Category Archives: Opinion

Editorials, letters to the editor and other articles reflecting on iconic people, places and traditions related to them in the area.

Local Life, Opinion

Retro RFH Graduation: The Daisy Chain Girl

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RFH 1978 graduation in front of the high school, replete with daisy chain
Photo/Daryl Cooper Ley

The following was originally posted in May of 2017. It is being re-run in honor of graduation, time honored traditions of the past, and this RFH Daisy Chain girl of ’78, who passed away in February of 2018 — Daryl Cooper Ley.

In high school social circles, it was considered a popularity status symbol to be chosen for the chain. Daryl wasn’t all too thrilled about it at the time. It had confirmed what only her closest friends knew — that she was cool. It was often repeated to her. “I didn’t think so,” was always her answer. Sorry, Dar. We win. Got the last word. You were. RIP, Dar. You are remembered … in our hearts, souls and print, like it or not! Love you forever more. Oh, she would kill me …

It was considered a privilege and honor. They were chosen from the junior class at RFH to serve as the debutante-like ushers for the graduating class. All dressed in white and supposedly gracefully toting a chain of daisies, the Daisy Chain girls were a fixture of high school finery at graduations in the 1970s.

The origins of the somewhat upper-crust tradition date back to the 1900s, but this Retro Pic of the Day was snapped in 1978.

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Local Life, Opinion

Cheers to the Grand Daddies of the R-FH Area

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It’s Father’s Day.

And, we at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect are of the mind that the day was really about much more than flipping a burger and patting a good ol’ dad on the back.

It’s bigger than that. It goes way beyond your own dad’s back yard and a grilling or two.

Growing up in a small-town niche like the Rumson-Fair Haven area carries with it that family tie feeling. Some of us were fortunate enough to have great dads. Some not.

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro RFH Buds and Bridge Messaging

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There’s nothing like a best buddy — or a few best buds. There was also nothing like the combination of best friends and the iconic bridge that was a leftover statue or cement billboard of sorts from the McCarter estate in Rumson.

So, to pay tribute to both buds and the bridge, the Retro Pic of the Day offers a glimpse of both in milestone moments of friends paying homage to one another by painting the bridge way back in time.

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Obituaries, Opinion

Ruth Blaser’s Fair Haven Mic Drop: Soaring with the Principles of an Iconic Dragon Gadfly

We are gathered here today … in gratitude for a Fair Haven gadfly. Mic drop.

Gadfly. It’s a caricature of those governing body meeting regulars, the characters who persists in challenging authority or the status quo, holding officials accountable, prompting change or even self-reflection. Gadfly. It’s not the true menace it sounds like. In fact, there’s a lot of beauty in a gadfly. Call it a dragon gadfly — a colorful, principled mosquito eater, ridding the environment to which it always returns of welt-wielding pestilence.

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Local Life, Opinion

Remembering R-FH Area Mamas’ Legacies

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It’s Mother’s Day weekend.

And, we at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect are thinking, the day should not just be one in which kids dutifully pay attention to the woman who pretty much, well, twisted her heart up and spit it out to ride a Big Wheel at 100 miles per hour with no helmet. OK, so that was a tad dramatic.

But, it’s not really just for all that jazz — though, it is important jazz. It should be about moms celebrating one another, especially to learn a little bit about one another’s roots in a tight-knit community such as the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

There are so many women in this area who served as unbreakable bricks in the foundation that is this community now. It goes back may generations. We are thankful for those women of all different motherly types — yes, different. Each unique and special in her own way. Each contributing in her own way. Each leaving her indelible fingerprint on many here, through generations.

You see, the strong community foundation that brought us all here is not about a number and a few borrowed phony promotional words — real estate value, flipping and the lingo concocted to make the sale.

The sale was made long ago and the value was tucked away in the hearts of some of these moms who were here when it all started, caring for one another through their community.

It’s about lifeblood — the lifeblood of, in this case, matriarchs who have bequested a legacy of true love.

They put the coffee on. Who’s bringing the crumb cake? Yes, crumb cake. When it comes to community, you can indulge in the simple a little to keep it very sweet.

Take a look at our slideshow and photos of some area moms from the past and present. Some are still with us. Some are not. But, they are remembered for their own contributions to one another and laying bricks in the foundation that is the Rumson-Fair Haven area. If  you have a photo you’d like to add, of a mom from the past, email it to us at evd@rfhretro and we will include it in a gallery.

Local Life, Opinion

Celebrating Frankie’s Fair Haven Legacy of Luck and Smiles

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I could still see him. I believe everyone could. He was standing right up front in the far corner of the packed room. He could see it all from there. And, boy, was he smiling. Head tilted back a bit, to take it all in as best he could, his iconic smile spoke a thousand “How lucky we were” words. The rapturous sigh that emanated from his grin filled the room with his legacy of home-grown love.

I could see him add a wink this time as he read the room. The room, in a still-the-same Columbus Club corner nook on the street where we kids biked down the hill to school, was packed with those kids from his Fair Haven childhood.

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Local Life, Opinion

Old News: The Truth About Being the Easter Bunny

Ahhhhh, the Easter Bunny … the tradition, the joy, the mystery, and, yes, the horror.

There’s a lot more to the symbolically giant fluffy rodent with cartoon eyes in a fixed freaky stare and a head the size of one of the small children he visits on Easter. For instance, his head pops off. It’s also a sweaty death trap. Those are facts, people. I know. I was the Easter Bunny quite a few times.

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Local Life, Opinion

Retro Forrestdale Basketball Slam Dunk

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A 1970s RFH basketball moment Photo/George Day
A 1970s RFH basketball moment
Photo/George Day

It’s basketball season these school days, and a particularly winning one at RFH. So, we’re bringing this up again …

It’s no secret that RFH has had some slam dunk success with the sport. So has Rumson’s Forrestdale School. 

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Local Life, Opinion

A Birthday Wish: Going Back Home with Mom

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  • 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.

Keep Local News homegrown in Sally’s HONOR. Donate coffee.
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