The sirens were heard for miles as truck 20-084 wound through Westfield on its way to Springfield. But the crew from Fire House No. 2 wasn't responding to a call.

It was delivering the body of James Pfeiffer Jr. to his home parish, St. James the Apostle Church.

The yellow truck, and cars of family and friends, pulled up as about 100 firefighters, police officers, and EMTs in their dress blues saluted while the Union County Police and Fire Pipes and Drum band shepherded in the caravan and the flag-draped casket it carried.

The life of Pfeiffer, 30, a third-generation Westfield firefighter, was celebrated in a Memorial Mass of Christian Burial. He died following a freak accident in the Mountainside yard of the home he and his wife, Christine, had just bought.

During Mass, Christine sat in the front pew, surrounded by family. She wore one of her husband's crisp white uniform shirts — and the hospital ID bracelets she needed to see her husband Sunday when he was transported to University Hospital in Newark. She held Carly, their 1-year-old daughter, dressed in a blue "My Dad Saves Lives" t-shirt, while James Pfeiffer Sr., a former Westfield Fire Department Captain and his wife, June, eulogized their son.

"His mom said, 'Here's a future fireman' when he was born," Pfeiffer Sr. said. "The minute he got his first bike, he'd follow every siren. He knew about them before me — because he had my pager in his pocket," he said as the mourners in a church ringed by firefighters from local companies, burst into laughter.

"And when he was too young to be a firefighter, I'd break the rules and sneak him into the house with us. I'd like to thank my crew for keeping it secret all these years...

"But his next big step came when he met Christine," Pfeiffer Sr. said. "She was like a major fire for him, but he was enveloped not by flames that could harm him ,but by her family and her five nephews — 'my five boys,' Christine would say. Jim loved them, because he had instant playmates."

Monsignor William C. Hatcher, Pastor at St. James, who was assisted by Father Edward Daly of St. Vincent's in New York City, said of Pfeiffer, "We can't understand fully why Jimmy was taken so quickly, but we know that he had a fullness in life already lived in his short years.

"He just knew how to welcome people into his life and they all became part of this circle in which the story of his life will continue," the Monsignor said. "We must all live the virtues Jimmy taught us. He wants us to go on living fully until it's our time to be with him."

Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky led a delegation of local officials at the funeral for the decorated hero, a 1998 graduate of Cranford High School and Union County College with a degree in fire science, who gained national media attention after he used his slender 6' 1", 160 pound frame to rescue a 16-month-old child who had fallen nine feet into a 10-inch wide gap at Tamaques Park.

"He had an insatiable desire to help people," said his father, who retired in 2004 as Captain of the Westfield Fire Department. "He was my hero and I admit to you right now, he was a better firefighter than I."

James Pfeiffer Jr.'s final act as a firefighter came last Friday, when he performed CPR on an ailing town resident. But he continued his heroic works in death, when as an organ donor, Pfeiffer saved a 50-year-old man in Pittsburgh who needed a liver transplant and two local residents, a 16-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man who needed healthy kidneys.

He proved his dad right.

Maracaibo

At the western end of Venezuela, Zulia, Maracaibo is the second city of Venezuela and with the east coast of Lake, is a major oil center. Maracaibo is located near the lake that bears his name, which was discovered on August 24, 1499, for the sailor Alonso de Ojeda, a companion of Columbus on his second voyage.

The city of Maracaibo was founded on three occasions. The first time was in 1529, by Ambrosius Ehinger German who gave the name of Maracaibo or Villa de Maracaibo. This had little activity and subsequently in 1535, Nicolas Federman ordered to evacuate and relocate its population after the nearby Vela de Coro. After a second attempt by Captain Alonso Pacheco, it was only in 1573 that the Governor Diego de Mazariegos, decided to restore the population trusts the Captain Pedro Maldonado said encomienda. So for 1574 was founded the Nueva Zamora de Maracaibo in honor of the governor M...

B. George Ulizio's copy of the first edition of Sister Carrie (1900) bears Theodore Dreiser's inscription citing the collector's "vigorous and forthright approach to life." Dreiser indulged in understatement. Ulizio's capacity to dominate all of his endeavors is documented by his bibliophilia. A self-made man, he was a self-made bookman.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on 2 February 1889, Ulizio attended parochial schools. After working as a waiter in New York he became a Wall Street runner. He was wounded in World War I and in his late years required the use of two canes. During the 1920s he was operating in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia as a real-estate and bond broker. His other activities included play bookings (What Price Glory"), sports promotion (he built the stadium at Boyle's Thirty Acres for the Dempsey-Carpentier "Battle of the Century"), and the Republican party (he was campaign manager for Sen. Joseph Freylinghuysen of New Jersey).

