Tag Archives: Fair Haven

Retro Eighth Grade Grad Close Encounter

Knollwood School Class of 2002
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

The Fair Haven Knollwood School grads have always been a styling, close-knit crew — a crew of cohorts that’s always shared many Kodak moments, in pairs, trios, cliques and all together.

Just as photography has evolved from Brownie camera to Instamatic to Polaroid, to phone camera, to full-on professional photo shoots, graduation photo ops have devolved back to single inspired family front lawn shots. That’s where the photo blitz usually began. Now it’s where it ends, too. So, some things never really change — much.

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Retro Fair Haven 8th Grade Grads

Fair Haven eighth grade graduation from Willow Street School (Sickles) circa 1946
Photo/courtesy of Jane Croft

 

It’s an unprecedented graduation time in Rumson and Fair Haven this year. These pandemic days, in Fair Haven, eighth grade students are being met with a diploma, Superintendent Sean McNeil, Knollwood School Principal  Amy Romano and a mini front-yard graduation snapshot in time and ceremony. It started this week. 

While eighth grade graduations have taken place in various venues over the years, from what was Willow Street School (now Viola L. Sickles School) to Knollwood and then to Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, there’s never yet been a front lawn march to Pomp and Circumstance. Yet, this year’s comes close. 

So, in honor of the eighth grade students graduating Knollwood School’s Class of 2020, we take a look back in a reprise of an eighth grade graduation post from June 18, 2018, featuring the Class of 1946. 

Continue reading Retro Fair Haven 8th Grade Grads

Retro Stoked Stokes Trippers

Every year, for more than half a century, Fair Haven sixth graders get stoked to go to Stokes State Forrest for a week of cabin camping and outdoor schooling and socializing. It’s a tradition.

And for the first time in more than half a century, the tradition has been broken due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today would have been the day that the happy little campers came home from their post-Memorial Day week of adventure with classmates, teachers and parents.

So, we take a look back at some Stokes moments of bunking, hiking, pranking, do-se-doing your partner and all-around exploring back in the 70s, from youngsters to those high school counselors. Remember those?

There were RFH seniors chosen to be counselors, dubbed CATS. Each couple of CATs was assigned to teach/counsel sixth graders in their area of expertise. There were bug experts, hiking troopers, rowing aficionados, swimmers, and story tellers, dancers, singers and guitar players.

There was a square dancing night. And there was plenty of practice that ensued before it. What square dancing song stands out in your memory? And how about those campfire nights? Song always sung? How about the traditional story told? Who got lost in the woods with the compass/pathfinders class? Who was a CAT?

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A Fair Haven Eighth Grader’s Virtual Memorial Day Meaning

You’ve probably heard it before: Memorial Day means much more than barbecues, parades and an unofficial start to summer. The day is one of remembrance of and honor for those in the U.S. military who died while serving. Those who never came home.

And on the homefront, traditional annual Memorial Day services, replete with parades, salutes and speeches are usually always done in a community gathering. Not this year. There was a gathering of a different kind in Fair Haven — the virtual kind. Each speaker taped his or her speech and all were edited together into one video for all to watch at a safe distance. At home.

One of those speeches was another tradition — the reading of the winning Knollwood School eighth grade essay under a What Memorial Day Means to Me headline.

This year’s selection, of the entire eighth grade class, was the piece written by John Jarvis, son of retired Fair Haven police officer Jeff Jarvis. And for the first time, a portion of the essay was read solo at an empty Memorial Park.

The meaning of Memorial Day, for John, covers a lot about sacrifice, pride and honor. Nothing about barbecues and summer bliss — all 1,000 words of the original. His father said he was proud and moved by his son’s words.

They were broadcast on Fair Haven’s virtual ceremony video. Here’s some of what John had to say …

The following is John Jarvis’ essay entitled What Memorial Day Means to Me in its entirety:

It’s important to celebrate Memorial Day to show the living veterans that we do not forget about their lost comrades, and the huge sacrifices that they have made.

Soldiers often go through things that civilians can never imagine, such as having their friends die in their arms, or seeing the horrible effects of war in front of their eyes. Additionally, soldiers sometimes never tell civilians what they have seen as it brings back memories of those wars, and do not want more people to be thinking about the horrible effects of war. The most respectful way to honor veterans and those who died for our freedom, is to hang an American flag in the front of your house, as the American flag represents the freedom that our soldiers are fighting for and have died for.

On memorial day, I will remember people like John A. Chapman, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for sacrificing himself to save 23 comrades, Rafael Peralta who shielded his fellow Marines from a grenade with his own body, John Basilone, who single handedly killed over a thousand enemy soldiers at the Battle of Guadalcanal, and a commander like Admiral Raymond Spruance, who gained us our first victory in world war 2 at the battle of Midway.

