SOTT Address was all about God, family and community

IRVINGTON, NJ — At his annual State of the Township Address on Thursday, Jan. 28, Mayor Tony Vauss paid a special tribute to fallen local trail blazers, including former Municipal Council President and Essex County Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley, Rev. Ronald B. Christian, former Newark kingmaker Carl Sharif and others, who made a positive impact on Irvington.

At the event, held at Christian Pentecostal Church on Clinton Avenue, Vauss also honored Assemblyman Tom Giblin and Superintendent of Irvington Public Schools Neely Hackett, as well as many others, including long-time Department of Public Works employee Anthony Howard.

But Vauss said Howard, a township employee for 28 years, nearly talked himself right out of his job with his acceptance speech.

“I didn’t know I was going to get an award,” Howard said Thursday, Jan. 28. “I’ve been here 28 years Mr. Mayor, so I have a lot of people to thank. I want to let Business Administrator Musa Malik and Public Works Director Jamel Holley know that I like you all a lot but you all get on my nerves. We’re family. This is the first time in 28 years I’ve seen that Public Works is working as a team. Right now, all departments are one department.”

Howard said he wanted to thank Vauss “for making me step my game up,” but joked with the mayor, saying, “I want to let you know that I’m not coming to work tomorrow.”

At that point, the church audience and every member of Vauss administration erupted in laughter. The mayor picked up on the spirit of the moment and giving Howard a playful warning. too.

“Twenty-eight years and he says his director and the business administrator get on his nerves,” joked Vauss. “Well, that’s the end of that. But seriously, if you don’t take the time to acknowledge the good people, you will lose them. That’s something I learned from my mentor, the honorable D. Bilal Beasley.”

Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin said Vauss was right to recognize and reward valuable people, especially public employees, for their hard work and dedication.

He and the mayor presented the award in honor of Beasley to his widow, Baseemah, and the other surviving members of his family.

“It’s tough to follow an Anthony Howard, but he has civil service protection, so his job is secure,” Durkin said with a laugh Thursday, Jan. 28. “We’re here to celebrate a legacy. Bilal Beasley had a beautiful life, based on loving God, loving his family and loving his community with all his heart. He served, but he would tell you he was the luckiest man alive, because he had the love of his life, Baseemah, with him.”

“I would like to thank the Freeholder Board, his extended family; he talked about you all the time,” Baseemah Beasley said. “He talked about you too, Tony. He said to me: ‘Baseemah, the right man is in the job. We can take it easy now. He’s going to take it home.’”

The themes of home, family and religion were very much in the air at the address and Hackett said she was grateful for that.
“What an awesome God we serve that would make it possible for a little girl from Irvington to come back and be the superintendent of the district in the town I grew up in,” Hackett said. “This moment will go down as one of the most precious moments in my life, because I’m honored to share the program with so many people that have changed so many lives for the better.”

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, who accepted the award in his father’s name, said he would not forget the moment as it gave him a chance to gain a better perspective on his own life and how it turned out to be very similar, eerily so, to his father’s.

“This is such a great honor to be bestowed upon the congressman and it’s such a great dream to be able to follow him,” Payne said. “I really didn’t realize how he was preparing me. In retrospect, looking back, he was preparing me. I’m honored to be your congressman. I’m honored to be your voice in Washington and I take that responsibility seriously. God has a plan for your life and we have to follow it. I want to thank the township of Irvington for honoring my father, the congressman.”

Modia Butler, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, both when he was the mayor of Newark and in his current post, presented the award for Sharif to his wife. Butler and Vauss both acknowledged the powerful influence and his impact on D. Bilal Beasley and Booker.

“The man we called ‘sensei’ and the effect of the impact he had on Cory Booker,” Butler said on Thursday, Jan. 28. “Cory Booker could not have been elected councilman if it weren’t for his sensei. Cory Booker could not have been elected mayor of Newark and then re-elected if it weren’t for his sensei. Cory Booker would not have won the special election to the U.S. Senate without his sensei. And Cory Booker could not have been elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate without his sensei.”

Vauss said Sharif was “a legend in Essex County.” He said “Bilal Beasley was my mentor, but what many people don’t’ realize is Carl Sharif was D. Bilal Beasley’s mentor.”

“What I learned from my mentor, he learned from Carl Sharif,” Vauss said.
Sharif’s wife, Alberta, said, “For those of you who knew him, you know that he never sought personal attention for doing the work serving the public.” But she said she would accept the award to him from Vauss and Irvington in the spirit that it was given.

“That being said, I think he would appreciate this award that you have given him tonight because it was given by the people that worked in the trenches with him,” Alberta Sharif said. “It’s still hard for me to talk about him being gone.”
Rev. Ron Christian’s wife, Tami Christian, and his mother, Willie Mae Christian, also talked about how hard it had been for them to adjust to life without him. Both said they were grateful that Vauss and Irvington chose to honor him, his life’s work and his legacy at the address.

A special video tribute to Rev. Ron turned out to be the highlight of the evening, moving many to tears.
“Mayor Tony, as you said, things happen suddenly and I think Rev. Ron would say that God causes things to happen that may not be good but he makes sure that something good comes out of it,” Tami Christian said Thursday, Jan. 28. “It’s been a hard year, but having the support and appreciation of the community has been able to soften the blow for myself, my children and the rest of the family.”

Willie Mae Christian agreed that life has been hard without her “best friend.” She said, “He was just like a wheel within a wheel” for her and the rest of the family.

“I just miss him,” Willie Mae Christian said on Thursday, Jan. 28. “I saw him every day. I thank the mayor for honoring him. I thank the town, too. I work in Irvington and I thank you for my job, too.”

The Christian Love Baptist Church Choir performed, followed by the mayor’s introduction of the new Special Enforcement Response Team, and a closing benediction by Pastor Sean Evans. All the attendees at State of the Township Address were invited to dinner in the rectory building next door to the church on Clinton Avenue to finish the evening.