When Joseph Albanese took Adele DeMaio out on their first date in 1948, they were both teenagers. Today, at the age of ninety-five, Joseph still remembers the movie they saw, and even the row where they sat. In an effort to impress her, Joseph took Adele out for ice cream after the movie ended. But the banana split she wanted was twenty-five cents, and he did not have enough money. So, the couple shared a Cherry Coke. With two straws. And thirty years later, he bought her a Dairy Queen.
Joseph and Adele married in 1954 and went on to enjoy sixty-five years of love, marriage, friendship, and business partnership before Adele’s passing in 2019 at the age of eighty-seven. I remember seeing Joseph (or “Mr. A” as he is widely known) at a local restaurant a few months after she died. We kept each other company as we both waited for our dinner companions to arrive. For fifteen or so minutes he smiled through tears and shared stories about his wife and the beautiful life they built together. “She was good to everyone,” he says. I can feel how much he misses her and I get visibly emotional. So Mr. A did, what Mr. A does…he tells me a joke to make me smile.
Dairy Queen in Plainfield requires no introduction to this readership. Whether you have lived in town for one year, or one hundred years, you have probably been to this Dairy Queen. It serves as the backdrop for countless celebrations whether it be a Blizzard after a band concert, a dipped cone after a baseball game or a decorated cake for graduation, you come to Dairy Queen in Plainfield. But this story is not about ice cream, or even a successful local business. It is a story about the Albanese family; the love they have for one another, and the love they have put into our community for fifty years.
Married in 1954, Joseph and Adele moved to Cranford in 1963 to raise their two daughters Maria and Donna. Both girls worked during their teenage years at the Dairy Queen in Cranford, which served as the inspiration for the family to take over management of the store in Plainfield when it became available. Their love for the product (“I sell the absolute best ice cream in the world, says Mr. A”) - and the community that enjoys it, led the Albanese family to purchase the franchise, and then the building. While daughter Maria’s career ventured in a different direction, daughter Donna worked side by side with both of her parents from the very first day. She credits her dad’s business sense and her mom’s hospitality for the success of the store - but Mr. A insists it is Donna that deserves all the credit. He beams with an otherworldly pride, so clearly enamored by his daughter, that I find myself getting emotional AGAIN. He tells me another joke to stave my tears before continuing to describe her tireless work ethic, and her commitment to transforming Plainfield. Not to mention that in 2002 Donna donated her kidney to her mother, a selfless act that saved Adele’s life and gave her another seventeen years with their family and Dairy Queen community.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, Donna Albanese found her own love story when a young Richard DeMair started to frequent the shop, sometimes three times in a single day. “Nobody likes ice-cream that much” Mr. A told her at the time. And he was right. Now married for over forty years, Donna and Richard have three children, the oldest of which (also Richard) joined the family business as General Manager and part owner. When I ask how old he was when he started working there, Richard and his mom laugh, as his Dairy Queen career apparently started the day she learned she was pregnant. Richard Jr does not mind telling me that his own son, “Happy Jack,” the great-grandchild of Adele and Joseph Albanese, will work here eventually.
Since Jack cannot yet reach the handles on the ice-cream machines, the Albanese family shares their business and their lives with an estimated 1,000 young adults they have employed over the years. Today I have the pleasure of meeting “Hurley” a manager for Dairy Queen that started there when he was sixteen. He tells me Mr. A is like a father to him, providing support and guidance to help hm through life’s challenges. But it goes beyond that. Mr. A helped Hurley buy his first car and Donna adjusts his schedule so he can attend school to get his advanced degree. He is now a part of the Dairy Queen family.
All of this and I have not even mentioned the thousands of bikes the Albanese family have collected (fixed by Richard DeMair), and donated to those in need. Or the Plainfield beautification projects they have spearheaded to bring cleaner streets and green spaces to South Avenue. Or the Girl Scout troops they have mentored. Or the countless sponsorships and donations they have supported to contribute to our thriving community. This is a true love story – about a family whose love shines warmly on those around them, melting our hearts. “We love this community,” gushes Donna. I give her one last hug before I leave and say, “the community loves you back, Donna. I hope you know that.” She understands. And before I can get emotional for a third time, she hands me a giant bag of Dairy Queen desserts, which is every bit as good as one of Mr. A’s famous jokes.
She had a generous spirit. She was good to everyone.
"Nobody loves ice cream that much!"