Rich and Johanna
Rich was born in Paterson, NJ and Johanna in Brooklyn, NY. Rich has a sister Sheryl and Johanna has a brother Robert and a sister Meg. Rich and Johanna were married in Succasunna, NJ where Johanna was living at the time. They have 3 children, Chris, Scott and Brian, and a grandchild Riggs.
They lived in NJ for a couple of years after their marriage and then moved to Connecticut as Rich accepted a work transfer. The lived in CT for over 25 years and their 3 children were born there. They now reside in Bradenton, FL. Scott. Brian and their grandson Riggs live about an hour away from them thus allowing them to get together frequently. Chris lives in New Mexico so his ability to join family get togethers occurs mostly around the holidays. They’re hoping that Chris will someday return to the east coast to be closer to them, but they know he won’t be moving to FL because he prefers cool to hot weather.
Rich had a successful career in the insurance industry becoming Senior Vice President of Travelers Insurance Company and then President of Insurance Operations at the International Financial Group. Johanna worked as a nurse for many years. Beds in the Barbieri household are still made with hospital corners. After the children were in school Johanna went back to school and earned an Associate of Science Degree in Counseling graduating with a GPA of just under 4.0.
Johanna is by far the more artistic of the two. She does numerous things in her art room including water colors and designing and producing gorgeous cards that she sends to family and friends and sometimes sells. She spent several years as President of the River Wilderness Art Association.
Boating
One of their hobbies for many years was boating on the Long Island Sound. The majority of summer weekends were spent either boating to various locations such as Montauk, NY, Greenport, NY, Block Island, RI, Newport, RI, Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. If they weren’t using their boat on a particular weekend, they were staying on it at the marina partying with their many friends. When they moved to Florida, they took their then 42′ power boat and embarked upon an adventure to move their boat to Florida. There was a storm coming so they had to complete the trip sooner than they would have liked but were able to take about 2 weeks cruising in the Atlantic, the Inland Waterway, around the tip of Miami and then up the West Coast of Florida to their marina.
Shortly after they brought the boat to Florida, they sold the boat and thought they were done with boating. Within two months Rich started looking for another boat and they bought a 34′ Tiara. On one of their trips they took it to the East Coast of Florida and from there went to the Bahamas staying both in Bimini and the Abaco Islands. On their return trip they came across Florida by way of Lake Okeechobee which allowed them to see much of “old Florida” and included the challenge of negotiating a number of locks.
Skiing
Taking up skiing was a natural thing to do with 3 small boys while living in New England. Johanna tried downhill and cross-country skiing but decided it wasn’t for her. On overnight trips she would come and stay in the lodge but then decided to stop doing that. Johanna encouraged Rich and the boys to continue to go skiing and to enjoy themselves while spending time together. Johanna always puts what’s best for the family ahead of her own desires.
Numerous trips were made to VT both day and overnight trips. In addition to skiing in VT, trips were made to Breckenridge, CO. Johanna came on those trips enjoying the town of Breckenridge. In addition to skiing Breckenridge, night skiing at Keystone Mountain was a favorite thing to do.
Snowmobiles were also rented and provided much fun. Rich and the boys would take them up past the tree line which ended at about 10,000 feet. The view of the mountains covered in snow was spectacular.
As the years progressed Rich felt the boys were spending too much time on the bottom of the mountain waiting for him to make his way down. Chris was old enough to drive and Rich thought the time had come to take the type of vacations Johanna would enjoy. Those vacations involved sun, a sandy beach, a nice hotel and a massage. Rich quickly adapted to the new vacations.
Travel
Traveling is a favorite pastime and have been fortunate to be see many places in the U.S. and aboard. Many trips to Europe have been taken, all of the Caribbean Islands, two trips to South America including going through the Panama Canal, cruising the Amazon River and climbing the steps to the amazing Machu Picchu. A special fondness exists for Italy followed by Germany. The most memorable trip was a safari in Africa. Spending two weeks in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Botswana seeing all of the animals and living (comfortably) in the wild was amazing. Another favorite trips was cruising Alaska, walking on and seeing glaciers, bears and then after getting off the boat taking the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver to places in Canada like Banff, Lake Louise and Calgary. Some of trips included one or more of their sons which made them even more memorable.
