Steven Gerrard age 54 and where do you
live? I live in Belmar New Jersey. And who
do you live with? I live with my wife
and we have three kids two of which are
out of the house. Ok what
are the kids names and what is your wife's name?
I'm sorry. That's all
right, my wife's name is Lori and our
three kids are Stephen and Samantha and
Zachary okay and where did you grow up I
grew up early agent in newark new jersey
and then when I was in third grade we
moved to Cedar Grove I was a like
growing up and Cedar Grove Cedar Grove
was great it was kind of your classic
you know small-town America you know
leave it to beaver kind of town uh you
know it was just a great place to grow
up it was small enough where you knew
just about everyone but not so small
where it was you know too small and I
know your sibling said that your dad
would like all you guys in with a
cowbell and and like y'all knew that was
for you guys like the Rings I would like
that sound was for you guys to go home
and eat dinner yeah either hear my mom
would go on the porch and ring this
obnoxious it was actually L was actually
a bell bell oh okay you know like the
kind of Bel you'd ring like in church or
something but a big one it wasn't a
cowbell per se but yeah it was one of
them one of the many embarrassing things
I guess parents do and so growing up
what would you say was your childhood
ambition my childhood ambition was
always always wanted to be in business I
was always said the people I was that
kind of kid in the line very young at a
hot dog stand and I would wonder you
know how much hot dog give you know how
much the hot dog vendor made how many
hot dogs he sold and how much it costs
them to buy his hot dogs and what his
rent was I was always that geeky kind of
business kid mm-hmm and so what's your
profession today I'm an entrepreneur in
different businesses so I kind of I
guess
lived my dream or my prophecy yeah yeah
and what would you say is your greatest
accomplishment today to date odd without
question my family so meeting my wife
Lori we're gonna be married 30 years
this year and we have three great kids
who we just enjoy being around and
hanging out with and it seems they enjoy
being with us and hanging out with us
too so I'd say our family yeah and so
where are you right now you said you're
in New Zealand yeah I'm in New Zealand
my wife and I are took a month-long trip
a mix of business and a mix of pleasure
to Australia and New Zealand awesome and
what's it like there what's late there
today the weather's great it's kind of
like a September day in New Jersey it's
it's the end of their summer on they've
got another month or two a pretty good
weather and what would you say something
great that's happened to your life or
the family this year some exciting news
or anything this year yes you said um I
would say from from my family's
perspective Oh our eldest son got
married in October his twin sisters
getting married in April and our
youngest son is graduating in May so
there's a lot of good things from her
our family's perspective I say from our
broad family perspective my sister
Geralyn having her baby son Jack was
probably the highlight of the last year
year and a half for the whole family
mm-hmm good and so about your mom who is
Doris I think my mom is just a
hard-working independent steady Eddie
kind of woman she's a very strong woman
you know she's kind of from that era
where you know you just get it done you
don't complain about anything you know
my mom's the kind of person you know she
could walk in with a broken leg and
she'd be like you know it's all right
it'll be better tomorrow you know she's
just a very tough-minded interested
caring mom
yeah she keeps it moving yeah that's it
that's that's one way to put it shit and
who's in the drawer family I know you
have siblings can you name everyone and
where you fall yeah so we're all four
years apart in terms of my mom and dads
kids so I'm 54 my brother Neal is gonna
be 50 in May my sister Geralyn is gonna
be 46 in April and Allison will be 42 at
the end of June nice and and when you
think about when you were younger when
you're a little boy what's your earliest
memories of your mom what do you think
back to my earliest memories of my mom
are probably two things jump out one is
she walked me back and forth to Sacred
Heart Cathedral School when we lived in
Newark so she literally would walk me to
school in the morning and got it it had
to be a half a mile or a three quarter
of a mile walk each way so she'd walked
me to school and she'd walk home that
she'd walked get me lunch come back and
then she'd walk and get me and bring me
home so my early memories are just you
know her you know kind of just doing it
when I had to go to sacred heart
cathedral an orc which fact that was a
good school not to go to etc and then
the other one is my mom was actually
early in her career and then she picked
it back up for 25 years and she just
retired she was a legal secretary which
I know she was very proud of I just
remember early memories of her typing
enormously fast like almost
inconceivably fast she worked on she
worked on a book with a judge I think