Joseph Freylinghuysen of New Jersey). He was also the subject of newspaper headlines: "Ulizio Held Bankrupt," "New Marital Web Entangles Ulizio," "$25,000 Is Awarded in Alienation Suit," "Dempsey's Manager Sued." He was arrested and released after beating a man who was abusing a horse.

There is no record of how Ulizio caught the book-collecting virus, but the endeavor obviously appealed to his highly developed competitive instinct. The 1920s were an era of great collectors and great book auctions. Philadelphia was a bookselling center with the shops of Charles Sessler and A. S. W. Rosenbach; however, Ulizio was not a Rosenbach customer because, as he said, "Rosenbach thought I was a sucker." The notable collectors A. Edward Newton, John C. Eckel, and Morris Parrish resided in the area, and Ulizio was on friendly terms with them. Newton wrote in This Book Collecting Game (1928):

I had unsuccessfully sought this edition [Herman Melville's The Whale] for years, and had just about made-up my mind to live and die without a copy of this excessively scarce book when I heard that a rival collector, B. George Ulizio of Atlantic City, had one. Knowing that money would not tempt him to part with it, I wrote and suggested an exchange.

He declined what I offered, but added, "Since you want The Whale so badly, I am sending it to you with my compliments." I believe this incident to be unique in book-collecting annals.

In 1932 Ulizio donated some sixty volumes of Newton's writings to the Library of Congress and almost immediately began to collect his works again; there were thirty-one Newton items in the Ulizio collection in 1969. Ulizio's collecting rationale was typical of the time. He acquired what his friends and rivals were collecting: high spots of English and American literature, association copies, books signed by presidents, historical letters, first books, Charles Dickens, and the then-fashionable moderns. He did not depart from the traditional paths of book collecting, but Ulizio was not simply a book buyer. He knew his books thoroughly and could discuss their bibliographic significance.

His most extraordinary acquisition was a collection of duplicate copyright deposit copies. By law publishers are required to deposit in the Library of Congress two copies of each book published in America. The curator of rare books at that time, V. Valta Parma, decided to dispose of duplicate deposit copies in exchange for volumes that the Library of Congress lacked.

Ulizio thereby acquired such deposit copies as Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature (1836), Walt Whitman's Two Rivulets (1876), Louisa May Alcott's Hospital Sketches (1863), Bret Harte's The Luck of Roaring Camp (1870), and Robert Montgomery Bird's Nick of the Woods (1837). The Whitman has three inked-in corrections. Fifty-six of those deposit copies were retained by Ulizio; they testify to his taste as well as to his understanding of their bibliographic value.

During his lifetime Ulizio disposed of four libraries--in whole or in part. His most distinguished library was the English literature material sold at the American Art Association/Anderson Galleries in January 1931. It has not been determined whether the decision to sell was dictated by post-crash financial considerations or that he decided that it was time to cash in. This sale was touted as the most important since the legendary Jerome Kern sale in 1929. The foreword by Eckel, a Dickens bibliographer, emphasizes the strength of Ulizio's Dickens holdings:

Undeniably the outstanding book by Dickens is the "Pickwick" in parts. It is one of the fourteen prime copies which thus far have been stamped with the approval of bibliographers and experts in that field of rare book knowledge.

It was the first "Pickwick" owned by the late George Barr McCutcheon and was traded by him to Gabriel Wells, who made the improvement which has given it deserved classification. It has the rare earliest advertisement in Part VI (a belated bibliographical discovery made when the Kern copy came under observation). A fuller collation is given in the catalogue description of this noted book. An added feature in Mr. Ulizio's copy is a fragment of the manuscript. Of close secondary interest is the American Edition in parts. This is complete in every detail, in remarkably fine condition, and of the utmost rarity--far rarer, in point of actual fact, than its more famous English brother.

A collection of Dickens which includes all the great novels in parts, including "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Oliver Twist," carries an assurance which obviates extravagance of description. Such an aggregation of books supplies its own eloquence. Unusual rarities are present: "The Library of Fiction," in the fourteen parts; a very fine copy of Dickens' first book, "Sketches by Boz"; "Evenings of a Workingman" with a letter from Dickens to John Overs, the author, referring him to a publisher, and naming Newby, who issued the little volume; the "Christmas Books" in original cloth; the rare pamphlets of the General Theatrical Fund; "No Thoroughfare," privately printed, a Presentation Copy from Wilkie Collins, with notations by him; the real First Edition of "Hunted Down" in red cloth: these are among the leaders.....

Mario S. Ulizio,82, of Midland, passed away Friday evening, December 22, 2006, at Outlook Pointe at South Beaver.

Born April 17, 1924, in Midland, he was the son of the late Stefano and Maria Ciccone Ulizio, and had been a resident of Midland all of his life.

