Victor Galassi (1917-2004) attended New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton from 1935-1938 where he was the Varsity Sports Manager and participated in other school activities. He attended Rutgers in 1939, then entered the military. After WWII, he joined the New Jersey State Police where he retired with the rank of major.
Vivian M. Rolandelli (1911-2003) graduated from New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton in 1930, and was a teacher for 47 years at Elementary School No. 1 in West New York, New Jersey.
Founded in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, The College of New Jersey is the oldest teacher training college in the state and the ninth oldest in the nation. Originally located in downtown Trenton, the college expanded academically and physically, and later moved to suburban Ewing Township in the 1930s.
Over the years, the name of the college has changed to reflect its expanding mission.
New New Jersey State Normal School, 1855-1908New Jersey Normal School in Trenton, 1908-1929
New Jersey State Teachers College and State Normal School at Trenton, 1929-1937
New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, 1937-1958
Trenton State College, 1958-1996
The College of New Jersey, 1996-present
Jessie R. Turk (1920-2009) graduated from Montclair State Teachers College in 1942, then obtained a master's degree from Oberlin College and doctorate from Columbia. She was a Professor of Geography at Trenton State from 1947 to 1982. An oral history interview with her in 1991 is available to view at https://www.njvid.net/show.php?pid=njcore:17492
Head of the Department of Biology at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Instructor of Speech at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton.
Elizabeth Bodine (1880-1964), was a graduate of the Model School Class of 1898 and Bryn Mawr College. She taught at Trenton Junior High School No. 3 and was an English teacher at Trenton High School. After retiring from teaching, she became a librarian at Trenton Public Library. She was a founding member and honoree of the Trenton College Club (which later became a branch of the American Association of University Women) and served in a variety of civic, cultural, and historical organizations around Trenton. She lived with Gertrude Scudder Bodine and her brother Joseph Bodine throughout their marriage, and then moved with Gertrude to Morrisville, Pennsylvania after Joseph’s death in 1950. Elizabeth died on January 14, 1964.
Edith Gilman Brewster was born in 1873. Her brother was Charles Warren Brewster and her sister was Alice Langdon Brewster. She worked as a kindergarten teacher and social worker in New Hampshire. She died in 1960.
Michael A. Travers (1902-1970) received a law degree from New York University, then obtained Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate of Education degrees from Rutgers University. In 1928, he became the first Dean of Men at New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton. He also taught Business Education (as well as served as chairman of that department) for 40 years, retiring in 1968. In addition, he served as Hopewell Township Municipal Judge and taught courses at Rutgers and Temple Universities.
Clara Johnson Wolverton was born on December 3, 1879, in Stockton, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to Sarah Catherine Cole and Gabriel Wolverton. (Note: Wolverton is also sometimes spelled Woolverton in some sources). At the time of her birth, her parents were in their 40s and had two other surviving children - brothers Harry and Gabriel Jr. Some time in the 1880s, the family moved to Trenton, NJ where her father and brother worked as harness makers. Her earliest schooling is unknown, but she began keeping a meticulous record of her grades and teachers’ names while attending Centennial Grammar School from 1892 to 1894 (the current equivalent of middle school), then Trenton High School from 1894 to 1898, where she majored in English.
In the fall of 1898, she enrolled in New Jersey State Normal School. She was given the nickname “Toddie” by her peers and her favorite occupation was “performing experiments.” According to the school’s Grade and Report Book, she does well academically and is “Quick to understand a child’s point of view and to help, yet her manner seems unsympathetic, due to lack of facial expression. Ernest and shows some good ideas of teaching.” Despite the negative evaluation of her manner and expression, she was immediately placed in a teaching position at Bound Brook Public School just before her graduation in February 1901. For the next two years, she was well-reviewed by her superiors and admired by her students in Passaic County Public Schools in Manchester Township and Haledon Borough. Finally, In 1904, she accepted a permanent position in Trenton Public Schools.
She continued to live with her family in Trenton, which, at times, included her brother Harry and nephew Austin Wolverton. Her brother Gabriel Jr. worked in the insurance business as did Austin. Her father died in the early 1900s, and by 1910, she was living with her widowed mother at 248 Pearl Street in Trenton where she continued to live for several decades. In the 1920s, while teaching, she also attended the University of Pennsylvania and received a degree in education.
According to her obituary, she spent 50 years teaching science at Trenton Junior High School No. 1, which opened in 1916, and was later renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (closed in 2007). She died May 8, 1964, and was buried in Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey.