It was a day to pay homage to the rivers.
Clean Ocean Action (COA) and the Rumson Environmental Commission (Rumson EC) hosted the 3rd Annual Rally for the Two Rivers Eco-Fest at Victory Park in Rumson on Saturday.
Continue reading Focus: Rallying for River Health in Rumson
It never gets old, or cold, for that matter — a little time down by the Navesink River in Rumson. It warms the soul.
And when the sun shines, a certain glow is cast over a familiar waterfront scene that can only be described as a locals’ utopia. River time is golden, enduring. The image, the mindset, the enveloping warmth come together in a snapshot that is a forever best friend — always there, always smiling at you, for you, with you. Nothing but bright, pristine sunshine.
Focus on the soothing snapshot (click on one to enlarge and scroll), as some stormy weather lies ahead …
Continue reading Focus: Sunny Daze River TimeNative Rumsonite Rose Marie Lukeman passed away on the morning of May 12. She was 95.
Rose was born to native Southern Italians Louis and Lucia (Sorrentino) Lazaro on March 30, 1926, in Rumson.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Native Rumsonite Rose Lukeman, 95
There’s nothing quite like a sighting of a pretty famous (around these Rumson-Fair Haven parts, anyway) 86-year-old dad doing dad stuff for his daughter “the right way” — just like a dad.
Continue reading Scene Around: Iconic Dad Knows Best
Quality river time. It’s a rite of passage for any Rumson-Fair Haven area kid.
When the spring air hits, the banks of the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers call to kids like mythological Sirens. And they borough themselves in the sand and tides like hermit crabs.
Some are River Rats learning the sailing ropes. Some kayakers. Some canoe. Some are dock jumpers (don’t tell). Some are strollers, loungers and observers. And some are just happy to hitch a ride with that tide.
In this case, the boat hitching tykes date back to the 1960s in Fair Haven. It’s the Drake family … and friends … and family. One thing’s for sure. This is evidence of the well-known fact that the love of the river time doesn’t change with age. And for those Rumson- and Fair Haven-raised kids, the river always beckons them home. The Drakes always find their way home.
The irreplaceable river love started for most anyone from the area with a millions of moments like this.
Just what they were up to in going with that 1960s tide is a mystery. Crabbing? Taking a dive? Dropping a paddle? Wait. No topsiders? There’s an unmistakeable mischievous look of pure happiness going on here.
It’s pretty typical of the R-FH area kid doing that cherished river adventure or misadventure.
Your favorite river misadventure? Ever capsize and come up flush with jellyfish and seaweed? How about a picnic gone awry? Doritos for the birds? Do tell.
See ya down by the river …
And thanks to Robin Drake Fitch for this classic look back!
They were all pumped up with somewhere to go. Where? No one was sure. Ride on!
Continue reading Pumped Up in the ’70s: A Retro RFH Guys’ Ride“‘Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow …” Danny Boy
“Dan loved his family, he loved his friends, he loved his work — Dan loved life.“
Loved ones of Dan Grady
Friends called them The Grady Bunch: A passel of six affable Rumson- and Fair Haven-raised kids, all graduates of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. The bunch was headed by patriarch Daniel “Dan” Richard Grady.
Surrounded by his children, the longtime former Rumson and Fair Haven dad passed away on March 9 at his Florida home. He was 86.
The popular dad was laid to rest today, April 14, what would have been his 87th birthday.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Longtime Rumsonite, ‘Grady Bunch’ Dad, Daniel Grady, 86
“And now, our Dennis dances with the angels.”
Loved ones of Dennis Patrick Lynch
Longtime Rumsonite Dennis Patrick Lynch entered into his eternal life on April 10. He was 80.
The former Borough councilman, Rumson Country Day School Board vice chair, volunteer, consummate businessman and tennis player was known to
“practice what he preached.
He saw the good in every person, and was the gentle, self-effacing one so many sought out for counsel; his patience, understanding, and supportiveness were incomparable
Loved ones of Dennis Lynch in his obituary
(as was his wit!).
Dennis enjoyed the game of Bridge and earned the ACBL rank of ‘regional master.’ His taste in music was eclectic, and he was everyone’s favorite dance partner,
especially his wife’s.”
Longtime singles and doubles champion of the Seabright Lawn Tennis & Cricket Club, he served as its president and was recently named an honorary member. In 2000, the Asbury Park Press voted him second best player in the history of Jersey Shore tennis.
Dennis served on the Board of the Navesink House (now The Atrium CCRC) and was vice chair of the Rumson Country Day School Board. He also headed the investment sub-committee of the Meridian Health Group after years on the Riverview Medical Center Foundation.
In addition, Dennis served on the Yale Advisory Committee, and was named a Sterling Fellow. A longstanding member of the Racquet and Tennis Club of N.Y., Dennis was also a member of the Sea Bright Beach Club and Rumson Country Club.
More about Dennis Patrick Lynch …
Born in Jersey City, Dennis was a son of Thomas E. Lynch and Mary Doust Lynch. A longtime resident of Rumson, he was a graduate of Red Bank Catholic High School. After spending a postgraduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy, Dennis earned a B.A. from Yale College in l964.