Car Hobby
Rich never outgrew his childhood interest in cars and after he retired started exploring this hobby. He’s had several Corvettes, Porches, BMW’s and Ferraris. He also became interested in driving on race tracks so he modified a Porsche GT4 and raced it on tracks including Sebring International Raceway, Road Atlantic, Virginia International Raceway, Road Atlanta, Barber Motorsports Park and Homestead Miami Raceway. He became an instructor for Chin Motorsports at the Sebring Raceway.
The interest in cars resulted in their joining several car clubs. One of the most active clubs is the BMW Classic Car Club of America. Rich and Johanna own a 1988 BMW M3 colored in Henna Red which they use for their very enjoyable trips with this club. The club President had been Goetz Pflafflin. One especially noteworthy trip involved Goetz arranging a trip to Germany where the club members who wanted to shipped their cars to Europe and then drive throughout the country. Goetz was born in Germany before the war and had been forced to move around in Germany to avoid first the Nazis and then the Russians. Goetz was a great story teller and had many stories to tell. Goetz, his partner Karen, the Barbieri’s and a few other couples shipped their cars to the Netherlands and then flew over to collect them. They took several days exploring Amsterdam and then drove up to Berlin to attend the 2016 BMW Veteranen Club Annual meeting (2016 Jahrestreffen of the BMW Veteranen-Club Deutschland). During the drive they visited the towns of Rotterdam, Netherlands, Enschede, Germany, Celle, Germany and Göhren-Lebbin, Germany. After the BMW meeting, they toured Berlin and various towns in East Berlin and then drove down to Munich. They stored their cars in Munich in an underground storage facility and flew home to return back in a couple of months for another adventure.
They returned to Munich in September for a “Bavarian Holiday” and to attend BMW’s 100-year anniversary officially called the BMW Centennial Program. Prior to the event they spent several days going through the Bavarian region which included going over the Kesselberg, past the Walchensee in Benediktbeuren and on to Garmisch Partenkirchen , where they spent two nights. After that they drove around the Zugspitze, at 2,962 m (9,715 ft) Germany’s highest mountain. In route sites included Oberammergau, famous for the Passion Play performed there every ten years since 1634, the town of Hindelang and the uniquely beautiful Romanesque monastery of Rottenbuch from the 11th and 12th century which they visited. The next day they drove through the Bregenzer Forest, visited a local cheese production facility (they make Swiss cheese, though the place is in Austria), then a Rolls Royce Museum also in Austria, and took a boat ride on Lake Constance out of Bregenz, Austria. They then returned to Munich, actually Ismaning where they were staying, which included a visit to the Fritz B. Busch Automuseum in Wolfegg Castle where they saw the private 200+ vehicle collection of famed auto-journalist Fritz B. Busch.
The 100-year anniversary event was spectacular especially because it included many gorgeous privately owned prewar BMW’s. The styling of the pre-war cars was amazing and in Rich’s opinion much nicer than today’s cars. After the Bavarian Holiday they visited the Bavarian village of Pfronten, near Füssen, all of it near the Austrian border. Club members Lothar Schuettler and Gretchen Carroll have a number of vacation condos that they rent. During their time there an annual ritual, an event called “Viehschieds” which means bringing the cows down from the mountains took place. “Vieh” means animal, in this case referring to cattle. The Viehschieds cattle drive is an excuse for a lot of revelry in the area, eating, drinking and dancing. They attended this very memorable event and then drove back to Munich to ship the cars back home.
Unfortunately, Goetz died in 2021. Typical of Goetz, he knew he was dying and planned his own funeral, including which day his funeral would take place, and wrote his own obituary. Rich and Johann flew to Colorado to attend his funeral. Goetz was the most interesting person Rich and Johanna have ever met and he will be forever missed.
Interesting trips with the BMW Classic Car Club of America still occur under the current President Dirk de Groen. These include the ever-popular BMW O’Fest in Hilton Head, SC, the Pine Tree Rally going from NH and finishing at Acadia National Park on the Coast of Maine. From there travel continued on to Waterloo, Quebec, Canada, Montreal, Quebec City and then back to the U.S. to ship the cars home.
Another fun trip with the club was the 2018 Low Country Discovery Tour. This trip started in Savannah Georgia where time was spent site seeing. From there it went to Charleston, SC for more site seeing. After that everyone drove to Hilton Head Island to attend the Hilton Head Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival.
Speaking of Concours d’ Elegance, Rich and Johanna regularly attend the premier East Coast Concours d’Elegance held in Amelia Island, FL each year. The event has been taken over by Hagerty and is now called The Amelia.
