Thanks, Mom, for My Career
By Bob Gaydos
Anne Sokol Gaydos
I generally didn’t post something on Facebook on Mothers Day because my mom has been gone a while now and I always have trouble finding old photos. But as I read posts a few years ago, and looked at photos of other mothers, I started thinking about what Anne Sokol Gaydos, a typical, post-war, stay-at-home mom in Bayonne, N.J., gave me that had a significant influence on my life.
As I scrolled, nothing unusual came to mind until, suddenly, there it was, staring me in the face and sitting in a neat pile on the end chair of the kitchen table back in Bayonne. Each and every morning: The Bayonne Times, The Jersey Journal, The Newark Star-Ledger, The Daily News, The Mirror. The routine morning reading.
As I got older, I added to the pile: The Herald Tribune, The New York Post, The Journal-American.
With this constant immersion in the news of the day, I naturally went to college to study electrical engineering. For one semester. Then mom’s influence came into play.
A wise counselor suggested that I major in English. At another college. Something about grades and attendance.
Long story short, I did. I went to Adelphi College (now a university) and majored in English. Specifically, writing. After college, I got a job at The Bayonne Facts, a weekly, then worked as a journalist for daily newspapers in Binghamton, Annapolis and Middletown for more than 50 years. Obviously, I still write and I still identify as a journalist.
So, in brief, that’s it. Basically, that stay-at-home mom who taught me how to play 500 rummy also gave me my entire career, which I have thoroughly enjoyed and still do.
Thanks, Mom, happy Mothers Day and happy birthday coming up May 17.
Love, Bob
Tags: Adelphi, Annapolis, Anne Sokol Gaydos, Bayonne, Bayonne Times, Binghamton, Bob Gaydos, journalism, Middletown
