Ang and Lee
Rich’s parents were Angelo and Leona Loeffler. Angelo “Ang” Barbieri was born in Paterson, NJ son of Christopher Emerico Barbieri and Elizabeth Marrich although Elizabeth’s birth name was Rosaria Medici. Christopher and Elizabeth had 4 sons and two daughters.
When Rich was born Ang and his wife Leona “Lee” lived at 48 Jasper Street in Paterson, NJ. This was a three-story house with Ang and Lee living on the top floor, grandparents Chris and Elizabeth on the middle floor and Ang’s oldest brother, Charles “Pernie”, living on the bottom floor with his wife Estelle “Stelle” Mc Farlan and their 2 daughters. At that time, the 3rd floor may have been a cold water flat and there was a large coal bin and furnace in the basement.
In March 1946 Ang married Antoniette” Ethel” Sisti. The marriage was short lived and they divorced in 1947. Ang had a good friend by the name of Dominic “Dom” Sisti from Paterson. How Dom and Ethel were related, if at all, is unknown.
Ang then married Leona “Lee” Loeffler in 1947. Lee had married Emberton Bradshaw in 1943. They had hoped that it would keep him out of the military but it did not. They divorced.
After the Navy Ang worked some different jobs and eventually went to work for a swimming pool company. The company had a number of pools under construction but went bankrupt. Ang went to the customers and offered to finish the pools for them. This ultimately turned into the Crystal Pool and Equipment Company in Wayne, NJ. Rich can remember before he was teenager helping his dad on weekends opening pools in the spring and closing them in the winter. Most of the pools had heavy wood diving boards that Rich and his dad had to move. While Ang built the swimming pool company Lee worked as a telephone operator in Paterson, NJ.
Ang and Lee bought their first house in Pines Lake, NJ sometime around 1953. One of their friends, Ted and Annabelle Rissart (sp?) already lived there. It was a new small two-bedroom house in a lake community with a breezeway and a 1 car garage. The breezeway was converted into a bedroom for Rich. Moving from Paterson was not received well by Rich’s grandmother. He was the first male grandchild and was her favorite. She blamed Lee.
Ang and Lee had a boxer dog named Blaze. Blaze had a habit of loosening an edge to the wallpaper and then with it in his mouth backing up stripping the wallpaper from the wall. Ang had to replace the wallpaper several times.
Ang liked to fish and had a metal row boat. The lake didn’t allow gasoline powered boats so he had an electric motor. Rich can remember Ang’s father Chris coming up early some mornings with a box of donuts and the three of them going fishing. Catfish were caught and a barbecue was held.
The Pines Lake house was sold around 1960 and the family moved to High Crest Lake, NJ. They bought a three-bedroom house that was on the lake. The house had a steep slope to the backyard down to the lake and being Ang was in the swimming pool business they decided to put a swimming pool in the yard. The construction equipment had to very carefully create plateaus to work from in order not to slide down the slope. Lee planted hundreds to thousands of PACHYSANDRA on the slope to eliminate erosion.
The Pines Lake house was sold and Ang, Lee and family moved to High Crest Lake in West Milford, NJ, Ang made the basement into a recreation rooom and numerous parties were held. Unlike what is shown in the picture, the house had a steep driveway which made getting up to it in the winter challenging.
There was a small sailing club at High Crest Lake that held races on Sunday using small Sailfish boats. A boat was purchased for Rich and he sailed with the club. One year he won third place in the junior division.
Ang and Lee had become friends with the daughter and son in law of the Pines High Crest Lake community Ed and Marion Novack. Sometime around 1963 a new section of waterfront property was opened and Ang and Lee purchased a piece of property that looked down the late. A house was built with Ang acting as the general contractor.
Another time Ang, Abbie and Tossie were fishing on the lake without a license when a Fish and Game Warden ticketed them. The local newspaper ran a short article about the three “A. Barbieri’s” that were apprehended.
Ang’s father’s health declined and for a while he lived with Ang and family sleeping on a cot in Rich’s bedroom with Rich. Eventually he was moved to a nursing home where he passed away.
Ang had been growing the swimming pool business working by himself. He was purchasing plumbing supplies for Federal Plumbing Supply in Paterson. One day they made him an offer. They would become silent partners, supply some working capital and help Ang expand the business. Ang accepted and bought a building on Rt. 23 in Wayne, NJ. Demonstration pools were installed and the building had an area where swimming pool supplies could be purchased. They also showed Lee how to keep the books and she stopped working as a telephone operator and became the bookkeeper.
Several years later Ang bought out the silent partners and he and Lee returned to owning 100% of the company. After that a larger building was purchased on Rt. 23 in Wayne and the business was moved. A couple of years after that an addition was added to the building.
For several years during the winter Christmas trees and ornaments were sold. After that the building was rented to a winter ski shop during the winter months. A portion if the building was rented to a scuba business owned by Sal. Eventually, Ang and Lee bought the ski shop business which was an interesting decision given they didn’t ski.
1973 was a pivotable year for the Barbieri family. Sheryl and Rich were married and Ang and Lee closed the swimming pool business and moved to Redington Beach, FL somewhat near their friends Ted and Annabelle Rissart.
The High Crest Lake house wasn’t more than 10 years old but when it was sold the new owners tore it down and built a new larger home.
There was a tragic event to next door neighbors the Settineri’s. On the side of the lake there were houses that looked down on the lake. One day a visitor to one of the houses took a high-powered rifle and fired at the lake. The bullet ricocheted and went through the wall of the house next to the Barbieri’s and into the bathroom killing the wife who was taking a bath.
Ang and Lee owned several boats in FL which they docked in their backyard. Ang worked several jobs until his death. Lee then moved several times to stay close to her daughter Sheryl. At one point she opened a yarn goods store called Stitchworm in St. Petersburg and ran it for many years. It was her pride and joy. She eventually sold it to an employee but kept working there until she wasn’t physically able to any longer.