. 

https://www.nahns.org/

Clementine Raphael Ferla AMENTA

Connection> Clementine Ferla /m./ Charlie Amenta /son/ A Amenta /m./ J Day

Clementine Raphael Ferla And Carmelo (Charlie) Amenta , about 2005

Clementine R Ferla Amenta was born on February 29, 1920, in Janesville, Pennsylvania, to Marie Giardina, age 37, and Santo Ferla, age 40.  Clementine Ferla, who was nicknamed, Clem, was born on February 29, 1920, in Janesville, Pennsylvania, her father, Santo, was 40 and her mother, Marie, was 37. She eloped with Carmelo on October 11, 1947, in Bronx, New York. They had two children during their marriage. She died on March 29, 2010, in Oregon, Ohio, at the age of 90.

Clem met Carmelo Amenta, called Charlie after his grandfather, Carmelo Amenta 1842-1916, by his family met when the two families went to visit a relatives who were prisoners of war in a US prison camp who both fought for Italy in the 2nd world war. The Ferla’s were visiting a cousin, Angelo Giardina and the Amenta's were visiting a cousin who as well, though we don’t have a name. Josephine and Clem became friends and Clem went to their house where she met Charlie when he came home on leave. They were married a few days later in a civil service and later in a church.

Philadelphia.  Census Records 1940 • FamilySearch 

Clemetine Ferla's Parents and Siblings:
Santo Ferla
M 62, Italy. Name: Santo Ferla.
Birthplace: Italy.
Residence Date: 1935.
Residence Place: Same Place.
Marital Status: Married.
Race: White.
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place:Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Event Place (Original)Philadelphia City, Philadelphia, Ward 38. Enumeration District Number 51-1392, Philadelphia City, Ward 38 (Tract 38-A - part): Line Number: 25 Sheet Letter. A Sheet Number, 10.
Affiliate Publication Number: T627
Sandy Ferla, Brother, M, 34, Italy.
Louise Ferla, Sister-in-law, F, 19.
Pauline Ferla, Sister F 30, Pennsylvania.
Joseph Ferla, Brother, M 28 Pennsylvania.
Lena Ferla, Sister, F, 26. 
United States, Census, 1940 "United States, Census, 1940", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQWT-4DX : Sun Jul 14 15:39:40 UTC 2024), Entry for Santo Ferla and Sandy Ferla, 1940. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQWT-4DK?lang=en

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