Tag Archives: Fair Haven

Local Life

Retro Night Out on a Pandemic Year Night In

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  • Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli gets dunked at Fair Haven Police Department’s National Night Out 2012 Photo/Elaine Van Develde

Fair Haven’s National Night Out 2020 turned into Night In. And it was a night in to be remembered — for nothing except the pandemic that showed no mercy and canceled another community event.

Continue reading Retro Night Out on a Pandemic Year Night In →
Local Life, Opinion

Longtime Fair Havenite, Songbird Lillian Lauer: Still Hitting the High Notes at 90

Longtime Fair Havenite Lillian Lauer at 17 (left) and 90
Photos/courtesy of the Lauer family

Remember those days as a kid when you thought everyone over the age of 30 was ancient? That view from the pint-sized sprouters and adolescent awkward can offer both good and bad perspectives. Better these days, as a near senior (gulp), as it seems that those people we thought were ancient are, decades later, somehow ageless.

That’s the case with one Fair Haven mom and lead Church of the Nativity songstress: Lillian Lauer. The longtime striking blonde, French twist-coiffed Fair Havenite, who loved for decades to tend to her garden, children and lead soprano singing from the church mezzanine, turned 90 on Aug. 7. And, as the Jackson Browne song that was as popular as Lauer’s twist and song in the 70s goes, she’s “still the same … still aims high” in both song and youthful spirit.

Continue reading Longtime Fair Havenite, Songbird Lillian Lauer: Still Hitting the High Notes at 90 →
Local Life, Obituaries

Speaking to People: Fair Haven Icon Dorothy Breckenridge’s Final Crossing

She took her own advice. She didn’t set her foot down off that curb until the time was right. She listened. She heard. She waited for her own cue to speak. And she walked, ever so gracefully, a nod of acknowledged gratitude to each person to whom she spoke along her life’s path. She had heard herself crow with pride one last time, “CROOOOOOSSSSSS!”

Strong, stop-sign hands extended, the stalwart, kind Fair Haven woman who spent nearly 20 years “speaking” to children and crossing them safely to the other side of the road has crossed over herself at the age of 90. She was Dorothy Breckenridge.

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Local Life

Retro Summer Fair Haven Dock Days

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Summer days down by the Fair Haven Dock
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

A 2016 reprise, because it’s summertime and such close summer encounters aren’t so easy these days, but we can remember at several years’ distance and summon them back…

Summer fun in Fair Haven doesn’t get any simpler or more treasured than ending the day down by the Fair Haven Dock, sand between the toes, a few antics up the sleeve, a little seaweed in the shorts, and a crab or 20. Dock time has been a time-honored tradition for kids since, well, the dawn of time.

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Fair Haven Police and Fire Files, Police and Fire, Rumson Police and Fire Files

Volunteer Value: Surviving a Sunday Drive Accident

If you were one of the many who heard first aid, fire and police sirens blaring n the Rumson-Fair Haven area on Sunday afternoon, you probably also know by now that the accident that brought the brigade of emergency responders to the intersection of Ridge and Fair Haven roads left a Rumson couple literally a little flipped out and banged up, but alright and grateful.

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Local Life

Lending a Fist in a Native Fair Havenite’s Fight

The following story was originally posted on Dec. 14, 2019. Much has happened since then in forever Fair Havenite Rich Chandler’s fight against a rare, aggressive form of squamous cell carcinoma. Updates, including the following post by sister, Carol, tell the story of Rich’s unrelenting desire to win his fight against cancer.

He has tried and will continue to try any treatment out there. He’s got the will, his family says with fervor. He just needs the way. And a little help from friends has never been needed more. Carol’s May 7 update tells a bit of the story. Daughter Kayla’s story of her dad’s journey continues with her Chandler Strong t-shirt drive.

Read all about it and click on the link at the end of the story to donate.

Your hometown community is fighting for and with you, Rich!

Carol Chandler West’s GoFundMe update …

On May 7th, Richard started bleeding heavily again and was rushed to Riverview Hospital. The next day he was transferred to RWJ for surgery to stop the bleeding.

At this time, Richard was told there was nothing more they can do for him.

He is now in a rehabilitation center. Upon release, we pray that Sloan Kettering, after reviewing Rich’s medical file, will take him on as a new patient and come up with something that RWJ team could not.

