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CAPE MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE B JUNE 'S3

Baglivos Spread Into Two Homes

By BARBARA METZLER ’ COURT HOUSE - There are people and then there are people. What does one think of a family of nine, who invites a total stranger into their home, sits her at the head of the table, offers the remnants of the evening meal, talks for' ah hour while that stranger takes hurried notes on thejr living arrangements, eating habits, places of employment, past, present, and future, parentage and place of birth, then sends that stranger — now friend — off two hours and two cups of coffee later with a new haircut, a bag full of candy, and a promise to invite her over for a "real Italian” dinner, adding ‘Oh, by the way, what is your name?" Sound like a scene from "Soap?" "The Waltons?" "The Brady Bunch?" Mo. This is the everyday home life of the Baglivo clan, a group of nineperSons with four surnames, that occupies both halves of a duplex on East Colonial Drive in Cape May Court House. It’s possible that you’ve never heard of this group. They say they like to keep a low profile, and they don’t go out a lot. Why should they? They have all the entertainment they need right there in houses one and two. A FAMH/Y LIKE the Baglivos necessarily invokes questions How did they come to be such a

large family? How do they support themselves? And why all the different last names? The answers, surprisingly enougtr, are simple. When Bill and Mary got married in 1979, they started out with two children, Linda and Laurie Williams, from Mary's first marriage. Not long after that, Bill's three children, Billy, Nancy and Cindy Baglivo, joined the group. At that time they occupied one side of the duplex and rented the other. Those were the days, said the five tennagers, rolling their .eyes. "We had to draw numbers for the shower," said Linda. "Out of a hat," added Mary. "And there were three beds in my room," said Laurie. "There wasn’t enough room to walk.” THE GROUP then decided that it was time to spread out a bit. As the neighbors were moving out of' their half of the house, remembers Nancy, “We were busting the wall down. " She pointed to the kitchen ceiling where the remains of the dividing wall were visible It wasn’t long before the family was comfortable established in the adjoining halves. The older girls were given one half of the house, which included their own living room and bath, "and phone," while Mary, Bill, Linda, and Billy claimed the other half

The Baglivo duplex on Rant Colonial Drive in Court House. ♦AIHI'I IM I H . M (' (Ml

Appropriately, a large kitchen became the center of the house. So by the time Grace Kenneson and Robert Jewell came along, needing a place to stay, it seemed only natural that the Baglivos would find room for them as well. Nineteen-year-old Grace joined the family in April. Her sister was a friend of Mary’s, and while visiting in New England, Mary and Bill met Grace. “She was looking for a job," said Mary, "so we invited here to come down here and look for one, and she did.” "Robert went to school with the kids," said Mary. “When his parents moved to Maryland, he decided to stay in the area. " Robert Jewell, also 19, has been a part of the family since February, and now works at Burdette Tomlin Hospital, where Mary was employed as head nurse, until a few weeks ago, and where Bill works as an orderly in the Emergency Room. HOSPITAL WORK plays a ma jor part in the lives of the Baglivos. Mary has been a Registered Nurse since 1975. She resigned her position as head nurse at Burdette Tomlin because the tension and long hours were becoming too great. "She’d walk in the door from work,” said Laurie, “and we’d hand her a glass of wine and tell her to go take a nap." At 45, Bill has also decided to enter the health care profession He is taking glasses at Cumberland County Community College where he expects to receive his R.N. in another year. A former air conditioning repairman, he too quit his job because of the long hours it involved. Three other members of the family are also involved in nursing. Eighteen-year-old Laurie will graduate in August with an LPN degree from the Vo-tech School She works as a receptipnist and nurse for a doctor in Linwood. Nancy, 17, is a veteran candystriper, with over 800 hours logged, and 13-year-old Linda is training to be a candy striper. “AncT I work in a drug store,”

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Doris Ward BIG CARD — Bill and Mary Baglivo smile over the words of love in a big Mother s Day card from a big family. said Cindy, 19. She is also a clerk/typist in the National Guard. SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD BILLY is a member of the Police Explorers of Middle Township He attends the Alternative School for Special Services where he works on the custodial crew as well as in the kitchen. . “He has more monev than any of us," said Linda. She should know. It was Billy who paid her way when the family took a trip to Acapulco last year. They went for a week, and individual expenses were paid by each child, said Mary. She added, "It’s cheaper to go to Mexico for a week than to stay in Wildwood for a week in the summer.” All persons in the Baglivo household pull their own weight, they noted. The youths have teen working summer jobs since their early teens. "They do it on their own,” said Mary. "We haven’t had to buy them school clothes for years,” said Bill. "They tried it the first year," someone added, “and they went broke." SUPPORTING a family of nine

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