GLEN RIDGE, NJ — A memorial service for former Glen Ridge Municipal Judge Joseph Connolly, 79, will be held Saturday, March 24, 1 p.m., in the Glen Ridge Congregational Church. Connolly died Feb. 13, 2018. He presided in Glen Ridge for 32 years and in Bloomfield for six years.
In a recent interview with his wife, Phyllis, she recalled how they almost met on a blind date that never happened.
“My father was a dentist,” she said. “He had a patient whose wife I knew. The patient told my father he knew a nice young man and they were going to invite us to dinner. But the wife’s mother got sick and nobody was home when Joe got there for the dinner.”
Instead, the patient gave Phyllis’ telephone number to Connolly. He called her and a meeting was arranged at her home on East Passaic Avenue, Bloomfield. Phyllis, nee Marturano, is a graduate of Bloomfield High School, Class of 1962. Her mother was having a party for her bowling friends the night Phyllis met her future husband. It was Oct. 19, 1963.
“We dated that night and never dated anyone else again,” she said.
Connolly was attending Fordham University Law school at that time.
“He was working as an adjuster and going to law school at night,” she said. “We got married in 1966. We wanted him to finish law school first.”
They lived in Bloomfield, on Broughton Avenue, for five years and moved to Glen Ridge in 1971. They had a girl and two boys. None of their children went into law.
“Joe became a judge in Glen Ridge on Jan. 1, 1980.” Phyllis continued.
Somewhat mysteriously, Phyllis said, her husband had a small book of musings that he read. Just before his appointment, the musing for Nov. 13, 1979, was “Who are you to judge?” She said her husband was surprised by the coincidence and showed her the book.
“He was a humble man,” she said. “He was proud of things, but wouldn’t say anything.”
In 2005, Connolly became the Bloomfield judge, too.
“The judge at the time wasn’t feeling well,” Phyllis said.
She said this judge, Ralph Colasanti, had to be hospitalized. Her husband stayed on.
“But Bloomfield couldn’t pay Joe,” Phyllis said. “So Joe said to just pay Colasanti.”
In July 2005, Connolly was appointed in Bloomfield after Colasalti died, she said.
The law enforcement building in Bloomfield Municipal Plaza is named for Ralph Colasanti.
“Joe was a good man who loved God,” Phyllis said. “He use to go to Newark once a month, to the state jail, with a spiritual group. He did that for three or four years until his back started to bother him. He had to give it up.”
But despite Connolly’s peripatetic efforts as judge — he was acting or visiting judge in 20 of 22 Essex County municipalities — and his varied community services, Phyllis said her husband made sure he read each night to his children a bedtime story before getting back to work.
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