Living the Dream: A Tale of ‘Growing with Grace’ and Purple Magnificence

By Elaine Van Develde

How does your garden grow? Gracefully, some might say.

Grace. It’s a thing we feel we must have, say and do to make life go more smoothly. Say grace. Give grace. Have grace. Age with grace. Do it with grace. Why not grow with grace? Better yet, grow with Grace — with a capital G, that is.

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Prosecutor: Area Woman Charged with Murder, Related Charges in April Incident

An Ocean Township woman has been charged with murder stemming from the April death of a West Long Branch resident , Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Wednesday.

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Prosecutor: 32-Year-Old Fugitive in 2025 Murder Found, Jailed

A 32-year-old fugitive who was sought in connection with a September 2025 murder and attempted murder has been found in Pennsylvania and arrested, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced on Wednesday.

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Prosecutor: Area Teacher Charged with Repeated Sexual Assault of Student

An area teacher has been charged with several counts of sexual assault and child endangerment stemming from an alleged sexual relationship he had with a student at his school in several places, including Red Bank, Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Julia Alonso announced on Tuesday.

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Retro Rumson Island Mooring Improv

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale … about an eight-hour tour, or hundreds, on the river in Rumson.

The part about this typical eight-hour tour in Rumson that doesn’t jibe with the three-hour tour Gilligan’s Island folks is that the kids on these “tours” sailed right into a marooning of their own making on what’s known as Starvation Island, just minutes from home. Who knew or cared, though? No one except the jolly river adventurers.

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Retro Rumson Island Ploppers

A reprise of a real classic because it’s summertime and that means it’s island cruising time in the Rumson-Fair Haven area …

It’s a case of summer island plopping. Yes, that’s right. Island plopping.

That would be the more accurate term when telling the pretty common story of some Fair Haven and Rumson kids taking their own eight-hour tour of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers and ending up settling down for some adventure on Starvation Island in Rumson on pretty much any summer day.

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Retro Rumson Renegades in the Park

Kid congregation at Victory Park in the 1960s
Photo/courtesy of Ed Pomphrey, Rumson historical archives

It’s just plain campy! There’s nothing like a nice summer day replete with some bubble-blowing, power-posing, bathing suited, short-sporting kids on a mission to make some summer fun — at camp … or something like it.

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