Valenzano raised her three sons over the course of her 40 years living in Shamong.
“I really don’t have any special plans,” Barbara Valenzano said. “Just doing what I feel like doing when I feel like doing it.”
And at this point, she’s earned it. That’s because Valenzano served for 36 years as Shamong deputy municipal clerk before her recent retirement. She was honored for her career at the June 27 Shamong Town Committee meeting.
Valenzano loved her job and the people she worked with.
“You really kind of knew everyone on a really close basis, which was nice,” she said. “Our township committees through the years have, of course, changed, but the men and women who always served on it have always put the township’s interests first.”
Valenzano said singling out a few of her closest work friends is too difficult, and didn’t want to name names for fear of leaving anybody out.
“We all got along and were friendly with each other,” she said. “We all at one point or another had socialized. It wasn’t [just] one particular person I was friendly with.”
One of Valenzano’s proudest accomplishments during her time as a Shamong resident was raising her three boys in the town — Kenny, Joey and Larry.
Sadly, Joey died in 1999 from a brain tumor.
“When we moved out here they were 10, 8 and 4 so they went through the school system,” she said. “I was involved with PTA in the beginning so that was nice. They played sports. My son Joey was always into sports programs. They all turned out to be very good kids in school and successful after college. So it was a nice place to raise your kids. It was just a nice community and still is.”
These days, Valenzano mostly splits her time between Shamong and Wildwood, where she and her husband Larry have a house. Because she doesn’t really have any hobbies, she likes to visit the beach.
“Some people enjoy golf, I don’t really do that,” she said. “I don’t really have any hobbies like that.”
She also likes to spend time with her four grandchildren. There’s the twins, Joseph and Jadyn, and their younger brother Lawrence. All three are her son Larry’s children.
There’s also her granddaughter Alex, who is Kenny’s.
Additionally, Valenzano and her husband own Mighty Joe’s Gas, Grill & Deli in Shamong on Route 206. Outside of the building is a giant gorilla any resident of Shamong would be familiar with. The gorilla, which stands at a towering 25 feet tall, is an homage to Joey.
“My husband put that up in memory of Joey,” she said.
Even though she jets off to Wildwood from time to time, she always comes back home to Shamong.
“I just think that we have a very nice community, and it’s very well run by the professionals in the township committee and administrator,” she said. “That’s important because I feel that that’s what makes our town one of the nice towns.”