his name actually was Vanderbilt so he
was a really important judge in New
Jersey maybe even federally and he wrote
a book and I think he asked my mom
because he she worked at the law firm
that he was at she has my mom to type
the book for him so I think he would
dictate it he would send her tapes audio
tapes and my mom would type up the book
and then she'd printed out and sent you
know send him transcripts and stuff so I
just remember her typing like it like it
was unbelievable yeah and he had a trust
her to write his
story the right way you know with all
that effort ya know it's she anyone
she's ever worked with has a lot of
affection for my mom cuz I think she's
just a hard worker and buckles down and
gets stuff done you know frankly I think
if my mom grew up in a time and a
household where she would have been
encouraged to go to college she would
have been a lawyer if there's no doubt
in my mind having worked in my career
with lawyers that my mom could have been
a very good lawyer yeah nice and and
what kind of things with a family do
together would kind of these you would
do with your mom specifically you know
what dude i just have memories of us
doing a lot of things together as a
family ma you know my mom did all the
typical things you know whether it was
driving me to soccer practice band
practice you know whatever activity i
had my mom she's the joke she you know
she was the taxi driver in the family so
imagine having four kids all four years
apart she probably was driving around
for 30 years you know getting us to
different events and stuff but I think
the thing I remember most is just as a
family probably going down to the shore
because my mom and dad bought a house in
Belmar New Jersey a jersey shore
community very early in their marriage I
think they were married six or seven
years and they bought a small little
three-bedroom bungalow in belmar I just
remember vividly going down to open up
the house because we close it for the
winter you know seal it shut and drain
all the water out of the pipes and stuff
and I just remember the smell of that
house it's a good smell kind of musty
but a good smell I remember you know we
open up that house and it would just be
so exciting you know kind of it was the
spring the winter was over we'd go out
and get a and C subs and we'd have a
picnic on the on the porch you know the
Sun was out was the spring and we were
opening up the shore house you know
that's probably one of my more vivid
memories of my mom and our whole family
doing stuff together yeah and I here
today everyone goes down to the shore
for the summer also like there's four
houses and everyone kind of moves out
there and spent time together for the
summer yeah I kind of call it a you get
a very high dosage of the girard family
in a good way you know from the months
of may through September odd because we
do
loan for homes that are literally you
know 50 feet 75 feet apart from each
other and I just put a pool in the
backyard of the house that I own and
it's kind of become the family
collecting spot so I'll look out the
back window and my nieces and nephews
will be in the pool and family will be
sitting around that it's it's been great
and then I hear your mom's an awesome
cook and she makes like meatballs and
always dessert and even when you were
little that she would do the same thing
yeah no I like I said I we probably grew
up in the Leave It to Beaver household
you know you come home for dinner or you
know they bring the inevitable bell for
dinner and you'd come in and mom would
have like a five-course dinner you know
she would serve it in courses it wasn't
that insane but you know literally there
was always like a chicken a broccoli a
salad this of that you know and it was
just all set up and my dad was really
big on having manners at the table you
know sit up and take your time eating
and how to eat properly and all that and
you know so I just remember you know
they say they make a big deal nowadays
about you know spend time at the dinner
table together well we spent a hell of a
lot of time at the dinner table and my
mom was a great cook you know she did a
bunch of different things but of course
of course being an Italian mother her
hallmark was you know spaghetti and
meatballs and browse your halls so you
know to this day she still makes a huge
pot of meatballs and stuff on Sundays
and and her kids and her grandkids just
kind of shuttle in all day just picking
meatballs out of the pot and eating them
uh-huh and then I also hear like you
kind of maintained that close family
because I think your son said at his
wedding that like he had to share his
rumors or something like that one of
your sister said like yeah really big
mmhmm yeah I mean we grew up in Cedar
Grove in a in a split-level house you
know so it was a three bedroom so you
walk into the house now and you go oh my
god this house is so small but back then
it wasn't is that's the size of homes
you know versus today but my brother and
I were in a room in bunk beds together
my sisters were in a room together and
my parents you know those are the three
bedrooms and I think what they're
referring to is although we had