Upon completion of his service in the Coast Guard, Dennis married his former classmate, Ann Marie Blades, his “best friend for life.”
The newlyweds moved to Philadelphia where Dennis studied for his M.B.A. at Penn’s Wharton School, majoring in finance.
He became a V.P. at Smith, Barney & Co. before cofounding the investment advisory firm of Lynch and Mayer, Inc., N.Y.C., in 1976. For 20 years, L & M ranked nationally in the top quintile of large-cap investment managers. Early retirement years were partly spent in Hanover, N.H., and Essex, CT.
Throughout his school years and thereafter, Dennis pursued an outstanding athletic career, distinguishing himself on both the basketball and tennis courts.
A member of the 1962 Yale Ivy League Basketball Championship Team, Dennis was named an All-Ivy Player in 1963 and 1964, was point guard for the Navy and All-Service Teams in 1965, and was drafted by the N.Y. Knickerbockers.
Dennis was also captain of the 1964 Yale Tennis Team and of the Yale-Harvard Team that played Oxford-Cambridge in the Prentice Cup matches of that year.
He was a decades-long parishioner of Holy Cross Church in Rumson.
Dennis is predeceased by: his brother, Thomas E. Lynch, Jr.; and sister, Maureen Lynch.
Dennis is survived by: his loving wife, Ann Marie; his devoted children, Kathy L. Hale (Jon), Dennis P. Lynch, Jr. (Marshall), William T. Lynch, and Nora A. Lynch; his brother, Vincent; his grandchildren, Ted and Nick Hale, Eleanor and Coley Lynch; nieces, Perri Howard and Meghan Lynch; nephew, Nick Lynch; and several close cousins.
A mass of christian burial and a celebration of Dennis’s life will be held in July.
Donations in his name may be made to the Sisters of Mercy of NJ, Red Bank Catholic H.S. and the SLTCC Landmark Preservation Friends.
— Edited obituary provided by family to Thompson Memorial Home
It’s always good to get a leg up on brighter days, especially when it involves a simple riverside adventure, a friendly hand from a childhood friend.
The picture says it all.
Soaking up the sun on the horizon is more than symbolic these days. Basking in it all at an iconic spot down by the Navesink River at Barnacle Bill’s in Rumson is, well, tradition. But it’s more poignant than ever as we begin to head out of pandemic darkness and into the light. Better weather ushers that better view into a fuzzy warm focus.
Looking to the bright side of spring …
Continue reading Focus: Riverfront Sunny Side Leg Up
“Consider yourself at home. Consider yourself one of the family. We’ve taken to you so strong …”
The line in the song from Oliver! captures the tenor of the actors’ bond in community theater. And it couldn’t be better encapsulated than in a photo of the cast of Oliver at the iconic Barn Theater in Rumson in 1972.
Continue reading Retro ‘Oliver!’ Show Time at The Barn TheaterLongtime Rumsonite Paul Fuller Timolat died peacefully at home on March 23. He was 74.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Longtime Rumsonite Paul Fuller Timolat, 74“He was a great man, and a humble man … His hearty laughter at a good story or joke, his warm-hearted and frequent expressions of love and support for all of us, his kindness to people from all walks of life, and his keen intellect and insight will be missed, while memories of him live on.”
Nan Hughes Poole, Mark Hughes Jr.’s daughter
Memories. Moments. They’re what live on after we’re gone — what takes on a life of its own, indelibly etched in the minds of future generations. Legacy. There are so very many of those moments, those memories that many could call to mind as they put on their best bowtie and tip their hat to all that comprise the legacy left by longtime Rumsonite Mark F. Hughes Jr..
The husband, dad, grandfather, lawyer and rarest of gems among gentleman died on March 10, just four days shy of his 90th birthday. He and his wife, Marie H. “Mimi” Hughes, a longtime Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) English teacher, lived in Rumson for more than 55 years. They raised their four children there, in their home right across the street from the high school. They welcomed many into the Hughes home, like family, with open hearts and a voracious interest in the passions of all they met and cared to know better.
Anyone who has crossed the Hughes home threshold or been on stage with one or many has a story to tell. One of patriarch Mark, always the gentile Mr. Hughes to me, stands out in my mind. It tells his legacy tale in a mind’s snapshot. It’s a little lost-and-found snippet of a dad and grandfather steeped in a moment that had become tradition — a generational one to be carried on for lifetimes.
In my mind’s eye, a locked frame-freeze cache, it remains …
“Somehow, we’ve lost Dad,” said a content, grinning Paul Hughes, Mark’s son and my longtime friend, at closing day of an RFH show. Decades before, it was we who were at the RFH auditorium, mingling, crying over the ending, collecting accolades and bouquets. “He got caught up chatting with people and he’s still at the high school somewhere. Somehow, he got left behind. Gotta go find him.”
Continue reading Mark F. Hughes Jr.: Legacy of a Rumson Dad
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