There are no veterans in my family, however, I do have people in my family that have made sacrifices, like my father who gave 29 years of his life as a Police Officer. I honor and appreciate our Military because of their selflessness from the first day they enlist in the Military. Even if they have never seen combat, they still pay the price of losing their family for many months at a time. All members of our Military, past and current, no matter if they were from the Marines, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, or the Coast Guard, they deserved to be honored.

If you wish to honor any member of the Military, the simplest way you can do it is by flying an American flag in your front yard, or thank one for their service if you see them. To all members of our great military, the American flag is the reason that they fight. It represents the freedom they uphold, the defense of the ones who cannot defend themselves, and the protection of their family and their homes.

A soldier’s character is like something most people had never seen before, their unquestionable loyalty, selflessness, integrity, and their sacrifice. Ronald Reagan during his first inaugural address once said, “The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price. Those who say that we’re in a time where there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look; The sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with it’s row upon row of simple white markers, bearing crosses, or stars of david. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom. Each one of those markers, is a monument, to the kind of Hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and half way around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice patties and jungles of a place called Vietnam.”

This speech alone shows the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Americans abroad for freedom, but with the price of their lives. It shows the loyalty to their Country and their Commander-in-Chief, their selflessness, integrity, and sacrifice. Our veterans deserve our utmost respect because of what they have been put through in the name of Freedom around the world, and the preservation of our freedom, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They’ve been put through things that us, as civilians, could never imagine.

Their sacrifice embodies the greatness of the American spirit, patriotism, and honor. To me, memorial day is a date in which we honor those who have served, and who are serving, and those who have never made it back to American soil, while acting in the name of freedom domestically and world wide. Memorial day is a date that to me, every American should appreciate and celebrate, to honor the unknown Americans that have fought in hard fought battles and wars, to preserve their rights, as an American and human being.

A great way to honor our fallen soldiers is to visit an American Military cemetery domestically or abroad. Such as Arlington National Cemetery, the Normandy American Cemetery, which over 9,000 American Heros are buried, or across the world in the Philippines, where over 23,000 American Heros are buried.

On memorial day I will fly my American flag high and proud to show my appreciation to every American who has fought overseas to defend our great nation. The word “memorial” to people means and should mean a monument, or a picture, or a building, dedicated to events in the past, and people of the past, who have proven that the monument named after them, deserves to bear their name.

We should never forget our veterans, especially the ones who have died for our country. Although we will never know many of their names, the best thing we can do is celebrate their lives and their sacrifices, no matter is they died during the civil war, the Spanish-American War, World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, Mogadishu, or more recently, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in France, during a speech, President Donald Trump said this, “These men ran through the fires of hell, moved by a force no weapon could destroy: the fierce patriotism of a free, proud and sovereign people,” That sentence alone embodies the greatness of a soldier’s sacrifice in the name of freedom for people across the world, and people from our country. Our Country shall never forget those who have never returned.

Retro Fair Haven Police Line-Up

Fair Haven PD in 2001 Photo/FHPD

In recognition of National Police Week, we are reposting this Retro Pic of the Day of Fair Haven police …

With National Police Week coming to a close, it’s only fitting that we take a look back at the Fair Haven Police Department. This look goes back to 2001. It features some officers who have since retired, some who have moved on and some who have passed.

Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Police Line-Up

Remembering Fair Haven’s Bill Leonard: Mayor, Fireman, First Aider, Friend

A towering Fair Haven presence has taken leave from the hometown spotlight as his legacy continues to be something to which many look up.

Continue reading Remembering Fair Haven’s Bill Leonard: Mayor, Fireman, First Aider, Friend

Fair Haven Day 2020 Cancelled: September Oktoberfest-Fair Haven Day Day Gala Set

A Fair Haven tradition that was started less than a decade ago — eight years ago, in 2012, to be exact — has been cancelled this year, due to COVID-19 pandemic safety considerations. But, a new combo event is on the horizon.

Continue reading Fair Haven Day 2020 Cancelled: September Oktoberfest-Fair Haven Day Day Gala Set

I Remember R-FH Mamas

You’ve heard it before — each year. We’ll say it again …

It’s Mother’s Day.

And, we at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect are thinking, the day should not just be one during 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. But, we digress.

We’re thinking that the day is not really just for all that Hallmark and social media jazz — though, it is somewhat important jazz. The day should be more 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. Because, it does take this sort of village … if you let it. Embrace it. Like they did.

There are so many women in this area who served as the mortar in the in the brick foundation that is this community now. It goes back many 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 the generations.

You see, the strong community foundation that brought us all here is not about anyone’s income figure and a few overused disingenuous promotional phrases — prime real estate value, curb appeal, flipping potential and the rest of the lingo concocted to make that 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 long ago. Who’s bringing the crumb cake? Yes, crumb cake. When it comes to community, you can splurge a little to keep it sweet and real.

The above photos are just a sampling of R-FH area moms gone and still with us through generations. We honor all of you. Check out our slideshow below for more …