Choosing where to raise a family is a difficult choice. There are so many factors at play from budgetary concerns, commute time to work, school districts and access to outdoor spaces and town amenities are just a few that come to mind. For some residents in Armonk, Chappaqua and Pleasantville the choice was easy. They decided to raise their families in the same town that they grew up in and thus I have dubbed these people “boomerangs” instead of the somewhat disparaging word “townies”.
Here are three families who have such wonderful childhood memories and local hometown pride that they hope to pass down to their children:
Jenn Tucker Salon, Chappaqua
Josh and Jenn Tucker Salon were in the same kindergarten class at Grafflin Elementary School. Josh moved in the middle of the year so there were no class photos of them and despite both of them remaining in the district, they were never in class together again. Still their families ran in the same social circles and the two were friendly even throughout high school.
They both graduated Horace Greeley High School in 1999. He graduated from the University of Delaware and Jenn graduated from SUNY Oneonta. Like many recent college graduates, they both moved back home to save money so that they could move into the city.
When commuting to the city, they kept an eye on each other to ensure they were safe getting off the Metro-North late at night. Josh moved to the city first working at his family’s property management company, Salon Realty and Jenn moved later working in publishing in event management for magazines such as Town & Country and In Style.
Eventually the two became involved in a romantic relationship and Jenn moved out of her apartment to move into his. “It felt like a “Friends” episode leaving my roommate who was my best friend from Grafflin,” she jokes. The Salons lived in Manhattan for 15 years and had two boys in the city, Chase and Wes.
“When I came home with Wes from the hospital to our apartment, I finally had the realization that we had to move. Chase’s bikes and scooters were in my powder room. I didn’t want to leave the city but I knew we needed more space,” she recalls.
The couple looked all over lower Westchester but realized they could get more value for their money in northern Westchester and began looking at houses in Chappaqua, Pleasantville and Katonah. One day a house on Ludlow Drive went on the market in the middle of winter. It was perfect and turn key. “Josh who works in real estate, said let’s look at it. Something is up for it to be on the market right now.” Turns out, Josh was right. The couple who recently renovated the property had to relocate for a job on the West Coast and they needed to sell the property quickly. The rest is history.
Josh and Jenn always loved the tight knit community of Chappaqua and the magical small town feel of it especially during the holidays. Growing up there was a Christmas tree lighting by the Duck Pond in town. Jenn recalls a gigantic tree near this little white house that was lit up by the property owners. Eventually the upkeep became too difficult for the property owners, so the New Castle Historical Society helped the owners. “That tree was so big in my eyes. I loved it when that tree lit up with the carolers singing. It meant the holidays were starting and it was a big deal. People came out to see the tree lighting no matter what religion they were. It brought everybody together. No other town had this gigantic special tree.”
Today, Jenn works at Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester as a teacher in the Temple Tots program. Jenn, who grew up with her mom in a Christian household once her parents divorced, always felt a pull towards Judaism from her father’s side and attending her many Jewish friends’ seders, Shabbat dinners and shivas. “While we were raising our boys Jewish, I decided to convert after October 7th.” Jenn underwent conversion studies with Rabbis Jonathan Jaffe and Leora Londy and proudly partook in High Holiday services at Temple Beth El this fall as a full-fledged Jew.
Jenn likes to joke around that she is “Jew-minican” as her mother is Dominican. She also says that she is proud to be called a “townie”. “So many of us come back here, so I’m not offended to be called that. Chappaqua is a great place to grow up,” she concludes.
From Class of ‘95, Chappaqua
These “boomerangs” from the Horace Greeley Class of 1995 were all varsity members of the football team. They recently celebrated Greeley’s victory over Port Chester at homecoming. All of these fathers currently have children in the Chappaqua Central School District.
Pictured left to right are: Dennis Byrne (Captain ’95), Dave Sederbaum (Captain ’95), Zach Fisher, Adam Tucker (Captain ’95) and Evan Kaplow (Captain ’95). Sederbaum’s son James currently plays on the varsity football team, wearing the same number proudly as his father wore, on his uniform.
Paul Alvarez, Pleasantville
Paul Alvarez first came to the US from Ecuador in 1992 as a young boy following in his parent’s footsteps. His mother Maritza and his father Guillermo (Bill) came before him, working hard jobs in landscaping and as a dishwasher and busboy at the Riviera on Tompkins Avenue. The family settled in a multi-family house on Marble Avenue and Paul started fourth grade at the Bedford Road School. While Paul was a top student in his third-grade class in Ecuador, he did not speak any English when he started school in town but had a strong desire to learn and worked hard with an ESL (English as a second language) teacher.
