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Of the mindset that in spite of the pandemic, the show must go on, the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players are taking the spring musical off the auditorium stage and to the outdoors.
The musical they’re taking to the outdoor stage is Emma! A Pop Musical.
Continue reading Taking RFH Tower Players’ Spring Show Outside
With the arrival of spring, beach days are becoming that beacon at the end of a dark pandemic winter tunnel.
Continue reading Focus: Spring Beach DazeOn the second Easter without an egg hunt, we offer a look back at some classic egg hunt moments in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.
Sea Bright had its beach egg hunt this year. We didn’t realize. But, the pre-pandemic look back offers some classic snapshots in the moment a few years ago. Rumson’s egg hunt moments offer a grassier picture and a different hunt perspective.
Enjoy the eggcellent captures (couldn’t resist)! See you all on the egg hunt battleground next year!
— Photos/Elaine Van Develde, exclusively for R-FH Retro
Batter up! With the advent of baseball season and the rebirth of all things in spring, it’s only fitting that there’s a reprise of a look back at the RFH boys of baseball in the dugout.
The view from another vantage point is classic.
Continue reading Retro RFH Boys of Baseball
It’s always good to get a leg up on brighter days, especially when it involves a simple riverside adventure, a friendly hand from a childhood friend.
The picture says it all.
Soaking up the sun on the horizon is more than symbolic these days. Basking in it all at an iconic spot down by the Navesink River at Barnacle Bill’s in Rumson is, well, tradition. But it’s more poignant than ever as we begin to head out of pandemic darkness and into the light. Better weather ushers that better view into a fuzzy warm focus.
Looking to the bright side of spring …
Continue reading Focus: Riverfront Sunny Side Leg Up
“Consider yourself at home. Consider yourself one of the family. We’ve taken to you so strong …”
The line in the song from Oliver! captures the tenor of the actors’ bond in community theater. And it couldn’t be better encapsulated than in a photo of the cast of Oliver at the iconic Barn Theater in Rumson in 1972.
Continue reading Retro ‘Oliver!’ Show Time at The Barn Theater
This was the year without a KDM Fun Run.
Continue reading Retro Look At RFH’s KDM Fun RunnersSpring is officially in the air and budding up all over in Fair Haven — from home to the Navesink riverfront and in between.
Take a look at some of the scenery. (And click to enlarge and scroll!) Enjoy! Ahhhhhhh …
Hats on to old RFH friends!
Continue reading Retro RFH Girls’ Hats On & Cheers MomentWell, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. And this year is the year without a parade to usher in the day.
So, on the year without a Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade, we offer a glimpse back at some favorite parade moments over the past few years.
Cheers! Here’s to the next parade passing by all!
“When you get that beat, you gotta
George Giffin in 2012 at 83 (or so, as he said)
move your feet!”
Move their feet to the beat of a George Giffin Memorial Fund is exactly what Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) alumni, in partnership with high school’s Education Foundation, have done. The foundation was created to honor and advance the passions of the iconic longtime RFH biology and dance teacher.
George, or “Giff,” as his students affectionately called him, garnered iconic status in his 35 years, from 1956 to 1991, at RFH. The Class of 1991, the last class for which Giff taught, dedicated its senior yearbook to him.
For a stint during his RFH tenure, Giff served as chairman of the high school’s Science Department. He also taught an elective ballroom dance class at RFH that quickly became a must and was known to keep students on their toes, dancing with class in any social setting. Post high school, Giff showed up at many an RFH reunion or wedding to get the dance party started and going all night. If you saw him around the towns in his retired years, he’d gladly tell you all about the joy that dancing in and out of those high school years gave him. And he wasn’t alone. For RFH alumni, a dancing Giff appearance always made the celebration complete at any event.
For that reason, the money raised for the new George Giffin Memorial Fund will be used to support RFH programs for which Giff held a deep commitment — those with which he aimed to empower students at RFH to achieve their goals and develop a true love of learning and living.
Remembered by countless students for his quirky, enigmatic personality, Giff was known to pepper his lessons with a lot of laughter, cheer, soft-shoe steps and jokes in and out of the classroom.
In addition to teaching, Giff was, at different times, both the girls’ and boys’ basketball coach as well as the RFH Golf Team coach. Known as always the fearless pioneer, while looking for an opportunity decades ago for girls to be more involved in school activities, Giff created and directed the RFH Girls’ Drill Team.
The girls on the team practiced twirling rifles Giff-choreographed routines at football halftimes. At one time, the team was comprised of 100 girls; and, in addition to football game performances, marched, for years, in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC.
Word among RFH alumni spread recently when members of the RFH Class of 1973 spearheaded the effort to create the memorial fund in Giff’s honor.
“We had many outstanding teachers at RFH,” said Class of ’73 grad Bill Davidson. “Mr. Giffin was not only an outstanding teacher but an energetic, spirited, and talented individual who was admired and remembered by so many.
“Giff taught students over four decades which saw so much change but he never lost his ability to connect with students over those years! He was a gift!”
Classmate Cindy Sherman elaborated, saying, “George Giffin saw something in me that I did not see in myself … for that, I am forever grateful.”
Along with Davidson and Sherman, Steve Farely and Ellen Spears comprise the four-member Steering Committee for the Fund.
“The Foundation is honored to help RFH alumni recognize Mr. Giffin through the establishment of the George Giffin Memorial Fund,” RFH Foundation Board President Mary Pat Moriarty said. “During Mr. Giffin’s years of service as an educator, he encouraged and supported countless RFH students. Today, thanks to the generosity of the alumni, family and friends he inspired, he will impact a new generation of RFH students for years to come by creating opportunities for academic enrichment through the grants funded
in his memory.”
The RFH Education Foundation, a charitable organization with the mission of enriching the high school curriculum by funding projects and grants that fall outside of the school system’s mainstream budget.
George Giffin died in 2014 at the age of 85. He was a longtime Fair Haven resident. His wife, Marcia, a former Knollwood School English teacher, still lives in Fair Haven. Prior to his time at RFH, he served as a captain with the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War. A 1951 graduate of Colby College in Waterville, ME, he earned a master’s degree from Colby as well as from the University of Vermont.
Outside of the RFH halls and grounds, Giff was an active member of various local religious, social and charitable groups. He was a founder of the Fair Haven Fields Committee and the director of the Fair Haven Recreation Commission for several years.
To donate to the fund campaign starting on April 1 (no joke), visit the RFH Education Foundations’ website.
— Elaine Van Develde & RFH press release information
The Rumson-Fair Haven area has been cold-snapped out of spring fever.
After a little seedling bloom of spring weather last week, the forecast for this week put a bit of a chill and flash of hazard back into the outlook. And it looks like temperatures will only reach a highs in the 40s with chances of rain in the mix.
Continue reading Focus: River Walk View & Red Flag Weather
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