As I was walking my 16 miles on the Camino today, I thought about those rare times when Mom and Dad would take us out for dinner. Most of my memories center on the old Stasnys Inn in Waldwick which was one of the great family restaurants growing up and is now called Nellies Place after the ownership of the restaurant changed hands back in 1989. Looking back, I really marvel at how Mom and Dad would somehow find the money to take out our family of 7 to this great restaurant. We could order anything we wanted from the menu and loved not just their famous thin crust pizza but their family style buffet where you could choose from a wide variety of special dishes along with their great salad and dessert selections. I think each of us Kirnan kids had our 8th grade graduation dinners there and I still vividly remember my own graduation back in June 1969.
It took place in the Church directly across from the school. Graduation was quite a tradition at Mount Carmel School as we would have a procession from the entrance of the school grounds and proceed up the street and then walk up the front steps of the church and into our assigned pews. I had known most of my classmates since first grade and it was that first moment in our lives of breaking away as many of us would go on to attend one of the many Catholic high schools in the area while others decided to enroll at Ridgewood High School.
After each of us had received our diploma, there was one final award to announce which was the biggest one of all — the General Excellence Medal — awarded to the boy or girl in the 8th grade class with the highest grade point average. So the suspense in the church was building as to who that student would be and I was feeling pretty down as I had not received any of the other awards. Our Principal — Sister John Thomas — then stepped up to the podium to announce the winner and as I was walking the Camino today, I could hear Sister John saying “and the winner of the Class of 1969 General Excellence Award is John Kirnan”. In that moment, I was kind of in shock and had to be nudged by Robbie Kiernan to go up to the podium. I had won the award despite being in the Bears reading group way back in 2nd grade with Miss Hoagland. As I walked up to receive the medal from Sister John, you could hear my brother Dennis in the back of the Church yelling “My brother Jackie won! Jackie won!”
It was such a great way to end my Mt. Carmel experience and begin my days at Paramus Catholic High School where I would once again follow in the footsteps of my great big brother Dennis.
I don’t remember what I had to eat at Stasnys that night but it was a moment of feeling so close to my family and especially to Mom and Dad. They were so proud of what I had accomplished. And in spite of the financial hardship that Mom and Dad endured throughout their lives, they never once made me feel that I was less than any of the other kids in town whose parents had far more financial resources than we had. If anything, my Mom would always say “Jackie, be proud that you’re a Kirnan”.
Stasnys will always hold a special place in my heart not just for that night and all those other special nights the family had something to celebrate but because I continued going there for many years with my friends including Jean before it was sold and the new owners renamed the restaurant “Nellies Place”. When Mom and I bought the house in Hohokus for Mom and Dad in 1998, there were many times we would all go there for a family meal (see photos below). And when I was working at First Boston, I would sometimes stay overnight at the Hohokus house and Dad would pick me up at the train station and we would then head over to Nellies and either share a pizza together at the bar or take it back to the house.
There are other restaurants that will always remind me of some great memories of Mom and Dad and I cherish all of them — The Daily Treat Restaurant and the countless breakfasts and lunches that we had over the years there — Matty and I still go there whenever we get together for Mass at Mt. Carmel; Mama Rosa Pizza and those Sunday nights when I would gladly ride my bike to get Dad that Italian hoagie he loved; and in later years, it was the Brass Lamp, Charlie Browns, and the Hohokus Inn where Jean and I would take Mom and Dad out for dinner.
So thanks Mom and Dad for all those great times at Stasnys and all the other great eating places we went to and for always making me feel wanted and loved and to always be proud of our family.
