In Memorium: Former Fair Havenite, RFH Grad Bill Havens, 56

“St. Francis of Assisi once wrote, ‘He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

Bill’s legacy, besides the ideal that being covered in sawdust is the best way to be, is that no matter what, do everything you do with heart. Bill, your heart made this world a better place, and will continue to do so through all of the people you touched over the years. Rest in the sweetest of peace.”

Bill Havens
Photo/family via Thompson Memorial Home

That is how the loved ones of former Fair Havenite and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) graduate William B. “Bill” Havens want him to be remembered. The 56-year-old woodworker, husband, father and friend passed away suddenly on April 9 at Riverview Medical Center.

Born in Plainfield, the son of June Lindland Havens and the late Richard Havens, Bill was raised in Fair Haven. He later lived for many years in Little Silver, prior to moving to Shrewsbury in 2013.

“The life of this gentle giant is not ended by this obituary, but rather it is the hope that all reading this get a glimpse into some of the reasons that made Bill so special and why he will surely live on in the hearts and in the actions of so many,” his loved ones said in his obituary.

Known as a caring, compassionate “people person” with a great sense of humor, Bill was known to forge and hold dear many connections in his lifetime, offering support “anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

Local outings with Bill were known to last longer than usual, because he knew or got to know most people wherever he went.

And his love of community and people showed in the flood of condolence messages on social media when news of the loss hit.

“A true rare man both as a craftsman and a person,” RFH grad Jim Brickle said. “A very sad loss.”

“What a shame!” said Scott Gilbert. “Bill was such a nice guy and great athlete! Rest easy!”

“Bill was such a nice guy, this is so heartbreaking,” said former Fair Havenite and RFH grad Jill Sorrentino.

“Such a great guy lost way too soon,” said Chris McKissock. “Bill and I went to grade school together in Fair Haven NJ growing up. I had no idea of his woodworking abilities until so many years later when I ran into him. He always struck me as very smart and always approachable. He could hang out with anyone. He was a good friend.”

After graduating from RFH, Bill went on to study at Elizabethtown College where he played baseball and soccer. An outstanding athlete from when he was a child, Bill was an accomplished pitcher.

His love of sports endured. A proud New York Mets and New York Jets fan, he played softball for many years with the Little Silver Crocs and participated in the Seaside Polar Bear Plunge each year to help benefit Special Olympics. “Bill also was a fan of any type of new, exotic sports car and surely there was a new Porsche waiting for him as he crossed the gates into heaven,” his obituary said.

While he treasured friends and loved connecting in his community, Bill’s first love was his family.

At the age of 20, Bill got a job at Little Silver Family Pharmacy. It was there that he met his future wife, Leslie Nelson. They married on March 18, 1989 at Tower Hill Presbyterian Church in Red Bank.

The couple raised their daughters, the “apples of their Dad’s eyes,” and Bill coached them in the Little Silver Rec Softball League and “was there for every event and function one could think of. He taught them to use every tool possible and change a tire on the fly.”

While Bill’s love of family came first, woodworking was a deep love of his as well. A master woodworker, Bill was admired as a true artist and was known to tell people, “If you can dream it, I can build it.” And build he did. For many years he was the owner and operator of Havens Fine Woodwork where he created many custom and varied pieces of furniture, trim, and basically anything his customers could dream of. He also worked for many years at Custom Woodwork, Red Bank, NJ and Dykes Lumber Yard, Aberdeen, NJ.

In addition to his father, Bill was preceded in death by a brother, Gary Havens.

Surviving are: his wife, Leslie J. Nelson Havens; his daughters, Rebecca and Samantha Havens; his mother, June Havens; two sisters and brothers-in-law, Dawne and Mark Dragonetti, and Jill and Mark Lyasko; his sisters-in-law and brother-in-law, Debbie and William Lamberson, and Carole Costell; his aunts, Gail Wilson and Ruth Havens; his nieces and nephews, Greg, Julianna, Bryan, Justin, and Tara; his great nephews, Shawn and James; his faithful puppies, Cooper and Riley; several extended family; and many dear friends.

Given the current gathering restrictions in place in New Jersey, a public service is being planned at a later date under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ 08822. Click here for updated service information. Information will not be available until pandemic restrictions are lifted.

