RFH guys spread winter cheer circa 1970s Photo/courtesy of George Day
Raise your plastic cups and party on! It’s time for a little chill and retro toast to the impending weekend of breaking out of all the snow and taking the snap out of the cold snap with the warmth of some RFH guys of the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Snow day fun for RFHers in the 1970s. Photo/George Day
Snowy days — or, rather, snow avalanche of late — bring back memories of winters past and how RFHers of yesteryear found some simple fun pretty fast when the school bell didn’t ring … or it did, but there was an escape to a thrill of a hill.
Mary Gagliardi, “a treasured soul known for her loving nature and friendly demeanor,” passed away on February 20, 2026, at the age of 88. Her final days were spent in Rumson, where she passed, surrounded by the love and warmth of her family.
Sally Van Develde at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair in 1969.
Sally Van Develde and Mary Farley
Our annual reprise honoring the inspiration for R-FH Retro — my mom, Sally Van Develde — on what would have been her 103rd birthday. A birthday wish … Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom. You remain in the hearts of so many … Besides, I won’t let them forget.
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?” ~ Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
For the love of home and a Fair Haven mom … that’s right.
Sometimes a birthday without her is about lighting the candles, making the wish, sustaining the simple legacy of going home, staying home with my mom, Sally Van Develde.
Today would have been her 102nd birthday. If she had lived to blow out all those candles on her cake, I wondered what she would have done. What her wish would have been.
Longtime Rumsonite Diane Merrall Dey, 95, more recently of Atlantic Highlands, “received her angel wings on Saturday evening, Feb. 7. She departed peacefully at home, in the presence of her loving daughter, Merrall, while the Commendation of the Dying was invoked by Father Hank Hilton.”
The following is a reprise of our Old News column, originally posted on Jan. 30, 2024, about the Fair Haven Fire Department’s Spaghetti Dinner, because tonight’s the night for the longtime annual tradition. Mangia!
A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 years in state prison for the 2024 fatal shooting of a man, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Thursday.
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