Pastor revs up his search for his family
The Rev. JohnMaltby will retire in July after 50 years of church service
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

The Rev. John Maltby

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Some call him Mr. South Brunswick. Others call him John. Most call him The Rev. And pretty soon, The Rev will be retiring this summer as the pastor of Miller Memorial Presbyterian Church after 50 years on the job.

The Rev. JohnMaltby has worked at the church since 1958.

"Of all the people I've known in my life, he is themost caring, giving individual that I have ever known," said Lou Schwartz,who has known Maltby for 35 years.

"For 50 years, he's been my pastor, my friend andmymentor," said Lee Piotrowski, a longtimemember of the church. "He's just an all-around good person."

Not only hasMaltby been a pastor at the church for 50 years, but he has also been an important member of the community for just as long.

He is a former president of the Grange organization and has been a member since 1964. He has been involved with Boy Scout Troop 10 inMonmouth Junction since 1963. He is the Monmouth Junction Police Department's chaplain and he performs the same duties for the Monmouth Junction Fire Department.

And, he is still a member of the Monmouth Junction First Aid Squad and has been since 1962, even though he has made only four calls, regrettably, in the past six weeks at the age of 74, due to some health problems. He also knewmany of the founding members of the squad and wrote a history of its first 50 years back in 1991.

He is also a chaplain to the only garage that has one, Dean's Garage.

"I bless the people every year," Maltby said. "People just sit around there and talk. It's the way the town used to be when it was a small town. This is one of the last places in town where you can still do that."

In other words, Lou Schwartz's designation of Mr. South Brunswick for Maltby is apt indeed.

So, why retire now after 50 years?

Maltby has found it difficult tomaintain contact with his family throughout the years, and regaining a connection with his blood is something he wants to do once he is retired.

He knows that two of his second cousins are still living inMichigan,where his father was from, and they are about 90 years old.

He has many memories of going back to Michigan as a child to be with his family there.

"These are some of the ones we've lost track of," Maltby said. "I could hardly ever get back there."

Maltby has other reasons why he is retiring.

"I'm 74; I've recently had heart problems," Maltby said. "My doctor tells me to slow down. Fifty years is a long time to do anything."

"Nine years of pension, I didn't get," he continued. "The church is not well off here. So, for financial reasons, it's time to do it for the pension."

He has many fond memories of his childhood, of being a boy on a chicken farm.

"I considered myself a little farmboy,"Maltby said. "We lived on a dirt road. I was a barefoot kid and I was content to be that."

During his early years, he also developed his love for music while taking piano lessons. As a pastor, he was also heavily involved in the musical side of things.

He still plays keyboard, tuba and trumpet and sings for the church. He organized and wrote music for the church band and led the junior choir program.

In addition, during his time at Cornell University, he was a tuba player and bass drummer for the Cornell Big Red Band. He has also been a member of the Cornell Marching Band Advisory Committee and the Big Red BandAlumniAssociation since 1984.

"I love performing," Maltby said. "The band [Big Red Band] became a big part of my life."

Maltby also writes the music for every song the church band plays, for every instrument. Although he says it is time-consuming, he also says it is "kind of fun" and hopes to continue writing after his retirement.

All in all, the church band has 12 instrumentalmembers and five singers when they are all able to attend.

In addition to all this musical work, he teaches the little onesmusic during Sunday school.

It was his time at the Federated Church of Croton Falls in New York, when he was between the ages of 10 and 20, that he began to get the idea he could have a calling from God to become a pastor.

"That really got me started in the ministry," Maltby said. "It was a good Sunday school, great teachers, good music." It was his time at church camp, when he was just 12, that made him believe he could be invested in God for the long run.

"This was the point at which I just sensed that God had, if not control, had a priority on my life," Maltby said. "God had dibs onme. I belong to God. I was too young to know what a commitment was, but I had begun to make one."

From 1949 to 1951, he saw the summer missionary trips that the college students were taking. Some went to Lebanon and Greece, and Maltby saw the slideshow about what they did and the people they affected. Seeing them moved him as well. Maltby got a local preacher's license before he was 21 and started as a fill-in at Beebe Chapel.

"I got used to doing church leadership," Maltby said.

He eventually went to seminary school and came to South Brunswick.He expressed reservations originally - he was a farm boy at heart, and here in Monmouth Junction most people were railroaders.

"Duty called me here," Maltby said. "It was a blue-collar, factory-worker-type town."

In 1962, he was ordained a minister.

From 1962 through 1982, Maltby also served as a substitute teacher in the South Brunswick school district to alleviate some financial burden.

Maltby has three children and nine stepchildren through his three marriages and has 22 grandchildren. His first marriage did not work out, his second wife died in her 40s, and his third wife, Mary Ann, died in March 2005.

"It was brutal for her kids and tough on all of us," Maltby said about the death of Mary Ann. They had been together since 1981.

"She rose to the top," he continued. "There was some special quality about her. Her loss has been felt. "

The loss was hard on him, but whenever Maltby talks of hardships, he talks of persevering.

"We adapt to what we have, you use what you have," Maltby said. "You gain some, you lose some. Receive God's gifts gratefully. Utilize the gifts God gave you to the best."

Maltby wants to be remembered for his time at Miller Memorial Presbyterian Church as an encourager.

"Don't give up," Maltby said. "Count your blessings, use your gifts, bless somebody else's gifts.

Now a half-century of time at the church is over, and Dr. Belinda Newhart, the commissioned lay pastor, is themost likely successor for Maltby, although there is a process that eventually must take place to confirm this.

"Right now, shewants to do it, the people here want her to do it, and I want her to do it," Maltby said.

Whatwas one ofMaltby's biggest regrets during his time at the church?

"Losing touch with people because I was too busy," he said. "I had missed an opportunity to get together with [one of his best friends from childhood] because I wasn't proactive enough. I didn't make it important enough. I couldn't control the time enough to get it all done. Sometimes you couldn't be there."

However, he hopes to make some changes when he retires.

"NowI have time to do the 'Roots' thing," Maltby said, speaking about Alex Haley's novel.

He said that he is the only one who can do this "Roots" thing, because the rest of his family is either gone or knows nothing about the elder generations. He has two photo albums from 1905 of relatives from his father's side.He wants to find the third. He will have to use the Internet, newspapers and whatever else he finds to locate his family.

Bill Schanck, a longtime member of the church, said, "It's going to be hard on The Rev to adjust."

Maltby may have agreed a while ago, but now he has a goal - he has a family to find.

"It gives me a reason for going out and picking a goal for when I retire," Maltby said. "When it comes to what's after retirement, there used to just be a blankwall.Not anymore. I've got a quest."

The church will be presenting "Roast The Rev" on Saturday, March 8, from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. at Pierre's Restaurant on Georges Road. It will celebrate his 50 years of service to the township. Tickets are $40, and anyone interested in attending or obtaining more information can call (732) 821-4155 or (732) 329-6262.