Category Archives: Local Life

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

Local Life, Opinion

Retro Rumson Albertina Steam Ship Dock & Stroll

Albertina docked in Rumson circa 1920
Photo/collection of Loujeanne Cuje

There’s a Navesink River waterfront spot in Rumson that’s an iconic slice of waterborne travel history. More than a century ago, the vicinity was the site of flourishing happy-go-lucky times of transport and community. It was the site of the Rumson Dock where the famous Albertina steam ship made stops for commuting, community and entertainments’ sake.

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Local Life

Memorial Day Remembrance: R-FH Area Vets Who Have Passed

This remembrance for Memorial Day is posted every year … 

Their faces are the faces at the core of a close-knit community.

They were neighbors, dads, and just plain friendly faces around the Rumson-Fair Haven area towns. They were also veterans.

They served. They fought for freedom in World War II and the Korean War.

They lived their lives with hometown pride, honor and respect. They were founding fathers, friends. They were cornerstones of the sense of community that is the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

The gift of their legacies bears no upscale real estate market value. They passed along a love of country and community that is priceless.

Thank you, in a Memorial Day ode, to the veterans of the area who have passed. You are cherished, honored.

Take a look at some of their faces and remember.  Thank you to those vets who are still with us.

— Elaine Van Develde

— Ray Taylor photo/Elaine Van Develde for R-FH Retro exclusively

— Photos, courtesy of families of the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

Local Life

Scene Around: RFH Senior Pre-Prom Stylin’

Yes, they were all dressed up with a couple of places to go — a pre-prom party and the actual Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Senior Prom.

The proms of these days are not your ’60s, ’70s, ’80s or ’90s proms. And that makes sense, of course. These days, the pre-prom party is a show of its own. All the prom goers, with or without dates, and their families go to a host’s house to get their prom on sans any alcohol before the main event. The prom goers are even breathalyzed to ensure a safe, fun night.

This year the pre-prom party was at a home on Rumson Road. And, from what we hear and the looks of things, a banner time was had by all. Why not? All the elements of a good gathering were there: the place, the people, the mood and, of course, the fashion.

Speaking of fashion … The guys’ dress is a whole event unto itself this era. These days they sport anything from pretty formal to smart casual and pretty preppie shorts and dress sneakers, if there is such a thing — and there is. Gone are the days of polyester pastel tuxedoes with frilly shirts. Thank the fashion gods. Though, these guys sported an awful lot of preppie pastels. Very sharp and fitting for each boy’s personal taste and personality.

The girls? Well, they were fashionably gowned out and coiffed. Looks like long has remained fashion forward. In fact, it looks like red carpet time for these girls.

It’s been rolled out and rolled up. The party’s over, but the freeze frames remain. Until next year … Prom party on!

— Photos/Jenny Costello, Joanne Formisano and Chris Rodriguez

Local Life, Opinion

A Mother’s Day Salute to R-FH Area Moms Through the Generations

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Reprise! We’ve said it every year; and we’re saying it again this year …

Happy Mother’s Day to Rumson-Fair Haven area moms of the past and present!

You put the coffee on. You called for us when dinner was ready. You held on tight when we needed a hug. You wiped our dirty little faces, sopped up tears and runny noses. You were there, front and center, at many a school open house, game, play, concert and, yes, principal’s office visit.

You welcomed the neighborhood kids as if they were your own. You wrote all those notes to get us out of gym class (because some of us were clods). You shook your heads in disbelief over our antics and yelled our full names like a loving banshee when you were mad. You had our backs. You were just plain there — the unshifting foundation of a community through the years, building a legacy.

Thank you. We remember those who are gone and salute those who carry on …

— Elaine Van Develde

Photos/courtesy of Facebook friends

Local Life

Retro Appreciated RumsonTeachers’ Beach Tripping

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A Rumson Deane-Porter field trip to the beach with favorite teachers
Photo/Cindy Crowley

A must of a reprise from 2020 in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week …

There’s nothing like some fine elementary school teaching moments … at the beach … with ice cream … and cool teachers sporting cat-eye sunglasses and pedal pushers.

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro Knollwood Cool Kids’ Hangout

The cool kids of Fair Haven’s Knollwood School in 1974
Photo/courtesy of Debra Giffin Schluter

Get out! That’s what most school kids are likely wishing to do these dank spring days. And get out with the “in” crowd was always the cool thing to do before school back in the 1970s in Fair Haven.

Picture that. A picture is worth a thousand awkwardly cool moments in the memory of a middle school kid.

To a Fair Haven eighth grader of the 1970s, there was nothing cooler than being asked to hang out, before the bell rang, on the side of Knollwood School by the bushes with the clique of the coolest kids.

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