by Gabe Donio

I liked what Paul Pullia’s oldest son P.J. said to me when we were speaking about his father, who passed away on September 27 at age 75.
“He knew that as hard as you work, it was also OK to have a good time,” P.J. Pullia said.
It brought a smile, and it will to anyone who knew Paul Pullia and is reading this right now. He did like to have a good time, and everyone around him, whether it was friends or family, was guaranteed a good time too.
“We’ve had a lot of laughter in our lives, our family. We had a great time together,” his wife Marjorie – everyone knows her as Margie – said.
Let me backtrack a bit, Hammonton-style. My grandmother, Ida Bilazzo and her husband Frank had one child, my mother Angela. My grandmother’s sister, Gilda, married M. L. Ruberton. They had two daughters, Dorothy Berenato and Margie. While they are my mother’s first cousins, they’re really all like sisters. Dorothy’s husband Andy and Paul became like brothers. They were all aunts and uncles to me.
Hammonton often is either praised or chided for its familial connections; the term “close-knit” is so often used to describe the town that it is beyond a cliché.
And yet, that term is the best way to describe Hammonton, and it all starts in the homes that line our streets, and the families that live in them, connected to the town for generations.
The Pullias are one of those families, and Paul Pullia, who lost his own immediate family members far too early, was deeply connected to his own family. His children remembered how he never missed a game – even away games. If there was an event involving kids or grandkids, he was there. Those familial ties were bound tightly – you could hear it in the voices of his daughters Michele and Mindy this week.
Work was an extension of the family life. His two sons entered the business, P.J. on the insurance side, Mickey on the real estate side. The second generation taught the third generation, and the business is continuing in its 98th year.
With a wife and four children and a thriving business, you wouldn’t think there would have been time for Paul Pullia to become as involved as he did with the community at large. But those ties that bind only became stronger for him when he was volunteering or giving back to the town, whether it was with the church, the school, the hospital, or a civic organization.
Because of my own familial ties to the Pullias, I grew up with holidays and other events that would bring me in close contact with them. Later, when this newspaper started, I counted M. L. Ruberton Agency among The Gazette’s first advertisers. If I ever had questions or needed some direction about one issue or another in town, I knew I could stop in at Uncle Paul’s office and he would have time to give me some insight.
Looking back, I realize that he probably saw it as helping out a member of his family and the community at the same time. I know I’ll never forget how generous he was with two of the most valuable commodities: time and knowledge.
It meant a lot to me, and it still does.
I’m sure I’m just one of many people Paul Pullia affected that way.
Hammonton won’t be the same without him.

Gabe Donio is the publisher of The Gazette.