Nicholas Pavlak
Nicholas H. Pavlak was born September 15, 1921, to Vincent and Annie Pavlak, and the brother of Catherine Pavlak. The family appears to have changed their name from “Pawlak” to Pavlak sometime after the spring of 1942, when Vincent Pavlak registered for the draft under the “Pawlak” surname. The family also appears in the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church at South 10th and Mechanic Streets 50th Anniversary book, published in 1942. Vincent Pavlak was then working at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyards.
When the 1947 Camden City Directory was compiled, Nicholas Pavlak was unmarried and living at 1220 Decatur Street with his parents and sister. His sister is listed at that address in the 1956 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory.
Nicholas Pavlak was appointed to the Camden Police Department on September 16, 1948. By December of 1957 he had been promoted to Detective, and assigned to the juvenile division, where he spent the balance of his career. He was still a detective with the Camden Police Department as late as 1977.
The 1959 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory lists Nicholas Pavlak at 1778 Norris Street. By this time he had married and started a family. He remained at that address into the mid-1970s. By 1977, however, Nicholas Pavlak had moved to Turnersville, New Jersey with his wife Jean and their children.
Nicholas Pavlak spent the last days of his life as a resident of Jupiter Beach, Florida. He died July 19, 1994. Jean Pavlak joined her husband in April of 2003.
2 Boys With Oil Seized After Fire at School
Camden Courier-Post —
Debris Is Used In Blaze at 4th, Berkley
Juvenile authorities today are questioning two boys, 9 and 11, who Tuesday set a fire in the rear of the Stevens School, 4th and Berkley sts.
Detective Sgt. Frank Nelson identified the boys as Michael Bernado, 11, of 310 Cleveland terrace, and James McConnell, 9, of 406 S. 2nd st. They were taken into custody late Tuesday afternoon, Nelson said.
Nelson assigned Detective Nicholas Pavlak to the case and the latter said the boys had a two-quart can of old motor oil and matches in their possession.
Quizzed About Other Fires
Pavlak and Walter Friedrichs, a fireman attached to the fire marshal’s office, questioned the boys extensively about recent fires, particularly the fire at the Broadway School last February. They said they believed the boys had nothing to do with such fires. The two then were released in the custody of their parents.
The Board of Education, Pavlak said, has been notified the locks on the rear door of the abandoned Stevens School were forced previously. The board, he continued, is being asked to do something about the situation so that youngsters can be kept out of the building.
The chain of circumstances began when Joseph Noles, a special officer assigned to traffic duty to protect children at the Central School, was tipped off by two unidentified boys that a fire was started at the Stevens School.
Other Boys Tell of Fire
The boys told the special officer they had extinguished a fire in the rear of the Stevens School, a block north of the Central School.
Noles said he went to the school and there saw Bernado. He grabbed the boy and took him to Miss Mary Boland, principal of the Central School, where he attends classes.
She called police, and questioning revealed the participation of the McConnell boy. The boy was then found in the building.
Debris Oiled, Then Ignited
Pavlak said his investigation revealed the Bernado and McConnell boys entered the schoolyard and after using straw and wood, debris from a packing box, poured the oil and lighted the pile.
Pavlak said a rear entrance to the school building was forced, but it was not a fresh break and apparently had been made before Tuesday. Pavlak said he notified the city school authorities of the damage and requested they secure the building.
Nelson said the boys and their parents will be questioned in juvenile bureau and the fire marshal and school authorities were notified. Nelson is head of the juvenile bureau.
Vandals Damage Camden Theatre
Camden Courier-Post —
(Reprinted from Wednesday’s Late Edition)
Widespread vandalism damage to the North Camden Theatre, 203 Vine st., was being investigated by police.
The theatre has been out of operation for a number of years, except for a brief period in 1953 and 1954.
Det. Nicholas Pavlak, of the police juvenile division, opened a probe of the damage following a complaint by the owner, Mrs. Lena Adelman, of 4839 N. 9th st., Philadelphia.