Another great club is the Ferrari Drivers Group SRQ. This isn’t an organized club but rather an informal group of people who own and like to drive sports cars predominantly, but not limited to, Ferraris. The unofficial head of the group is Joe Brielmann. Joe has a fabulous collection of newer Ferraris and built a building to house and show them. His building also has an extremely nice social area. “Club” members refer to the building as the Clubhouse. Most Saturday mornings whoever wants to go on a drive will arrive at the club around 9:00 for coffee and socializing. Joe is always a most gracious host. Around 10:00 the drive begins using remote roads through Manatee County and related areas. Each car carries a walkie talkie and whoever is in the lead, usually Joe, radio’s back instructions and warnings. Destinations always include a restaurant for lunch and then after lunch either home or back to Joe’s place. The club sponsors two exotic car festivals a year with proceeds going to charity.
Rich and several members from the group drove their cars from Florida to Glacier National Park in Montana. The drive was predominantly on back roads offering plenty of opportunity for “spirited driving.” They were stopped once by the police but no tickets were issued.
Dual Citizenship Saga
Italy recognizes Italian Citizenship by Descent, “Jure Sanguinis”, which is a Latin word that means “right of blood.” If your ancestors were from Italy, you can have citizenship there along with your home country. A decision was made to go through the process to obtain dual citizenship.
The first step was to obtain the necessary records from Italy. Ancestor names, date of birth and the town they came from were already known. A request to the Comune di Cerreto Sannita was made. Just a couple of weeks later the documents arrived at no cost which was a pleasant surprise. A couple of the documents needed a slight modification to given names to make then consistent throughout the documents so a request to make the changes was sent and the modified documents arrived a couple of weeks later again at no cost. With that out of way the rest of the process should be easy. It wasn’t.
Now came dealing with the State of New Jersey. In order to get official birth records, you have to request them online and at a cost of $25 each. Receiving them takes several months each. Similar to the Italian documents, some of the given names needed to be changed for consistency. Requests for the changes, including documentation that supported the changes, was made. After several months, the request was denied. Correspondence with the official records department occurred several times, each time with a several month delay, but they continued to reject the request for modifications.
Rich had a business trip to NY so he decided to drive to Trenton to talk with the officials. He was denied access to the building. All discussion about, or requests for documents, can only occur in writing. A letter was drafted and sent a to the NJ State Attorney’s Office requesting their assistance. After several months they replied and said that the only way changes to the documents would be made was if a court ordered them to do so.
Being more stubborn than smart, an attorney was hired and suit was brought. Again, an extensive delay before the case was heard. When the judge looked at the case he asked why his time was being spent on something so trivial? The attorney produced the letter from the State Attorneys Office saying that changes had to be ordered by a court. The judge was visibly upset with the States attorney and fortunately ruled in Rich’s favor.
The changes to the documents had to be officially requested again, and as was customary a $25 fee for each change was required, and after several more months changed documents were finally received.
The next step was to request an appointment with the Italian Consulate in Miami. The waiting list for appointments was greater than a year. When the appointment time came Rich traveled to Miami with his records and again had to pay a fee (cash only). His request was accepted, but he was told that that the Consulate wasn’t familiar with NJ records so the application and supporting documents had to be sent to their NY office for review before they went to Italy. Yet another delay.
Several follow ups with the FL Consulate occurred and finally the Consulate said that NY had completed their review and the application was being sent to Italy. Another delay of over a year but finally the Miami Consulate said that the application had been approved and an appointment to pick up the document could be made. The waiting list was a relatively short 2 months. Once the citizenship documents were obtained an application for an Italian passport was submitted. Another couple of month delay but finally it was received. The entire process took over 5 years and cost in excess of $7,000.
Genealogy
Their first trip to Italy resulted in Rich having an interest in the heritage of his and Johanna’s family. Rich and Johanna visited his ancestors home town of Cerreto Sannita accompanied by an interpreter. Barbieri was an extremely common surname and at the time the mayor was a Barbieri. The town has a reputation for beautiful pottery so a number of items were purchased as gifts to family members, The purchases had to be shipped but unfortunately never arrived home. They also have visited the places Johanna’s ancestors lived including Glasgow, Scotland and Ireland. Researching family history and connections since 2005 has ultimately led to the creation of this site.