NORTHAMPTON — A downtown fixture in both Northampton and Amherst for many years, Faces wasn’t just a boutique shop with eclectic merchandise, but served as a place to build community, according to the widow of its founder.
For Janet Gezork of Montague, whose husband Stephen Vogel died in 2023, the contributions the store made to the vitality of Amherst from 1971 to 1991 and Northampton from 1986 to 2019 included regular donations to numerous organizations.
“We have always given money to a large number of community groups,” Gezork said.
That same sentiment has driven Gezork over the many years she has given to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund, which she did again this year. Her three separate gifts this season honor the memories of her late spouse, her three brothers who have died, and a close friend and business associate and his wife who have also passed away.
“Giving to the Toy Fund is about continuing to contribute to the community, since that’s what we did with Faces,” Gezork said. “Giving to kids is a good way to do it. It doesn’t get much better than helping little kids.”
Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $65 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.
To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.
At one time, Faces had been a participating store. Gezork said she recalls that her husband was a creative, fun , competitive and interesting person, and she encouraged him to expand to Northampton almost 40 years ago, providing a presence on both sides of the river.
“He had a good vision for what would be hot in five years,” Gezork said
With respect to the Toy Fund, Gezork said when she started giving it was in memory of her brother, Jim, who died at 32 in a 1975 terrorist bombing at the Fraunces Restaurant in New York City.
Gezork said he was the star of the family, having attended Mount Herman School for Boys in Gill and then the Wharton School. Her brother was in Manhattan on a business trip for the Scott Paper Co. when the bomb exploded.
On the 50th anniversary of the Manhattan bombing on Jan. 24, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement honoring the memory of Gezork and the three other people killed that day.
Like her husband, others Gezork is paying tribute to this year battled cancer, including her brothers Tommy, who had lung cancer, and Peter, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma.
Her other contribution comes in memory of F. Austin and Jean Miller, who lived in Southampton and were a big part of her life. Austin Miller helped her at a time she was developing affordable and market-rate housing, like the Market Square mixed-use project in Northampton, and he was also a key person in the creation of the River Valley Co-op, which honors him annually with an award.
“These are all people who have been important to my life,” Gezork said. “People are important in my memory, and this is about giving back to the community in a small way.”
Gezork grew up in Newton, the daughter of Herbert and Ellen Gezork, and came to this area to attend the University of Massachusetts. While she has lived in Montague for 50 years, she said she is probably more familiar to people from her years of work on subsidized housing for low- and moderate-income housing in Northampton and beyond.
“I’m so fortunate to have had these people in my life,” Gezork said. “It’s just unfortunate they are all gone.”