Paul found the Pleasantville community very welcoming and supportive right from the start. He recalls meeting a high school tutor at the Mount Pleasant library to work on improving his reading skills. “The first book I read by myself was Judy Blume’s Frecklejuice,” he remembers proudly. As a current Village Trustee, he is now helping that library complete its master plan. “I have the ability to give to this place that has given so much to so many- it is truly a full circle moment.”
As a student at Pleasantville High School, Paul was a varsity wrestler, a member of the high school choir and a drummer in the school band. He also volunteered as a teacher’s aide at the Bedford Road School. He earned a scholarship to SUNY Oneonta, where he completed a dual major in political science and Spanish and met his wife, Katie.
After graduation, he decided to move back to Pleasantville and help his parent’s successful residential and commercial cleaning business, Alvarez Cleaning & Home Services whose office is located on Washington Avenue with more than 20 employees. Katie, who grew up in White Plains fell in love with the small town feel of Pleasantville and the strong sense of community in town. “I remember taking her to some football games in town and it reminded her of “Friday Night Lights” with the whole community coming out to support the team.”
It did not take a lot of convincing for Katie, a teaching assistant for the White Plains school district, to choose Pleasantville as the town to raise their family in. In 2010, the couple purchased their first home in Pleasantville but it was part of the West Lake School District. They now have two children, 9-year-old Brendan and 6-year-old Madison. They were thrilled to buy a new home in the Pleasantville school district this past year on Wilton Road and now delight in watching their kids ride bikes in the neighborhood with friends or walk to school with them. “It’s surreal that my son is now the same age as I was when I came to the US and he’s at the Bedford Road School,” said Paul.
After helping his parent’s business for a bit, Paul then worked as an interpreter, paralegal and office manager of Julie Mullaney in Mount Kisco. At his father’s urging, he suggested that Paul take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). He took it twice and was accepted to Pace Law School in White Plains and graduated in two and a half years. In 2020, he moved Mullaney’s law practice to Pleasantville on Manville Road and purchased it. He now practices immigration, traffic and criminal law.
Paul has always strived to give back to the community that he feels has given him so much. He became Vice President of the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce in 2012 and became a Village Trustee in 2020.
As part of his role in the Chamber of Commerce, Paul has been busy planning a big event on December 7th for the winter holidays in a new location by the civic center across from the Pleasantville Diner. He has such fond memories of the holidays growing up in town. “I loved how the different stores were lit up on Wheeler and Washington Avenue. There would be Pleasantville High School students caroling around the stores with snow on the ground. My 11-year-old self was like, wow. This is where I live. This is like in a movie.”
He hopes to recreate those cherished holiday memories for a new group of Pleasantville residents this winter season. “We have such a vibrant downtown for a small area. We feel blessed here,” he said.
Karin and John Wolff, Armonk
Karin and John Wolff grew up on the same street a few houses down from each other on Pond Lane in Windmill Farm. They were two grades apart but their families were friendly and in high school, the two started dating. “We went to prom together,” recalls Karin but the couple broke up when John went away to college at Harvard University. “We always stayed in touch though and the couple rekindled their relationship in New York City about eight years after graduating. Karin attended Union College for undergraduate but both of them attended Columbia University for graduate school. Karin obtained a Masters in Education and John pursued his MBA there. Today, John works in the tech/private equity industry for Insight Partners and Karin teaches technology at Greenwich Country Day School.
Their first apartment after living in the city was in White Plains where they welcomed two daughters, Riley and Skylar but needed more space. They looked at houses in Greenwich but felt the downtown was too crowded. Eventually, they moved back to Armonk. “What brought us back was bittersweet as my father passed away suddenly,” John said. The couple wanted to be close to John’s mother and in fact they are now next-door neighbors as they purchased a home that was off market in 2022. “The kids love going over to grandma to have pancakes,” John notes.
“I have such fond memories of growing up in Windmill skating on the pond in my backyard and playing ice hockey. I vividly remember checking every single pond and lake to check if it was safe to skate with a drill and organizing the Christmas Day skate where we would have 20-30 people out there skating. There is something extremely unique and magical about skating on a frozen lake. Now we are recreating those memories with our daughters who also ice skate and play ice hockey,” says John, whose father, Rick, started the Byram Hills High School ice hockey team which today is flourishing.
Karin recalls childhood memories of sledding by Windmill Hill. “It is very quiet here and very special. You feel like you are stepping back in time and we cherish that.”
“We wanted to do Project Runway together because we wanted to tell our story the right way. We’ve done so much in our careers.” Jesus explains. “It was a hard journey for both of us. I never wanted to feel that Antonio was better than me, and I never wanted Antonio to feel that I was better than him. That was kind of our strategy going into this together. We were truly ourselves.”
