George Giffin moving feet to the beat with RFH Drill team girls Photo/RFH Yearbook
A reprise originally posted on, no fooling, April 1, 2021, because on a dreary day, sometimes an RFHer just has to get up and dance. Cheers to the leader, the iconic George Giffin …
The cool guys scurried to get the most popular girls as the tune countdown ticked away. I was the last girl left. Left footed, Lainey. Yep. Giff chuckled a little, looked at the two boys left as they backed into the wall like frightened wallflower turtles.
It’s all relative. You’ve heard it before. “He was like family.” Like. And sometimes people just say someone was family, no “like” involved. Family.
That’s usually because sometimes, DNA be damned, someone is no doubt family to someone, or many, in every way but the genetics. And sometimes, that’s just because a person’s actions in life scream a louder familial compassion and love than their genes — like a bear hug that squeezes all the good into us.
One girl called forever Fair Havenite Garry Allers her uncle. Uncle Garry was laid to rest yesterday. While on this Earth, he didn’t flinch at the relative reference from his adopted niece. It was the truth in every way that mattered, after all. Yes, it’s all relative.
Well, it’s a summer of revived RFH reunions and RFHers love a good reunion and embrace them by reuniting however and whenever they can.
As far as getting the word out, though, things have changed quite a bit since those first 10-year reunions for the classes of the 60s, 70s and even 80s and 90s and before. But, there’s one iconic mode of invite that has been missing for quite some time. The painting of the bridge!
There was a time when communication was limited to phone books, landline phones, snail mail and word of mouth. Of course, there were paper invites. But, there was nothing better than getting the word out by just reverting to old school days and painting that bridge.
A reprise in honor of the girls, baseball season and not having to wear these horrific mandatory gym suits anymore! Strike! The suits are out! Phew!Remember the fun and the horror with us … (Be sure to CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll to fully experience the horror. Ha!)
It’s just plain batty! Batter’s up at RFH as baseball season is in full swing. But, looking back at some RFH 1970s games, you have to wonder when or why, exactly, there was ever a season of the ol’ gym suit, baseball or softball aside.
Really. Ponder it. Those things that made girls look like Stay Puff marshmallows, or, worse, a big baby with a onesie that had enough space for a diaper or, well … you get the picture.
Fair Haven river dwellers of the Drake family Photo/courtesy of Robin Drake Fitch
Quality river time. It’s a rite of passage for any Rumson-Fair Haven area kid.
When the spring air hits, the banks of the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers call to kids like mythological Sirens. And they burrow themselves in the sand and tides like hermit crabs.
“We’re captive on the carousel of time … We can’t return. We can only look behind from where we came and go round and round and round in the circle game …” ~ Joni Mitchell
The wound left by the merciless hammer’s mark was a deep one. Somehow it didn’t break the circle, though. It wouldn’t. Never could. That was the consolation, so I was posthumously reminded by his mother, if there was to be any at all in something that seemed so senseless and unfair.
Circle. It was stuck in my head. Once that hammer hit, she started whispering to me as I grappled with how to remember him best for her, for his family, for his friends, with my words.
RFH Halloween of 1977 with a gaggle of girls Photo/George Day
Well, it’s about that time for Halloween parades. In fact, Fair Haven’s was on Sunday. And, back in the day, RFH had its own high school Halloween parade.
Some bunny — or a few bunnies and other assorted suspicious characters — got dressed for the occasion, paraded themselves around campus and benched themselves for a spell, too.
The Halloween spirit is in the air. And these senior gaggle of girls embodied it. From controversial, yet timely and popular at the time, Playboy bunny costumes, to Raggedy Ann, a ghost, a cat, a gypsy and whatever else, they were parading and pleased with their choices.
Our annual reprise of back-to-school memories and walking the rope in Fair Haven …
“But I don’t wanna walk on the rope next to her!” I cried from under my freshly-cut kindergarten bangs. “I wanna walk on the rope next to Pam!”
Pam was my neighbor. She was my best buddy.
It was 1965. It was the 60s. One thing’s for sure: Our Fair Haven kindergarten class was the last to have its first year of school at what was called the Youth Center, now the Fair Haven Police Station and Community Center on Fisk Street.
We kindergarteners were also the last to be tugged down the street on a rope, yes a rope, headed by an official-looking police-type lady.
Clip of press photo for The Barn Theater’s production of “The Fantasticks” in the summer of 1977
“Bye Bye Birdie” at The Barn Theater in Rumson circa summer of 1977 Photo/Elaine Van Develde
The following piece was originally posted on July 8, 2015. As we dive into summer season, we thought it only fitting to remember good summer times outside of the usual beach romp for those who grew up and raised their families in the Rumson-Fair Haven area — summer theater. Once upon a time, there was a special little place in Rumson called The Barn … Take a trip back with us to simple summers and magical, theatrical times …
Remember The Barn Theater in Rumson?
Well, if you don’t, you missed out and are probably significantly younger than those who do and didn’t — miss out, that is.
It’s a plus if you’re that young. But, it’s definitely a factor in the minus category if you didn’t work, play or get entertained there.
It was a community theater that cast hundreds, maybe thousands, from the area, including many Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) students.
The building is still there, only a few blocks away from the high school on Avenue of Two Rivers near the intersection at Ridge Road. The reason why it was called The Barn was, well, because it was an old barn, gutted (if there is such a thing with a barn) and converted into a small arena-type stage theater, with the stage at floor level and risers around it as seats, though not all the way around.
You get the picture. Now, here’s what’s behind the place’s show folk and shows …
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.
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 …
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