Autumn Years Summer 2023

think about it but times are different and not everyone has children. You have to think through what will happen if your family or spouse isn’t available to you,” Glenn says. “Neighbors play a role when the family isn’t there. When you move a long way away, you don’t have the network you had.” “I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done and am glad it played out as it did. I’m glad to be able to do what I’m doing,” he says, referring to having a national platform for fire safety. He plans to create a website when he is done at the college, called thebuildingisyourenemy.com , which will expand on the work he did with Francis Brannigan on earlier editions of the building construction book. “I get to meet so many people. My father got me started, that’s the path I’ve been on, and have tried to emulate other people I’ve met along the way,” Glenn says. “Lifewise, you have to appreciate the people you have while you have them, plan for the next day and hope that it comes.” a

Glenn at the Paterson Museum.

His childhood exposure to history is fueling a 10-year-long passion project on Paterson industrialist Roswell L. Colt. “Nineteenth Century stuff is intriguing to me, that’s why I’m writing about him,” Glenn says. There is so little available about him that “I’m nibbling around at the edges of things. It’s taking a lot of time.” He did a book about The Great Paterson fire of 1902 and is interested in the history of the Palisades Amusement Park. His father, then a photographer with The Record , had taken pictures of the rollercoaster being dismantled and brought Glenn bits of its wood. As he contemplates the future, Glenn considers the infrastructure “out there” in places to retire—such as, are family or friends nearby, and what about medical services? He does not want to burden his wife, so he wants to prepare her for the day he may be gone. “We don’t like to

the Ridgewood Historical Society. He joined and later became president of the Passaic County Historical Society. His interest in firematic and Paterson history led him to help create a 501(c)3 for the Paterson Museum at Great Falls, named the Paterson Museum Foundation, where he currently serves as president. In July, the museum will have a dinner exhibit featuring hot Texas wieners, speakers and “fun stuff.” The museum’s front yard features two historic locomotives that need a roof to protect them from the weather, which the foundation is attempting to erect. “If you’ve seen the picture of the Golden Spike being driven at the 1869 juncture of the Transcontinental Railroad in Promontory, Utah, the locomotive on the right was a Paterson-built engine,” Glenn says.

Glenn with wife Sharon.

37

SUMMER 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS