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Veteran gets a home makeover
(by Maggie Fazeli Fard - May 07, 2008)
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Staff Photo By Roy Caratozzolo
Volunteers from the
College of
New Jersey are helping to rebuild parts of the home of George Nicholas in
Park Ridge . From left, Dan Hughes, Matt Kreider, and Kavan Latham, discuss what to do next as they work on the front porch, which had to be replaced.
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Just before 9 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, 86-year-old George Nicholas of
Park Ridge finds more than 20
College of
New Jersey freshman waiting at his back door.
“I never use the front door,” says Nicholas a little too loudly (he’s lost much of his hearing).
The front door leads out to the front porch, after all, and the front porch tops the “fix this” list of the young volunteers. Led by co-captains Lynne Bennett and Karen Hartigan, they are ready to make Nicholas’ 100-year-old home the newest benefactor of Rebuilding Together, a non-profit organization that rehabilitates homes for low-income homeowners.
“They don’t build, they rebuild,” says Bennett. “In this case, his porch is rotted, the paint is peeling, the ceiling is coming down. We opened it up and whoo! [The volunteers] are reinforcing the integrity of the house.”
Nicholas found out about Rebuilding Together from a next-door neighbor and when he called to apply, he found out that as a World War II veteran – he served for three years in New Caledonia, the and during the Allied occupation – he was eligible for the organization’s “Heroes at Home” campaign, co-sponsored by Sears and K-Mart.
Bennett, a Rebuilding Together volunteer herself and having helped out on projects as far away as New Orleans and as close to home as Hackensack, says she is especially happy that the organization selected Nicholas, who in addition to being a veteran is a devout Christian and an active volunteer. Nicholas can still drive and spends most of his days out of the house, giving friends and neighbors rides and helping out with errands as best as he can.
But Nicholas has no interest in talking about his volunteer work. He will openly talk about his health, which, despite a series of surgeries in 2000, is good.
“I can still run,” Nicholas says proudly. “About one-and-a-half years ago, I was going into a store. I saw a shopping cart heading to the road. I ran with all my might and stopped it 10 feet before the road. What an applause I got.”
He will gladly talk about his father and mother, Lebanese immigrants, who he cared for until their deaths in 1978 and 1993, respectively.
“I never did marry. I wanted to,” admits Nicholas, who was born and raised in
Park Ridge . “I had two or three different girls I could have married. Under Arabic law, I couldn’t. I’m the oldest [of four siblings] so I had to take care of my parents. They were the best there is. They were good people. Honorable people.”
Nicholas also isn’t afraid of sharing a little too much information. “My parents were both virgins when they got married. That’s why I’m still alive. Doctors have it proved. When your parents are virgins, you’re stronger. You live longer. God has been good to me.”
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Staff Photo By Maggie Fazeli Fard
86-year-old George Nicholas of
Park Ridge , center, takes a picture with Heroe’s at Home project coordinators Karen Hartigan, left, and Lynne Bennett. The project used volunteers from the
College of
New Jersey to help rebuild parts of Nicholas’ home.
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Nicholas can’t help but talk about his age and his “girlfriends,” albeit discreetly. He has two, he says; one is 30 and the other is 43. He likes to give the 30-year-old gifts such as half-cantaloupes and gourmet chocolate bars.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” exclaims Nicholas. “She must have seen something in me that she wanted. She keeps giving me the eye. I can’t get away from her.”
He will talk at length about his disappointment in the state of the country. He says that parents don’t know how to govern their children anymore – “My father used to spank me and I didn’t need it. They don’t do that anymore. That’s why they have the music they do. They do drugs and drink and smoke.” – and says that the president doesn’t know how to govern
.
“But that could change,” he says. “You know, a black man might be president. But I don’t care. As long as it’s not a woman.”
Nicholas won’t give in to objections, standing by his belief that “a woman can’t make decisions a man can make. God didn’t make her that way. God made her to be sweet.”
Instead, he’ll change the subject to stories about his life that don’t seem to have a point, and just when you’re fairly certain that he is making stuff up, he will pull out a picture that proves him right.
“I used to be on television,” says Nicholas, formerly the owner of a television and radio repair shop, as he pulls a well preserved black and white photo out of his wallet. There, standing to the far left of the photo, is a younger version of himself, donning a cowboy costume. “I had a country western band. I was on TV three times, four times actually.”
But still, he won’t elaborate on his volunteer work. “It’s just something I do,” Nicholas says modestly.
He turns his attention to his house. The volunteers have spent two Sundays painting the first-floor bathroom and living room, replacing the kitchen floor tiles with a peel-and-stick surface and refurbishing the front porch, though it may take some time before Nicholas starts using the front door again. Between recent bouts of rain and Mother’s Day coming up next week, there has been a delay in completing the project, but it is expected that odds and ends will be cleared up by month’s end.
“The house was built in 1908 and I have lived here since 1963,” says Nicholas. “I’ve fixed things, but not what’s being fixed now. They [the volunteers] are doing so wonderfully. I didn’t think I could have this done without getting to the point of not being able to pay for food.”
For more information about Rebuilding Together, visit www.rebuildingtogether.org.
Maggie Fazeli Fard's e-mail address is fazelifard@northjersey.com.
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