Russellville Lives. SM

 

                                                                                   Sharron Morita

My friend Vincenza Scarpaci told me I should meet her friend Sharron Morita because Vincenza knew of my mission to discover the most interesting residents of Russellville Park and share their stories with our other cabin-mates on this mysterious voyage. Those who know Vincenza are cognizant of the truth that Vin is never wrong.

Sharron and her husband, Paul, have lived at Russellville for the past six years of their 55-year marriage and it did not take long for Sharron to become immersed in the social life of the community by serving as treasurer of Russellville's Community Service Board. Life patterns of community service seldom change.

Raised in Auburn, NY, she moved to Bridgeton, NJ, to take a job on the local newspaper after graduating in Journalism from Syracuse University. Sharron's editor sent her to write a story about an anti-poverty agency in Bridgeton and it was just another assignment until she interviewed the CEO of the operation. His evasive responses when she started asking questions about the collection and disbursement of money set off warning bells in her reporter's mind and it would launch an investigation that became a two-year episodic series of articles. Interviewing hundreds of sources, her compelling search for facts about the agency resulted in Sharron being awarded the prestigious New Jersey Press Association's Lloyd P. Burns award for responsible journalism and public service.

Sharron's editor at the paper kept after her to meet this friend of his, Paul Morita, who had a dental practice in Bridgeton. They met and Sharron cleverly became Paul's patient because you can learn a lot about a man by the way he shoots novocaine into your gums.

Paul is a Japanese-American whose family was sent to an internment camp in Amache, CO, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were allowed to leave the camp toward the end of the war to move to a small farming community outside Bridgeton, where Paul's parents worked for a large food processing company, Seabrook Farms, that hired a diverse body of employees. They included refugees from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Germany and Poland, as well as some residents from Jamaica. Sharron would later submit a manuscript about that unusual community to a publisher and to her delight it was accepted. The title is Bridgeton, New Jersey: City on the Cohansey.

Paul went to high school in Bridgeton and then after graduating from the University of Maryland earned his dental degree from Baltimore Dental College. He practiced in Bridgeton for 45 years and was much loved by his patients. He retired when his dexterity no longer met his own high standards.

The Catholic Church has played an important role in Sharron's life, although she admits it's hard to be a woman in that institution. She supported the ordination of women in the '80s. In her parish in New Jersey she chaired the liturgy committee while serving as a Eucharistic minister and lector (a person chosen to read holy scripture in the church services). She is a lector at Russellville for Catholic Mass. In 2007 Sharron earned a Master's degree in Theology from LaSalle University.

Wow.

Tim Morita, one of their sons, moved to Portland and loved everything about the city; he was a principal factor in bringing his parents to the Pacific Northwest. When Paul experienced some medical issues, Tim urged them to make the move to Russellville. Sharron agrees that it was a wise choice.

Thanks, Vincenza. You're batting a thousand.