Lots about Neilia and their life in Syracuse and some stuff I'd never heard :cry:
Video with a teacher who had Neilia as a teacher and mentor herself; column from 2002 when Biden gave convocation address to SU Law School
---
http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/05/the_bidens_magical_years_in_sy.htmlVice President Joe Biden will be at Syracuse University this weekend to offer the commencement address for the class of 2009. As explained in this Steve Pallone video, Joe's ties to the university began with a note on a car window at the old Bellevue Heights School. The video touches on the years that Joe spent in Syracuse with his wife Neilia, before their family was torn apart by tragedy; the interview with Pat Cowin Wojenski was filmed inside the Bellevue Elementary School.
...
The young man was a student at the Syracuse University College of Law. He and his wife lived on Stinard Avenue in Syracuse, where they were neighbors to Joanne Del Vecchio and her parents. The young man, a newlywed, took notice when Joanne's German shepherd gave birth to some puppies.
One day (in 1967), the young man knocked on Joanne's door. He explained how his wife, a teacher at the Bellevue Elementary School, loved to watch the puppies play. He wanted to buy one. He wanted to surprise his wife when she got home from work.
Del Vecchio, now a (retired) Spanish teacher at Fowler High School, sold a puppy to the law student, whose name was Joseph Biden.
He and his wife named the dog "Senator," which makes them seem almost prophetic.
Biden's political career took off after three years in Syracuse. He was married to the former Neilia Hunter, an Auburn native and an SU homecoming queen. Biden speaks of that time as "magical," even if he pays for those memories with pain.
...
Joe and Neilia, married in 1966, settled at 608 Stinard Ave. They were completely broke, Biden recalls, and completely happy. As a wedding gift, Biden's father -- a car dealer -- traded in their used cars and replaced them with a brand-new Corvette. Biden remembers how he and Neilia would sit in their kitchen, eating cereal for dinner, laughing about this exotic car just outside their door.
Biden walked the dog at the Woodland Reservoir. He played football in the street with neighborhood children. Neilia lived close enough to Bellevue for an easy walk to work.
The link to Syracuse was reinforced, years after Neilia's death, by Biden's political crisis of 1987. His presidential campaign was damaged by allegations that Biden stole passages for some of his speeches. Someone then leaked an old school paper from SU, in which Biden failed to footnote sections taken directly from an article. A rising presidential hopeful became the butt of jokes.
Amid the uproar, SU invited Biden for a visit. Biden said he won't forget that show of loyalty. Many of his old professors showed up to shake his hand. Biden's son Beau came along for that trip. Father and son took a walk on campus, winding up at the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house on Walnut Avenue, the sorority to which Neilia Biden once belonged.
Beau discovered a photograph of his mother, as homecoming queen, hanging on a wall. Biden watched as his boy reached out and touched the photo. Then Beau said out loud, "I'm going to law school here."
In 1994, Biden was commencement speaker when Beau earned his degree.
Biden describes Syracuse as a city where he often surprises himself with the places he spontaneously visits, or the things he freely says. Joanne Del Vecchio can offer an example:
One afternoon in the 1970s, long after Biden became a senator, Joanne's mother was startled to find Biden standing at her door. He happened to be in Syracuse, he said. He decided to make a side trip to Stinard Avenue, hoping to find at least one familiar face.
Or maybe, more precisely, to hang onto one.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