of a larger house we lived in
Pennsylvania for a couple years I i had
my sons both in the same room and they
could have pretty easily been in
different rooms you know different areas
of the house but I wanted to grow up
like I did grow up you know learning how
to get along learning how to wrestle
with each other and and being closes
Brooke versus you know sitting in the
room on a computer or TV yeah and
closing a door and living their own
lives like separately yeah and yeah and
so what do you consider your mom's
greatest accomplishment to be Oh without
question it's it's her family it's it's
the it's the and it's two layers of
family it's the family of my dad who
passed away last year and my my three
siblings you know my mom and dad just
did an amazing job at raising a family
that kind of understood the values of
family and the values of hard work you
know and getting out there and making a
living and being successful Oh without
being you know hook about it and my
mom's mimic my mom's extended family I'm
hasturs and she had two brothers she has
one now and she stays very close to them
you know she talks it up I think
frequently she's pretty frequently so
we're kind of your classic North Jersey
Italian family is you know Easter there
were probably 47 people you know in that
Easter if not more you know Christmas
was you know the same 47 people and you
just packed into a house big or small
cold or warm and he just kind of enjoyed
each other so I mean my mom's greatest
accomplishment is her is her family and
the value she instilled in us yeah and
you said your Akash your accomplishment
is your family as well is there a lesson
your mom taught you or instilled any
that helped you achieve the family you
have today yeah I mean it's I saw a
great quote the other day I actually
sent it to my kids and it was something
like my dad never taught me how to live
he just walked he let me watch him live
and that's what I think my parents did
is you know they would you know like any
parents they might lecture you a little
bit about the importance of family but
as a kid those lectures kind of go in
one ear and out the other it's the day
day observing everything they do for
family every effort they make for family
you know and that just you can't you
can't avoid that I mean that that you
want to you you don't want to avoid it
but so the greatest lesson was the day
in and day out dedication to family and
all the efforts you know the highs and
lows that takes mm-hmm and today what is
your mom like what does she like to do
you know what my mom has really is
really falling into a good groove in
life i'm really excited to see where she
is at quote-unquote 80 years old she's
independent probably probably fiercely
so you know she probably could could
call her use help more than she's
willing to ask for but she's independent
she lives in a beautiful two bedroom
apartment in a senior citizen complex
and she's super active whether it's the
church things going on in Cedar Grove or
other activities when you talk to her
she's got something going on you know
every day whether it's going to some
function or having some cooking club or
going to the casinos my mom my mom for
30 years now is love to go to casinos
and play slot machines like a maniac
show us the simple point is my mom's in
a really good groove now where she's
independent and really enjoying kind of
the twilight of her life here nice and
what's next I mean what do you hope to
see for a future you know I would love
to have my see my mom I have more
grandchildren and even see some great
grandchildren you know my kids
particularly are getting married and
they're probably a few years away but
you know knock wood I'd love to see my
mom holding grandchildren and maybe even
feeding some great grandchildren some
meatballs one day mm-hmm and I know your
mom's birthday is coming up is there a
message you like to say to her her
birthday I would just say she was you
know i'd say hey mom a happy birthday
you are the absolute role model for a
mom a wife a friend a sibling you know
everything in life you're just an
absolute role model you did it by
showing us and doing the hard yards not
by not by talking about it and not
putting in the effort you know
so you you are creating and still
creating a great legacy for the Girard
family and my last two questions if your
mom were listening to this a few years
from now what's a piece of advice you'd
always want her to keep in mind with
something you always want her to
remember don't be afraid to ask for help
sometimes asking for help as a sign of
strength it's not a sign of weakness so
as she gets older if there's things that
just aren't working or situations need
to change just ask she's earned that
right hmm and my last question what's
something about your mom that you always
want to remember uh just kind of a joy
and a smile on her face I think when she
sees her kids and her grandkids you know
she just kind of smiles ear to ear and
you know that's that's how all I'll
think about her you know now and in the
future is just a big smile on her face
when she was around her family
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