A veteran of the U.S.Army, he served during WWII with the 17th Airborne paratrooper and glider infantry. He was a faithfull member of the St, Blaise Parish family, Midland, and the St. Anthony Club, the Holy Name Society, the Knights of Columbus, Council 2005, Midland, and the Midland American Legion, and he was a former Boy Scout leader. He had retired from Crucible Stainless and Alloy as a press operator.

Surviving is his wife of 58 years, Rose Cataldo Ulizio; three sons and daughters-in-law; James Ulizio and Camille of Midland, Michael and Deborah Ulizio of Cranberry, and Anthony and Wendall Ulizio of Redondo Beach, California; three daughters and two sons-in-law; Janet and Phil Trafican of Mt. Lebanon, Theresa Ulizio of Kennedy Township, and Mary Catherine and Felix Hernandez of San Pedro, California; a sister, Eleanor Cataldo of Industry, and nine grandchildren; Jamie and her husband Eugene Bechtel, James J, and Ashley Ulizio, Vincent and Michelle Ulizio, Matthew and Cara Ulizio, Sarah Trafican, and Stephen Ulizio-Nelson.

Precedinng him in death, besides his parents, were three brothers; Daniel, Renaldo and Amedeo Ulizio.

NOTE: This Obituary was provided by Michele L. Ulizio

Thanks Michele.

Renaldo "Renny" Ulizio, 89, formerly of Midland, was welcomed into his heavenly home and was reunited with his beloved wife, "Anne", on Sunday morning, October 15, 2006. He was under the compassionate care of "family" and caregivers of the Colonial Terrace Personal Care Home, Erie, PA.

He was born January 28, 1917, in Midland, a son of the late Stefano and Maria Ciccone Ulizio. He was preceded in death by his wife, Anne, on February 18, 1999, and sons, Steve, Sami, Renny Jr., Mario and a baby son at birth.

He was a member of St, Balise Parish, Midland, and an avid Fisherman and square dancer. He was a menber of the St. Vincent DePaul Society. He was a retired steelworker from Crucible in Midland.

Surviving are three daughters and sons-in-law, Elaine and David Hunt, Jonesboro, Georgia; Judy and Cliff Hoydic, Erie, PA., and Anna and Gregg Eicholtz, Oismo Beach, California; a grandson he raised, Chris Ulizio; a brother. Mario amd his wife, Rose Ulizio, and a sister, Eleanor Cataldo, and many loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren

NOTE: This Obituary was provided by Michel L. Ulizio

Thanks Michele.

Amedeo Anthony "Tony" Ulizio, 85, of Ohioville, died unexpectedly Thursday morning, April 20, 2006, at his home.

Born March 30, 1921, in Midland, a son of the late Stefano and Maria Ciccone Ulizio, he was a resident of Ohioville for the past 55 years and had retired as a millwright from the Cold Strip at Crucible Stainless & Alloy, Division of Colt Industried, Midalnd. He was a member of the St. Blaise Parish family, Midland, and was a veteran of the U.S. Navy having served during World War II as a 1st Class Petty Officer. Mr Ulizio was a graduate of Midland High School and the Pittsburgh Diesel and Auto School and was a former member for over 30 years of the Ohioville Fire Department, where he once served as fire chief. He was once active with all sports through the Western Beaver Boosters and was a member of the Midland American Legion.

He will be sadly missed by his wife of 55 years, Josephine R LaNeve Ulizio, two daughters and sons-in-law, Joyce A. and Steve Fosdick, Knox, PA., and Linda and Steve Slopek, Ohioville; two brothers and a Sister-in-law, Mario and Rose Ulizio, Midland and Renaldo Ulizio, Erie, PA; a sister, Eleanor Cataldo, Ohioville; four grandechildren, ENS Mark Fosdick, U.S. Navy deployed; Katerine Fosdick, Knox, and Susan and Steven Slopek, Ohioville, and a large loving family of nieces, nephews, his wife's family, and many friends.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Daniel Ulizio, and a sister Theresa Ulizio.

NOTE: This Obituary was provided by Michele L. Ulizio.

Thanks Michele

Enrico H. Giammatteo died August 13, 2006 at Jameson Memorial Hospital. Born May 12, 1926 in S. Demetrio Ne' Vestini, L'Aquila, Italy.

Parents: Alphonso and Assunta (Mariana) Giammatteo.

Wife: married Elizabeth (DeMatto) Tuminello Giammatteo on July 16, 1983.

Henry was owner and operator of Henry's Barber Shop in New Castle retiring after 45 years. He was a Korean War veteran serving in a M.A.S.H. Unit in Korea. Henry was a member of the St. Vitus Church and sang in the church choir. He also enjoyed golfing and gardening and was especially proud of his tomatoes.

Relatives: his 2nd wife, Elizabeth; 2 sons, Alphonso Giammatteo and his wife Joyce and Anthony Giammatteo and his wife Tina; 5 grandchildren and 1 great grandson. Hi...