George J. and Jessie M. Schmalz Scholarship Fund
The George J. and Jessie M. Schmalz Scholarship Fund awards a scholarship on the basis of need to students who are studying to enter the field of education at any level in any subject.
George J. and Jessie Schmalz, high school sweethearts, were married on November 29, 1947, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Jessie resides in Saddle Brook today. They had five sons: George F., Richard, Randall, Gregory, and Russell (deceased).
Jessie (Leone) Schmalz was born August 6, 1926, in Passaic, New Jersey. She graduated from East Rutherford High School. Upon graduation, she worked at Becton-Dickinson and spent three years in nurse's training beginning in 1944. She attended Paterson State (now William Paterson) College in Wayne. As a registered nurse, she spent one year in the operating room of Passaic General Hospital and then served 10 years in the nursery at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.
George J. Schmalz was born on June 20, 1924, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He attended East Rutherford High School before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in January 1943. He did boot camp training at Parris Island, South Carolina, before fighting in WWII at Iwo Jima. He was hit five times by gunfire and was awarded the Good Conduct and Purple Heart medals before getting out of the service in 1946. He then served as a postage due clerk with the Rutherford branch of the US Postal Service for 41 years before retiring in 1984. Mr. Schmalz passed away in the spring of 2007.
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