Category Archives: Local Life

A look, in photos, of latest area events, local everyday people and places.

Local Life

Retro Rumson Pier Summer Sunning Daze

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Sunning with the Oceanic Bridge as a backdrop Photo/courtesy of Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca
Sunning with the Oceanic Bridge as a backdrop
Photo/courtesy of Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca

A classic reprise in honor of those summer days down by the river. Some things never change, except maybe swimwear …

Yes, summertime is here. And the livin’ is always easy down by the river. The sunning outfits may have changed over time, but the daydreaming state of mind has always stayed the same. After all, some Rumson river time is something to dream about. The reality is even more dreamy. And it shows in this snapshot back in time to about 85 years ago.

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Local Life

Retro Having a ’90s Field Day at Knollwood

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A field day for Knollwood kids in the late 1990s
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

It’s half past field day time in Fair Haven schools! A reprise in honor of a traditional prequel to summertime for Fair Haven kids …

Once upon a time, in those school days right before summer, when Knollwood School kids gathered on Sportsman’s Field for, well, some Field Day fun, let’s just say it was a bit hard to keep them focused.

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Local Life

Looking Back at Iconic RFH Metal Shop Teacher Bob Carter Through the Rosiest of Goggles

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“Happiness lies not in doing what you like to do, but in liking what you have to do.”

That was the motto of longtime RFH metal shop teacher, Bob Carter, in his happy life that was “lived with passion,” his daughter Alison said. And for a bunch of RFH teens who had to go to school, Bob Carter gave them a creative, hands-on something to like a lot while drudging through the sometime doldrums in the “have-to-do” academics of RFH.

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Local Life

Retro RFH Weekend Warriors

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RFH girls of the 80s party time
Photo/courtesy of Leslie Field Bell

Cheers to the spring sun, fun and RFH alum weekend warrior times!

Yes, there’s nothing quite like a toast to warmer times retro RFH-style! The spring sun is finally out, things are warming up to a summertime temperature and it’s time for a time honored party — or at least a partying spirit.

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Local Life

Retro Stokes Tripping

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A trip back in time to Stokes State Forrest with the sixth graders of Knollwood in the early 1970s. Photo/Peter Mauger
A trip back in time to Stokes State Forrest with the sixth graders of Knollwood in the early 1970s.
Photo/Peter Mauger

Post-Memorial Day week is what used to be a longtime tradition of Fair Haven sixth graders taking that trip to Stokes State Forrest. The time of the year has since been switched to fall. So, in honor of the original timing of this rite-of-passage trip to Stokes, we, again, invite you to take a trip back with us. Remember?

It’s that time of the year when Fair Haven schools tradition used to take hold and all good Knollwood sixth graders packed it in and went on their trip to Stokes State Forrest. The buses rolled out of town right after Memorial Day. It’s now been more than 50 years’ worth of Stokes adventuring. Wow.

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Local Life

Retro River Rats’ Rite of Summer Passage

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A 1976 River Rats crew Photo/courtesy Marc Edelman, Facebook

Call it a ratty reprise ode to summertime …

Summers in the Rumson-Fair Haven area are rife with river-oriented activities that have become tradition.

River Rats’ sailing “camp” is no exception. OK, nobody was camping per se. It was more like a little club. Still is. In fact, it’s that time of the year when kids start signing up for summer River Rats fun. In fact, it’s that time — to sign up for the Rats season.

It’s been a sort of rite of living on the Navesink passage for decades — since 1955. Kids learn how to boat and do a lot of summer fun bonding in the process.

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Local Life

Retro Rumson Eighth Graders’ Memorial Day

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Rumson Boy Scouts at Memorial Day service circa early 1970s
Photo/George Day

It’s been a Memorial Day of the traditional kind in the Rumson-Fair Haven area. The day was kicked off by parades in Rumson and Fair Haven and solemn services at Victory and Memorial parks, bringing people in the communities together to remember. Groups, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, honoring those who sacrificed their lives in service to the country, is the usual visual.

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