Pavlak said that virtually all the windows and door glass in the structure had been smashed, apparently with stones. He said the damage had been done over weeks, and possibly months.
The damage included glass in the ticket office, the four front doors, the outside showcases and the second-story windows.
He also said a rainspout had been clogged, causing water damage to the lobby and the theatre office.
Veterans Boxing Association Ring 6 — 11th Annual Banquet
Nicholas Pavlak was listed among the well-wishers at the 11th Annual Banquet of Veterans Boxing Association Ring 6 on April 20, 1959, which honored Camden boxer Joey Powell.
Camden Boy Drowns Off Pyne Poynt
Camden Courier-Post —
Mystery shrouds the drowning Thursday of Eugene Thornton, 9, of 539 Birch st.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Eugene fell or was pushed into the Delaware River, according to eyewitness accounts, as he and an unidentified companion were playing on the pilings between N. 7th and N. 8th sts.
Det. Nicholas Pavlak of the juvenile bureau said police are looking for a companion who was with the drowned boy.
Boys Push Each Other
Pavlak said one account he received from eyewitnesses is that three boys were “horsing around” and pushing each other on the brink of the pilings. He said the water at this point is between 4 and 6 feet deep.
Pavlak said one boy, according to eyewitnesses, pushed Thornton and he fell into the water. He said it was “horseplay which resulted in tragedy.”
Pavlak said police will continue their efforts today to locate the boy who did the pushing.
Grappling hooks operated by the boat team of James Smith of Rescue Squad 1 and John Kolessar of Engine Company 6 hauled Eugene’s lifeless form to the surface at 7:20 p.m.
Men from both units, under the direction of Captain Albert Weller, had been dragging the river between Pyne Poynt and Petty’s Island for more than an hour before the body was recovered.
Identified By Mother
Young Thornton was pronounced dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital shortly after 7:30 p.m. by Dr. Gerald E. Vanston.
The victim’s identity remained undetermined until about 9 o’clock, when Thornton’s mother, Emma, accompanied by her 10-year-old son, Albert, tearfully identified her son’s body at the hospital.
Mrs. Thornton told Pavlak that Eugene, Albert and her eight-year-old daughter, Diane had gone to the playgrounds around Pyne Poynt Junior High School at about 5 o’clock.
Albert told the detective that he and his sister had remained on the swings, while Eugene and another boy had gone off to play at the river’s edge.
Worker Reports Incident
Shortly before 6 p.m., William Passwater of 3225 Mount Ephraim ave., a WCAM employe, reported the drowning, according to Ptl. Peter Yecco and James Anderson.
Passwater told police that a Negro boy had run screaming to the radio station’s Pyne Poynt transmitter station, yelling that someone was drowning.
Gary Auxer, 10, of 517 N. 9th st., told Yecco and Anderson that he and some friends had witnessed the incident.
Gary said he had gone to water’s edge to warn Eugene and his friend. When he reached the scene, Auxer said, he heard Eugene’s friend, a Negro boy about 12, challenging Eugene to go in the water.
“It ain’t deep. It’s low tide.” [sic] the older boy said, according to Gary.
Then, when it seemed Eugene was not going to jump in the river, the older boy pushed him in, Gary said.
Youth Frightened
After the older boy reached for Eugene in the water and failed, he became frightened and ran off, Auxer told police.
Gary, a fifth-grader at Sewell School, said he tried to grab Eugene several times unsuccessfully. A friend of Auxer’s, John Barry Kelley, 9. [sic] of 642 Erie st., a third grader at Holy Name School, said he grabbed Eugene’s hand but the drowning boy let go.
Some 200 spectators lined the Delaware’s banks to watch the dragging operations.
Besides his mother; his brother, Albert, and sister, Diane, Eugene, a student at Cooper School, is survived by his father, Albert, a Pennsylvania Railroad employe; two brothers, Jacob, 5, and Carl, 2; and two sisters, Geraldine, 5, and Cynthia, 1.