Lt. Col. Richard F. Bailey, Raisa Sheynberg, John Monteleone and Janet Crum were former students inducted into the Hopewell Valley Central High School Hall of Fame on Oct. 16, 2014. (Photo by Alicia Brooks-Waltman.)
By Alicia Brooks-Waltman
John Monteleone, who graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School in 1960, told students there on Oct. 16 about the “power of dreams” in life.
Monteleone, who has done everything from playing baseball against Satchel Paige to starting his own publishing company, was one of four people inducted into the high school’s Distinguished Graduate Hall of Fame. The four spoke to students last week and saw a plaque that commemorates their accomplishments installed outside of the school’s Performing Arts Center.
The other inductees included Janet Crum (Class of 1966), a 45- year veteran emergency medical technician (EMT); Air Force Lt. Colonel Richard F. Bailey Jr., who is Operations Group Deputy Commander in charge of 11 different Air Force Squadrons and Attachments at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; and Raisa Sheynberg, (Class of 2000), a senior advisor to the assistant secretary of the United States Treasury in Washington.
Monteleone lives in Brandon Farms, where he runs Mountain Lion Publishing, the company he started when he was 29. A two-sport varsity athlete at CHS, he earned a spot on the New Jersey all-state baseball team his senior year. The same year, he traveled to Wichita, Kansas, with a Trenton PAL League team to a face another PAL team that, amazingly, included Hall-of-Fame pitcher Satchel Paige, then retired from the major leagues.
Monteleone went on to Seton Hall University, where he captained a team that played in the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. He then played on multiple farm teams for the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators until he was released in 1968.
Monteleone attended Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, after which he landed a job with legendary sports writer Dick Schaap. Monteleone helped research, report and write the best-selling Schaap’s numerous books on sports topics.
At 29, Monteleone started Mountain Lion, Inc., where he has written, produced or published dozens of books on many championship teams, including the Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. His books have won awards including the PBS-TV Rainbow Room award for children’s books and New York Public Library Book-of-the-Year Awards.
Janet Crum, Class of 1966, is a 45-year member of the Union Fire Company in Titusville, where she grew up. While at CHS, she took a first-aid course, and she was hooked, joining the Union Fire Co. and Rescue Squad.
After attending Strayer College in Washington, she returned to Hopewell and since has held every squad office at the company, including EMS chief for 12 years. She has responded to thousands of emergency calls, ranging from multiple fatality car crashes to delivering a baby on a living room rug.
After the incidents of Sept. 11, 2001, she was on a team that assisted at Ground Zero. Her article about the experience was published in The International Journal of Professional EMS Educators.
Crum worked for the superintendent of the State Police for 12 years, then returned to school where she earned a bachelors and masters degree at Trenton State College (now TCNJ). She eventually became an adjunct professor there, teaching basic and instructor level first aid and CPR courses.
She now works for the Mercer County Board of Elections, where she trains and assigns more than 700 election workers throughout Mercer County. She has supervised EMT training in Mercer and Hunterdon Counties, and has gotten many service awards from the American Red Cross, New Jersey State First Aid Council, and others.
Crum, who has ridden elephants in Thailand and assisted the state of North Carolina one vacation in trapping and tracking black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains, encouraged the assembled students to go beyond their comfort zones.
Lt. Col. Richard F. Bailey Jr. (Class of 1988) said he was “nothing special” when he walked the halls of CHS, but he had a dream to fly, and he has accomplished that goal at an extraordinary level. The key, he said, has been education.
Bailey earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1995, he obtained his AF Navigator Wings, and went on to fly combat and contingency sorties over Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia.
Since getting a masters degree in aerospace engineering, Bailey has served at the Pentagon, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and as an instructor, division chief, and director of operations at the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB in California’s Mohave Desert. Currently, he is the 96th Operations Group Deputy Commander in charge of 11 Air Force Squadrons and Detachments at Eglin AFB in Florida, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.
Although his achievements seem to be the result of much planning, he recommended that students “live in the moment.”
“Twenty-six years from now, not all of you will be here,” he said. “Along the way, I have lost friends and family, in combat and other ways. Savor life and live in the moment.”
Raisa Sheynberg (Class of 2000) was born in Moldova, of the former Soviet Union, and came to the U.S. with her parents in 1992. Mastering English was a major challenge, and Sheynberg credits CHS composition teacher Teri Solomon with helping her achieve that goal.
“She pushed me on the small things, and didn’t let things slide,” Sheynberg said. “It is when people don’t let things slide that it is the hardest, and that we grow the most.”
Sheynberg urged the students to “take calculated risks,” as she did when she graduated from Lafayette College with a degree in International Relations. Back at home with her mother, she decided to drive to Washington, stay with friends, and start knocking on doors in search of work.
She got a restaurant job to pay the bills, and proceeded to volunteer anywhere that would get her the type of experience she needed.
While getting a masters degree in International Relations at Georgetown University, she had the fortune to become a teaching assistant for former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Sheynberg considers one of the most remarkable moments in her life to be sitting at brunch after graduation with her parents and Albright.
Now a senior advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department specializing in the finance of illegal activities, Sheynberg left the students with one final piece of advice.
“Try new things, and don’t underestimate yourselves. Pushing for one’s dreams can really pay off.”