Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 4420 March Home&Garden Matters 2017 M Most parents want to guide their children to make choices that will ensure happy, productive, successful lives. But sometimes that guidance is formed very narrowly by the parents’ own life experience causing generational conflicts that lead the children to reject parental influence and strike out on their own. This was the case for Josso Thomas Jr., the owner of Josso Carpentry, LLC, a woodworking and contracting business based in South Orange. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Thomas began learning carpentry from his father, J.G. Thomas Sr., at age 13. The elder Thomas had learned his skills while working for a British contractor who built many of the government buildings in Kingston during the 1960s. “My father taught me how to frame, install Sheetrock, old-fashioned plastering using a lathe and Structurelite, special cuts for installing moldings,” says Thomas. “He also taught me to be patient when working with wood.” But one thing his father couldn’t teach Thomas, at least not in the short term, was to love the craft enough to make it his full-time career. Instead, Thomas chose to study hotel management and culinary arts. In 1983, he graduated from the New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn, where the Thomas family had settled after relocating from Jamaica in the early 1970s. Above: A fire gutted this South Orange home. Right: the living room restored to its former elegance.