Inducted in 2015
Community Organizer
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (1977-1983)
Mother of a Prep Graduate

In many different capacities, Josephine “Josie” Abplanalp was an extraordinarily involved member of the Prep community during a very difficult time in the school’s history: the separation from the University and the construction and move to Shea Hall. It is not an exaggeration to say that without the extraordinary support of Josephine and her husband, Robert Abplanalp, Class of 1939, the Prep would likely have closed its doors forever during those tumultuous years.

Josephine “Josie” Anne Sloboda was born in 1925 in New York City, the daughter of Paul (Pavel) Sloboda and Apollonia Sloboda. Paul had arrived from Czechoslovakia in 1922 to find work in America, and within a year was able to send for his fiancée, Apollonia Lajcha. They were married in 1923 and continued to live in Manhattan, where Josie was born, until Paul was hired as the superintendent of the Brooklands Apartments in Bronxville, New York.

Growing up in Bronxville, Josephine attended Yonkers Public School #8 and Roosevelt High School on Tuckahoe Road, from which she graduated in 1943. She would go on to study chemical sciences at Westbrook Junior College in Portland, Maine, a school which has since merged with the University of New England. After graduating Westbrook in 1945, Josephine took a position in sales with Tennessee Eastman, the chemicals division of the Eastman Kodak Company.

In 1955, Miss Sloboda was introduced to Mr. Robert Abplanalp, a tinkerer and inventor, and one of the founders of Precision Valve Corporation in Yonkers, New York. They met at Mercurio’s in midtown Manhattan, one of the trendiest restaurants of the day. Given her field and his work on the aerosol valve, it is safe to say that there was immediate chemistry between them.

Robert found the self-assured sales representative as lovely as she was charming, and Josephine found Big Bob, the six-foot, broad-shouldered former Fordham Prep footballer as clever as he was handsome. And so their courtship began. One of their favorite nightspots was the Old Alliance Nightclub in Greenwich Village, where they would stop in for drinks and hear Herb Khaury perform. It would be a few years before Khaury would start using his more well-known stage name, Tiny Tim.

Josephine and Robert Abplanalp were married on November 10, 1956 in St. Joseph’s Church in Bronxville, just over a mile from the home where they would raise their family: a son and a daughter, John and Marie. While Bob continued to expand Precision Valve, Josie stayed home to care for their children. A committed member of the Bronxville League of Service, she also devoted her energy to her parish, the local schools, and many other religious and charitable organizations. Through the years, she chaired community fundraisers, organized drives for food, clothes, and toys, and offered her assistance to everything from youth gymnastics nights to sewing circles providing diapers, blankets and baby clothing for the needy.

In the mid-1960s, Josie's husband’s alma mater, Fordham Prep, was in dire straits. It was clear that the school’s time at Hughes Hall was nearing an end. The Prep’s very existence was in question, and together, Bob and Josie chose to answer that question in an incredible way. The kick-off for the new building program was held at an alumni dinner in February 1967 at the Waldorf Astoria. That night, anonymous donors gave a half-million dollars to the campaign. They were not anonymous for long. The Abplanalps gave another $500,000 soon after, and later donated an additional million to meet the escalating construction costs.

In the end, Josie and Bob Abplanalp had given the school nothing short of a future.  For this, Fordham Prep will be forever grateful.

Throughout the 1970s, Josephine did more than lend her support to the Prep, she also lent her time and talent. She served on the Board of Trustees from 1977 through 1983, as her husband had before her. Moreover, as her nickname during the ’70s suggests — "The First Lady of Fordham Prep" — Josie Abplanalp was generous to the Prep with her hospitality as well, often hosting events at various venues or even in her own home to help the school in its time of need.

And finally, from September of 1971 through June of 1975, there was one more capacity in which Josephine participated in school life — as a Prep parent. She was very involved with the Mothers’ Club, even serving as vice president during her son, John's, Shea Hall years.

Besides Fordham Prep, Josephine and Robert were generous contributors to many other organizations, including their daughter’s high school, the Ursuline School in New Rochelle, New York; the Sabin Vaccine Institute; and Josie’s alma mater, the University of New England. In appreciation, UNE dedicated the Josephine S. Abplanalp ’45 Library on their Westbrook Campus, the campus where Josie herself had studied.

Together, Josephine and Robert were inducted into the Order of the Knights of Malta and Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in recognition of their unstinting support of many Catholic charities.

An extraordinary woman with an undimmable spirit, Josephine truly lived a remarkable life: she attended two presidential Inaugural Balls in Washington. DC and slept in the White House twice; she was in the stands to cheer on the United State’s Olympic hockey team as they beat the Soviet Union in what is now known as the “Miracle on Ice;" and she met with two popes, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. But for all her experiences and accomplishments, she always considered being the mother of her children and the grandmother of four — who called her "Mimi" — to be her greatest adventures.

Josie's beloved Bob would pass away in 2003.  She would carry on their legacy of philanthropy and engaged generosity for the next two decades before joining him in Eternity on August 25, 2023, having resided in Bronxville in the same home to which she and Bob returned from their honeymoon until the end of her days.

Now and always, Josephine Sloboda Abplanalp’s memory will be kept and honored at Rose Hill, here at the school she helped save: a true Fordham Prep legend.