A private family visitation at Thompson Memorial Home followed by burial at Fair View Cemetery, Middletown, took place under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Flemington.

Please visit Bill’s permanent memorial site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a memorial candle, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of his life.

Those who wish to make a memorial contribution to honor Bill’s life are asked to do so to the Seaside Polar Bear Plunge via ‘In Memory Of’ donations. For those who wish to make a contribution via mail, please make checks payable to ‘In Memory Of’ and mail to P.O. Box 5472, Charlottesville, VA 22905. Kindly note ‘Bill Havens’ in the memo.

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Retro RFH View From the Baseball Sidelines

Well, it’s pretty clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has struck out baseball at RFH and everywhere else this season.

Waiting for their time at bat to knock it out of the park, dugout time can prove quite pensive. Sitting it out. Coming off the field victorious or slammed. Whatever the reason for the time in the dugout, it was still time spent with the team.

These days, though, even being benched is a solitary event. So, as the RFH baseball players of today sit out the game separated, quarantined during an unprecedented time that they’ll no doubt get together and talk about at their reunions, we offer a look back to RFH baseball of the 1970s and another view from the dugout of a team deep in thought.

Looks like one of these players is bothered by something. Can anyone guess what? Who are these guys?

Thanks, once again, to the fabulous George Day for this look back in RFH time!

In Memorium: Longtime Rumsonite, RFH Grad, Actor, Hal Holst, 66

The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) alumnus community with the death from complications of the virus of RFH Class of ’72 graduate and community theater actor Hal Holst on April 2.

Continue reading In Memorium: Longtime Rumsonite, RFH Grad, Actor, Hal Holst, 66

NJ State Police: Rumson ‘Corona Party’ Most ‘Blatant’ Flouting of Law

Of the previous week’s seven infractions of the statewide stay-at-home edict during the COVID-19 pandemic that were cited on Sunday by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Saturday’s Rumson party was honed in on as the most flagrant of defiances.

“Well, you don’t get much more blatant than the party crowd in Rumson that resisted and insulted police officers who asked them to disperse,” NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said in a released statement.

As social media comments ran rampant after Rumson police on Saturday night issued a statement about the party and the blatant defiance they were met with when they broke it up, announcing a zero tolerance policy moving forward, they followed that up on Sunday an announcement that the matter was under investigation and charges were pending.

Rumson Police Chief Scott Paterson is handling all inquiries and has been contacted by R-FH Retro. His comments will be included when they become available.

In the meantime, the Attorney General has announced that charges were filed in the incident against at least one person.

John Maldjian, 54, of Rumson, was charged today by the Rumson Police with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and two separate charges related to violating the emergency orders. All are disorderly persons offenses,” the release from the Attorney General said.

The charges are all disorderly persons offenses.

Maldjian is a musician and attorney, according to his Facebook page. Police, according to the release, were dispatched at 8:19 p.m. to respond to a large party on Blackpoint Road with a band.

“When they arrived, they discovered the homeowner, John Maldjian, together with another man, playing acoustic guitars on the front porch of the home. There were approximately 30 people, between the ages of 40 and 50, gathered on Maldjian’s front lawn and the adjoining street watching the performance. Some had lawn chairs and alcoholic beverages,” the release added.

The police cars’ flashing lights and requests to end the party were ignored. The band kept playing. Maldjian did not stop singing and playing until approached by an officer.

The crowd became unruly at this point, police said, and shouting curses at police and “Welcome to Nazi Germany.”

Charges against those unruly audience members/party attendees are “forthcoming,” the Attorney General said.

“The Governor’s executive orders are commonsense measures to keep people safe during this historic health crisis,” Attorney General Grewal said. “When people like the partiers in Rumson flout the orders and show disrespect and hostility to police officers, they not only put themselves and the others immediately involved in peril, they risk inciting others to engage in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior. Our police officers are working courageously every day to protect us all, and we will continue to charge anyone who violates the emergency orders, which literally are a matter of life and death.” 

The other statewide incidents cited included: 11 non-essential businesses in Newark being open; a woman arrested in Teaneck coughing and spitting on police while in custody, saying she had the virus; a Wegmans supermarket coughing incident; a dog groomer continuing to operate; a backyard gathering in Toms River; and someone bringing five youths from a youth shelter out to play basketball.

