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As I look back on this life I’ve lived, I have no regrets, no what-ifs

By William E. Cleary Sr. | CNBNews Editor

PREFACE

I’m eighty-one years old, and I’ve been a journalist for fifty-eight years.

I never went to college. Everything I know about this profession, I learned from my father, George F. Cleary Sr., who bought the Gloucester City News in 1950 and ran it until I took over as editor in 1978. What he didn’t teach me, I learned through trial and error—and believe me, there was plenty of both.

People ask me why I’m writing this book now. The truth is, I’ve been writing it my whole life. For decades, I documented my community’s stories in weekly newspapers, and more recently, on my blog, CNBNews. This book weaves together my autobiography with articles I’ve published over the years—stories about corruption, courage, tragedy, and everyday lives in a small South Jersey city most folks have never heard of.

When you’re a small-town journalist, you make enemies. People threaten you. They call you names. They try to shut you down. But if you spend your life worrying about what might happen, or second-guessing the stories you published, you’ll never write anything worth reading.

I’ve been sued, threatened, even arrested once for “trespassing” while investigating a story. I’ve worked undercover with the New Jersey State Police. I’ve interviewed members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Pagans motorcycle club. I’ve exposed corruption and covered tragedies that broke my heart. I stood in the middle of a battle between the Teamster union and the Longshoremen’s union, with sheriff officers on horseback and K-9 units keeping them apart.

And I don’t regret a single story.

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My perspective differs from big-city reporters at the Philadelphia Inquirer or the New York Times. I wasn’t covering presidents and wars—well, except for that one time I met Jimmy Carter, and another time I rode an elevator with Donald Trump.

Mostly, I covered city council meetings, house fires, local corruption, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

In a small town, the newspaper isn’t just a business—it’s the community’s memory, its conscience, and sometimes its only voice.

If you’re looking for polish, you won’t find it here. But if you want the truth, told by someone who learned journalism in the streets rather than a classroom, then keep reading.

This book is that voice, looking back across more than half a century. It’s messy and honest, just like the life I’ve lived.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

INTRODUCTION

On a sweltering July afternoon in 1989, a well-dressed stranger walked into my newspaper office and said he’d been told that if anyone wanted to do business in Gloucester City, they had to go through me first.

That conversation launched a three-month undercover investigation with the New Jersey State Police involving alleged mob connections, a corrupt development scheme, and a shocking revelation: I wasn’t helping them catch a crooked politician. I was the target.

Welcome to small-town journalism in America.

I’m Bill Cleary. I was born in 1944 and raised in Gloucester City, New Jersey—a working-class town of row houses and corner taverns across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The kind of place where everyone knows your business, where the fire whistle brings people running to their windows, and where telling the truth can make you powerful enemies.

My father was the editor and publisher of the Gloucester City News. From the time I was eight years old, I rode with him to fires, watched him chase stories, and learned what it meant to be a reporter. He taught me that journalism wasn’t about being popular—it was about telling the truth, even when people didn’t want to hear it. Especially then.

In 1978, I became editor of the paper. In 1985, my wife Connie and I bought it outright. We raised three children—Kelly Ann, Connie Lynn, and Billy Jr.—who gave us seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. We married at St. Mary’s Church on April 18, 1964, when I was barely twenty and she was the most beautiful woman in the city. Sixty years later, she still is.

Before journalism became my full-time calling, I worked eleven years at the Gloucester City Post Office with the impressive title of “Temporary, Part-time Clerk-Carrier.” Try getting a bank loan with that on your application. We lived in several apartments before buying our first home at 710 Powell Street, then moved to Riverview Heights in 1972, where we’ve been ever since.

But this book isn’t just my story. It’s the story of a town, a time, and what happens when ordinary people stand up to power. It’s about corruption and courage, about family and loyalty, about what we’ve lost and what we’re still fighting to keep.

This is my story, told in my own words, with articles from my six-decade career woven throughout. It’s not always pretty, and it doesn’t always have a happy ending.

But it’s the truth. And that’s the only thing I’ve ever known how to write.

My father taught me to run toward the fire, not away from it.

No regrets, No what ifs.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE:

THE ENIGMATIC VISITOR

The Mysterious Visitor (July 1989)
State Police Investigation Begins
Meetings with Smith and Jones
The FBI Warning: “You’re the Target!”

CHAPTER TWO:

THE MAN WHO INSPIRED ME

My Father’s Legacy
The Fire Whistle: Running Toward Fires
A Life Forged in Tragedy
The Crusader and Urban Renewal Battle
The Long Goodbye (1990-1993)

CHAPTER THREE:

MY SUMMER LOVE BECOMES MY WIFE

Meeting Connie and Falling in Love
Asking Permission to Marry
Joining the National Guard (1963)
Meeting Connie: Attracted to an Older Woman
The Front Porch Conversation
Early Married Life and Starting a Family
Working at the Post Office

CHAPTER FOUR:

THE BATTLE OF NEWARK

Joining the National Guard
Deployment to Newark During the Riots
Into the Inferno: Civil Unrest and Violence
The Convoy Ambush and Aftermath
Early Military Experience
The Newark Riots
Return Home

CHAPTER FIVE:

11 YEARS OF JUGGLING TWO WORLDS

Working Two Jobs: Post Office and Newspaper
Learning from Dad (1967-1978)
1978: Becoming Full-Time Editor
1984: Buying the Paper and Taking a Stand

CHAPTER SIX:

OUR POWELL STREET HOME

Our First Real Home
Neighborhood Memories
Community Connections
Life on Powell Street

CHAPTER SEVEN:

CHRISTMAS IN GLOUCESTER CITY

Family Traditions
The Coffee Pot Christmas
Childhood Christmas Magic: Trains and Cookies
Ice Skating and Flexible Flyers
Teenage Years: Dances and Parties

CHAPTER EIGHT:

ENTERTAINMENT BACK IN THE DAY

Local Hangouts: Luncheonettes and Gathering Spots
The Pool, Ballroom, and Wildwoods
Live Music Scene and Nightclubs
Jerry Blavat: The Geator with the Heater

CHAPTER NINE:

TAVERNS, POLITICS, 3 PM MANHATTAN GANG

TAVERNS
The 3 PM Manhattan Gang
Gloucester City’s 50 Taverns
The Pub Crawl Tradition

CHAPTER TEN:

OUR BEST FRIENDS

Trooper, Sheba, Lacey, Erica, Peyton, Sweetie

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

MY ADVENTURES IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Hunting Experiences
Wildlife Encounters
Travel Stories
Nature and Reflection

CHAPTER 12:

CRIMINALS AND FUNNY CHARACTERS

Local Legends
Mob Stories
Unexpected Encounters
True Crime Narratives

CHAPTER 13:

SPORTS LEGENDS OF GCHS AND GHS

CHAPTER 14:

1960’s Gloucester High Gridiron Coach Bill Manlove Enshrined in College Football Hall of Fame
Gloucester City Memorial Athletic Association “Mustangs” Celebrate 60th Anniversary
Former Rams Basketball Coach John McCarthy Inducted into Camden County Sports Hall of Fame
1971 Gloucester Catholic HS Football Team Honored
Saint Mary’s Junior Guild
Turkey Day Football: Lions vs Rams Thanksgiving Classic
The Renewal of Friendship (1993)
1957: Rams Over Lions City Title Game
Joe Murphy: Alumnus, Athlete, Coach, Teacher and Friend
Memorial Garden Dedicated in Honor of Pearl Kowalski

A HODGEPODGE of ARTICLES