Finamore At It Again; Twosome Pen Another Book of Fine Stories

By Jeff Garrett

Autobiographies take on a greater meaning when their intentions are directed to help people – young, old, older – it really doesn’t matter.

Recently penned, “Bond of Brothers: Our Stories, Our Legacies,” by brothers Nick and Bob Finamore of northern New Jersey aims to address and help a few special people in the brothers’ lives. While proceeds of the book will go to two national veterans groups -Tunnel 2 Towers, Wounded Warriors - and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, the book was written with Nick and Bob’s combined eight grandchildren in mind.

“We wrote these books for our grandchildren,” said Nick, “to understand the lives we lived.” The brothers who coauthored their first book, “2 Jersey Brothers: Stories from Haledon, NJ” in 2021, wrote their latest book continuing along the same path. “We wanted to tell them about the way we were raised – about the dedication and the hard work we put in growing up,” in a different time long ago away from the creature comforts of today. Nick and his wife of 60 years, Marie, live in Annadale.

There’s a story in the story of how the book was arranged. Editor Lorraine Ash of Cape Cod Publications arranged the stories for connectivity so the individual tales would garner more meaning. The pair worked with Ash on the first book which contained 36,000 words; ”Bond” contains 83,000 words. One account describes Bob and Nick playing football together at Paterson Central High School in the mid1950’s.

Bob, a resident of Wayne, was extended an invitation to try out for the New York Jets in 1965. He played three pre-season games alongside Joe Namath before being let go. He went into the U.S. Army and afterwards, enjoyed a lengthy term teaching physical education, health, driving, serving as a disciplinarian and athletic director at Manchester Regional High School over 35 years.

Nick led an accomplished life as well at first in Aviation then at AT&T, where, as an engineer, he climbed the corporate ladder in sales to human resources and eventually rising to regional vice president. Each brother worked hard in their given trades, raised families and prospered – yet the work they endured, like for so many, made for full-rich fulfilled lives.

“We were committed and persevered,” said Nick, hoping their grandchildren will take from their experiences. Nick takes time to discuss his efforts to keep New Jersey’s water pure by participating in the fight against pollution along the shoreline and preserving dolphins after he retired in the 1990’s. It seems that one bother is quite the environmentalist, something he does not want lost on his grandkids.

The brothers never lost sight of their mother after their father passed in 2000, working together to comfort her until the age of 102 as she was on her death bed; the two brothers deep respect and love for one another continues into their 80’s. With success and interest in their stories, who knows? The two may have enough ink left in their pens for one more collection of