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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JANUARY 2015
Together for the holidays
New Brunswick Local 23 held its 25th annual holiday dinner
that brought back generations of retired officers
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
You know you’re doing something right when NJ State PBA
President Pat Colligan calls your event “one of the best of the
holiday season.” This event – Local 23’s 25th annual holiday dinner – brought together 150 active and retired New Brunswick
officers, family and friends for an evening of food, drink and
catching up.
“It’s great to see each other,” said Local 23 State Delegate Pat
Buckalew. “We have guys in their 80s still come down, some
from as far away as Florida. You see someone who must have
been retired for 30 years talking to a guy who recently retired
and another still on the job – telling stories, laughing, talking
about family and wishing each other a safe and healthy holiday.”
The Dec. 16 event held in the “banquet hall” of the Sacred
Heart Church in New Brunswick is the latest in a long tradition
that began in 1988 by the active members – now organized by
recently-retired Local 23 member Neil Maloney – looking to
reengage communication and familiarity with those who came
before.
“You retire now and you really don’t see too many members
any more,” remarked Buckalew, who has been coming to these
events throughout his 20-year career. “You might see them at
golf outings and summer picnics, but it’s nice to give back to the
retired guys.”
Perhaps as a testament to the example set by this Local; perhaps because he is a New Brunswick native with ties to the
department (his grandfather was chief in the 1960s), President
Colligan proudly made an appearance at the momentous event
and echoed Buckalew’s apropos observation:
“As much as a brotherhood we have, often when you retire,
you are thrown by the wayside,” he confirmed. “It’s not on purpose – some Locals don’t make the effort to keep the retired guys
involved. It’s really good to see that a Local goes to great lengths
to make its retirees feel like they are still part of the brotherhood.”
Calling the gathering place a “banquet hall” is a bit ironic. The
setting was a tad less formal.
“If this is what it takes to get people from different generations to get together to share a beer and a story, then it’s worth
it,” Colligan added. “To walk in there and see a good chunk of
their active members and almost all of their retirees with the
shirts made up for the event was like ‘wow.’”
Indeed – as inspiration to Locals with restrictive budgets – it’s
not the setting that makes a good party, but the crowd and conversation and memories created.
Following a cocktail hour and dinner – meticulously prepared and served by 20-or-so active Local 23 members who
spent all day slaving over hot stoves (“Cooking for that many
people is a big thing,” Buckalew affirmed), presentations of sil-
Members of Local 23 past and present are all smiles at the 25th annual
holiday dinner. Left, NJ State PBA President Pat Colligan, a New
Brunswick native, stands with retired office