Scene Around: A Polished RFH Grad and a Monumental Fair Haven Preservation Task

They’re polished, alright — RFH Class of ’78 grad Doug DiStefano and his monument subject, that is.

DiStefano, of Monument Conservation Partners, has been seen around the towns, and out of the towns, doing some preservation of monuments that have been in need of a bit of sprucing up to bring out the best in them and preserve history for the future.

R-FH Retro (all five of me) ran into DiStefano recently in Fair Haven. He said he had been working at Georgian Court College painstakingly preserving the various monuments, fountains and the like on the campus in Lakewood that is the site of the former ostentatious Gould Estate.

DiStefano is loving his (sort of) retirement work of bringing symbols of the past back to life.

A few days later, he was spotted and photographed by Fair Haven Fire Department media folks bringing out the best in the firefighter statue monument in front of the firehouse on River Road.

The statue of the firefighter that stands in front of the firehouse was first erected in 2004. It’s been a while since it’s been restored to its original luster.

So, now, 22 years later, it’s all polished up, down to the most finite detail, and ready for its close-up.

That’s how things go around the towns when you put an RFH grad on the job of preserving the past.

Great work, Doug!