On October 22, 2008, I was getting my tires changed at
Hudson Tire in Hackensack. While looking at a picture
(Click here to view) on the wall, I noticed one of the men was wearing a shirt with a military logo. It was hard to notice and you could not read it, but the shirt appeared to be a military issued shirt. I asked an employee named Andy Barnes, if he knew if the man had served in the military. Andy told me that the man’s name was
Ted Davis and he had been a cook on a submarine. No one knew if Ted served in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. Andy said that Ted acted a little shell shocked and when a tire might blow or when someone would set off fire crackers, he would jump.
I have no way of knowing for sure whether Ted attended Hackensack School system. Andy, an employee of
Hudson Tire and the owner, Fred Novak’s son, both were always under the impression that Ted grew up in Hackensack and
Andy, said that Ted worked at Hudson Tire for over 30 years and he lived on Berry Street for the 48 years he knew
Ted. According to the son of Fred Novak, the owner of
Hudson Tire, Ted was the first man to be let out of jail on work release, but the paper did not report it in the early 1960’s, but rather listed a white man because they did not want the white people to think they let a black man out on work release.
Andy said everyone liked Ted, who worked at Hudson Tire on Hudson Street in Hackensack for over 30 years until he fell ill in the mid 1980’s. Andy said that Ted passed away shortly thereafter.
Let us never forget the seamen’s sacrifice.
Written by:
Bob Meli
July 20, 2012 |