He does not want to give up – he is ready to fight!!!

Miracles do happen – please take the time and pray for Rich and send some encouraging words to lift his spirits.

With much gratitude … The Chandler Family

Rich’s daughter, Kayla’s t-shirt campaign …

He’s a dad. He’s a brother. He’s a friend. He’s a drummer who’s got the beat and fighting to keep it going strong. He’s a cherisher of life and love. He’s a native Fair Havenite. He’s Richard Chandler. He’s in a fight for his life and he needs a few fists full of strength, love, compassion and funds to help him knock out a cancer ogre and stand tall through it all.

Chandler Strong is what his family has dubbed his fight. And they, along with many friends of Richard’s, are in it to win it. It’s not the lottery, but it sometimes feels like a villainous game of chance to Richard’s loved ones. With funds depleted, they decided to reach out and ask for some help via a GoFundMe page to ease some of the heavy burden borne by the family as illness weighs down, but they’re determined, won’t crush Richard.

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“I know I can say, and I hope one day MANY others too, that I am strong, Chandler Strong!” Richard’s daughter Kayla said in a post on a Facebook page started to summon more strength for her dad in the community.

“My name is Kayla Chandler, and I am the daughter of a (now) two time cancer survivor and hopefully after treatments this time around, a third. Surviving is not just beating something, but completely conquering it and all it has brought and may continue to bring. To see the fight is empowering and inspiring, but to be the fighter must be so much more than that … “Through strength and hope, I can only wish that over time it will help heal my father along with the medication and love/support he’s been receiving from the many beautiful people in our lives.”

Kayla Chandler, Richard Chandler’s daughter

“For the last four years, I have watched my brother, Rich, go through extensive surgeries and different forms of chemotherapy and radiation treatments,” sister Carol said on the GoFundMe page. “Unfortunately, this monster has returned for a third time.

“In December 2016, he was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of squamous cell carcinoma, originally located in his lymph nodes. It was then found in the groin region, and over time has spread to his urethra, upper thigh and hip region. To watch Rich struggle physically is breaking my heart because of the good, happy soul I have always known him to be. As if his medical issues are not enough, he worries how he will support his family and himself since he is unable to work due to his medical condition. The bills are mounting up!”

It is the sincere hope of Richard’s friends and family that he will soon, once again, “be able to do what he was born to do — bring his gift of music to the ears and souls of people again,” Carol continued.

Richard was back in his Fair Haven hometown, the place many generations of Chandlers called home, staying with his sister Liz.

The family, Carol said, is more than grateful for any bit of help offered to Rich.

So far, the GoFundMe fundraiser has raised $17,366 of a $25,000 goal.

Click here to help Richard with a donation — every little bit of which is appreciated, the family said.

Stay Chandler Strong, Rich!

Obituaries

In Memorium: Fair Havenite Luis Ortiz, WW II & Korean War Vet, 99

Fair Havenites rallied recently to cheer 99- year-old resident and World War II and Korean War veteran Luis Antonio Ortiz on to his 100th birthday, wishing that he “heal quickly and celebrate his birthday at home. Get well, Sir!” resident Katy Badt Frissora said on Facebook on July 7. The “international executive, loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather” passed away on July 12, just shy of the July 25 milestone.

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Local Life

Retro Close River Rat Encounters

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A 1976 River Rats crew
Photo/courtesy Marc Edelman, Facebook

Distanced sail, anyone? Some good little rats are taking to the river for a little camaraderie and sailing instruction these days. The pandemic hasn’t taken away the river, after all, and its rites of passage, like sailing.

Summers in the Rumson-Fair Haven area are rife with river-oriented activities that have become tradition. River Rats’ sailing “camp” in Fair Haven is no exception. OK, nobody was camping. It was more like a little club. Still is.

It’s been the way of growing up on the Navesink for decades — since 1955. Kids learn how to boat and do a lot of summer fun bonding in the process.

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Local Life

Simple Summer: Fair Haven Dock Sunset Solace

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Summertime can be hectic. Not quite as much these post-quarantine pandemic days of summer, though. Most are pretty tired of alone time. Still, there’s nothing better than some an end-of-day solo time to unwind, distanced, in the fresh air … embraced by a familiar, comforting scene.

Continue reading Simple Summer: Fair Haven Dock Sunset Solace →