As of Sunday, there were 2,351 positive cases of COVID-19 in Monmouth County alone. In Rumson, the positive count is up to 21. In Fair Haven the count is up to 14. In Middletown, the largest municipality in the county, over the bridge from Rumson, the township has largest number of positive cases at 217 now.

Rumson Police Break Up ‘Corona Party,’ Reiterate No Tolerance Policy

UPDATE: From the Rumson Police Department the day after the party, March 5, 2020 …

“On behalf of Chief Scott Paterson, the Rumson Police Department has received some inquiries regarding the status of charging the people involved in party. The matter is presently under investigation by the Rumson Police Department and charges are pending. A post will be made once the subject(s) have been served with a criminal complaint.”

Lt. Christopher J. York

Mid-COVID-19 pandemic, Rumson police on Saturday night broke up a front lawn acoustic Pink Floyd concert party of about 30 people in their 40s and 50s.

The department issued a released statement about the party and its participants’ defiance of pandemic social distancing and disrespect and disregard for the state’s stay-at-home” edict. Authorities say they have a zero tolerance policy that will be adhered to stringently.

As of Friday, there were 19 Rumsonites who had tested positive for the virus. In Fair Haven there were 14. Close by, over the Oceanic Bridge, in Middletown, the largest municipality in Monmouth County, there were 156 positives, the largest number in the county.

Here’s what Rumson police had to say …

“This evening the Rumson Police Department received an unfortunate call about a group of 30 people on the front lawn of a house on Blackpoint Road near Wood Lane.

“When our patrols arrived we were met by a group of approx. 30 ’40-50′ year old ADULTS who were located in the middle of Blackpoint Road and on the front law attending an acoustic concert of Pink Floyd’s greatest hits. (Some even brought lawn chairs).

“The impromptu concert was performed by two guitarists equipped with microphones and amplifiers who were also broadcasting the concert via Facebook live. 

“When we informed everyone that they must leave — in accordance with Governor Murphy’s executive orders regarding these so called ‘corona-parties’ — we were met with well wishes of ‘F-the police’ and ‘Welcome to Nazi Germany’ from this group of 40-50 year old ADULTS. 

“As the old saying goes, in the midst of all this chaos, the band still played on, that is until they were advised in the middle of the 1975 classic Wish You Were Here, that they must stop the show. 

“Sadly I’m sure we all ‘wish we could be here,’ and the Rumson Police Department takes no enjoyment in ruining anyone’s fun! However we ALL have a responsibility to take this pandemic SERIOUSLY and adhere to the social distancing requirement. 

“We also need to be a good role model for our children and be kind and understanding during these times. 

“Please use this incident as a learning experience for everyone! If we have to respond to another ‘corona party’ we will be using a zero tolerance approach and everyone involved will be charged with Disorderly Conduct.

“We are all in this together and together we need to make smarter choices.”

Prosecutor: Death of Former Long Branch Mayor’s Wife Deemed Suicide

An early morning call reporting an unconscious and bleeding female at a residence on Norwood Avenue in Long Branch has been determined to be a suicide, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Continue reading Prosecutor: Death of Former Long Branch Mayor’s Wife Deemed Suicide

Prosecutor: Teens Charged in Attempted Murder of 20-Year-Old

Three young men are facing attempted murder and related charges in connection with the March shooting of a 20-year-old Eatontown man, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said on Friday.

Continue reading Prosecutor: Teens Charged in Attempted Murder of 20-Year-Old

Retro RFH Baseball Bench Time

Baseball season at RFH should be in full swing right now. COVID-19, instead, struck the season out and benched all high school players in the game.

They can’t get onto the field now and will likely miss the entire season due to the pandemic. Yes, they’re in a necessary, undeserving time out. Everyone is.

Continue reading Retro RFH Baseball Bench Time

Scene Around: Isolated View & Sobering COVID-19 Stats

The sun may have finally come out today, but the picture is a dank, grim one as far as soaring COVID-19 stats go for the state and area. It’s no April Fool’s joke. Solitude is the only thing that will squash the curve, state, county and local authorities repeat with veracity daily.

Continue reading Scene Around: Isolated View & Sobering COVID-19 Stats