By: Merle Citronq
I don’t know where David Moraski gets his energy and dedication.
Dave and his wife, Ginny, live on Swan Street. They’ve been married for 26 years.
In 1980, Dave and Ginny moved to Lambertville where David worked as a pharmacist at Bear Pharmacy.
"I’ve been a pharmacist since 1971," Dave told me, "and in July 2000, I was finally able to make my dream come true. I opened my own pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe, on Route 179 where the old Kelsey Ford dealership once was located."
David said he really wanted his own pharmacy, even though it meant no salary for a while until the business got on its feet.
"I couldn’t have done it without Ginny and the kids, whose college tuitions were affected," he said. "They were 100 percent behind me. The day the store opened, I felt great. There’s nothing like having your own business even with the headaches and all the responsibility. I find it personally rewarding."
Dave talked about being a pharmacist.
"I believe that a good pharmacist needs excellent communication skills. I have to understand the people I’m dealing with so that they walk out of here understanding the medication they’re taking. All my customers have my phone number, and I have no problem coming out at night and on the weekends to help a customer. Working and serving in the community makes me feel really good."
Dave contributes a great deal to the Lambertville community. He has served on the Lambertville Public School Board of Education for 18 years and has served as the president of the board for 11 years. This is also his third year as a member of the South Hunterdon Board of Education. If that’s not enough, he has been a group leader for the New Jersey School Boards Association for eight years and chairman of the Lambertville Zoning Board of Adjustment for seven years. Whew!
Dave and Ginny raised three children. Their son, David, is 23 and graduated from the College of New Jersey with a degree in computer science. He works as a systems administrator in Princeton.
Their son, Matt, has the distinct honor of attaining the highest SAT scores in both the math and verbal sections of any South graduate. Matt scored 770 in math and 800 in verbal. He is a freshman at Richard Stockton College.
Their daughter, Kelly, is 21 and a junior at Richard Stockton College.
"They don’t even give you a family discount if you’ve got two kids at the same school at the same time and both interested in business management," Ginny said.
Ginny is an information systems administrator for the state of New Jersey working with Medicaid. She has worked for the Department of Human Services for 17 years.
By the way, Sherry Muscatel, Cindy Rosso and Christy Williamson work at the pharmacy. Christy is a high school senior, and she recently was accepted into pharmacy school.
Good luck, Christy, and thanks, Dave, for all you do for our community.
When you stop at Niece Lumber, wish Sue Testa of Union Street a happy belated birthday.
Sue is the sales manager at Niece Lumber. Tough as nails, word has it she sailed through her 60th birthday with style and joy.
With help from her family and friends, Sue threw a fabulous birthday celebration. Although it’s been really cold here, that night the YMAC was sizzling. The theme was a Caribbean birthday bash where invitees were asked to "Come set sail and go cruisin’ with Susan aboard the S.S. Imagination" with an evening filled with Caribbean drinks, Italian buffet and live country music.
Several sources told me the entire room was filled with great decorations so the joint rocked like a real cruise ship. I’m also told all the guests were ready to party. The margaritas were flowing, the palm trees were swaying, and many of the guests wore flowered shirts and bright island colored duds. A few partygoers wore leis.
Helen Papa and her crew provided a wonderful meal topped off with a delicious birthday cake and cookies.
My source said Alice Ann Kroesen decided to start off the dancing by going it solo to a song she requested. Then, Joan Randolph decided to see if the "palm trees" were real. The word is, "You had to be there for this one."
A few days after the celebration, I ran into Sue.
"It was a terrific party," she smiled.
I told her I had already heard about it.
In our little world on the Delaware, good things happened this past Christmas.
Marilyn Bullock of New Hope is a Web site designer, and editor of the online newsletter called newhopepennsylvania.com.
She is also a civic volunteer, serving on committees for many local events including the Winter Festival, Bastille Day celebration, and an organization called Heartfelt, which is based in California.
"I have participated in Heartfelt activities for over a year," Marilyn told me.
Heartfelt’s mission is "Changing people’s lives through the healing power of heartfelt service."
Marilyn related the following story. This past Christmas, the Philadelphia Heartfelt group sponsored a second-grade class at the Lea School, asking for donations of money, toys and books. Greg Kellie, owner of Variete in New Hope, donated 25 Teddy bears to the Heartfelt group. Greg told Marilyn he had purchased them for just such a project, but couldn’t find anyone locally to take them!
"The bears were taken to the Lea School," Marilyn said, "and the school counselor told us about how the bear ‘snugglies’ are used with kindergarten children. Each child was asked to adopt an orphaned ‘snuggly.’ The children were asked to talk to their snuggly and share with it anything on their minds. The counselor said high school students have come back many years later and said they still have their snugglies and how important they were to them."
Twenty-five lucky Philadelphia kids received Teddy bears for Christmas because of Marilyn’s efforts and Greg’s generosity. Way to go, Marilyn and Greg.
By the way, you can contact the Web site www.heartfelt.org for more info.
Speaking about Christmas, check this out.
Mickey Worthington of Swan Street really knew what his wife, Diane, wanted for a Christmas present. This year, he gave her a winter getaway vacation. Sounds good so far.
To Chicago for four days in January. Aaarrgh!#$%.
Actually, Mickey said they had a great time and loved the "Windy City" where it never got above 10 degrees the entire time they were there. Mickey did not love his $55 haircut.
"Hey, I saw a sign ‘walk-ins welcome.’ I thought it was a barbershop," he said.
Mickey retired from General Motors 10 years ago and has worked at Welsh’s ever since. He’s the man who creates the yearly Christmas snow village scenes in Welsh’s windows.
His co-workers have nicknamed him "Mickey of the village." Mickey’s villages are all reminiscent of the 1950s, the time when he grew up. His towns are filled with buildings, mechanical mountain waterfalls, downhill skiers, sledding children and customized vineyard boxcars.
Mickey began his collection 11 years ago. Last year his favorite piece was "Shelly’s Diner," a Christmas gift from Diane.
Mickey and Diane have two grown children, Michael and Lisa Piratzky. Lisa’s two children, Jeffrey, who is 9 years old and 4-month-old granddaughter, "Izzy," whose real name is Alyx, are the apples of their grandparents’ eyes.
‘Til then, if you’ve got any Chit-Chat news, just let me know about it.
Call me at 397-8494, e-mail me at [email protected], snail-mail me or drop off your info at 72 York St. Thanks.
And there you have it folks, a little chit and a little chat.

