A “tale as old as time” came to Fair Haven’s Knollwood School’s stage when 40 young middle school students performed a production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. a few weeks ago.
Continue reading A Look Back at Knollwood’s ‘Beauty and the Beast Jr.’
With the recent death and impending memorial of former longtime Fair Havenite and River Rats purser, Warner White, thoughts turn back to some good old days of being a kid rat, so to speak, and hanging out down by the river.
It’s a rite of passage in the Rumson-Fair Haven area that kid life be rife with river-oriented activities.
River Rats was the king of that sort of thing — especially in the summertime. The little riverfront nook at the foot of Battin Road in Fair Haven was that special place where kids and boating-bonded buddies learned how to sail and navigate riverfront life with the sand between their toes and perpetual smiles on their faces. It was a unique little sailors’ club. Still is.
River Rats has been a Fair Haven institution since 1955.
It all started like this: “In October 1955 shortly after he moved from New York, Captain Walter Isbrandtsen wrote to a friend: ‘I have purchased a house in a small community on the New Jersey coast where I am gradually becoming active … in an organization known as Dads Incorporated … whose activities include a newly established program designed to take full advantage of a neighboring river …'”
Captain Isbrandtsen organized the family-oriented sailing group and became the first Skipper of River Rats, as it is written in the River Rats’ biographical history.
So, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day takes us back to the U.S.A. bicentennial year of 1976 and a bunch of young River Rats.
This crew is comprised mostly of RFH classmates who gathered by the boat launch at the end of Battin Road in Fair Haven to offer a glimpse of their day as a reminder of what growing up by the river is all about.
Sail on! RIP, Warner White …
— Elaine Van Develde
Spring has sprung — sort of.
Well, the sun was shining brightly on the first day of spring, anyway. And while last week’s lingering patches of snow remained in spots throughout the Rumson-Fair Haven area, buds were popping up from underneath them.
The scene on the banks of the Navesink River at the foot of Battin Road in Fair Haven was still, mild and calming — signals of springing into a warmer sunset took hold.
It was a stark, black-and-white kind of scenario. Take a look. (Oh, and don’t forget to click to enlarge …)
Happy spring; and good night.
— Elaine Van Develde
The Fair Haven school district recently hosted a Horton the Elephant-sized celebration of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.
Each year, the March 2 birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, a/k/a Dr. Seuss, is remembered throughout the U.S. with the Read Across America program.
Continue reading Rewind: Read Across America in Fair Haven Schools
There’s something about a riverfront scene in the Rumson-Fair Haven area that lends itself to reflection — sight and soul.
At low tide on a winter’s day, the mirror view is mesmerizing on the Navesink River down by Fair Haven Dock.
Take a look … (Don’t forget to click to enlarge!)
— Elaine Van Develde
Former Fair Haven Mayor Joseph Szostak passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 22. He was 81.
The former longtime music professor and creator of the music program at Brookdale Community College,music director and conductor of the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Monmouth Conservatory Youth Chorus and music critic for the Red Bank Register made Fair Haven his home for 35 years before relocating to Caldwell seven years ago. It is there, at at Paul Ippolito-Dancy Memorial, 9 Smull Ave., where there will be a service to honor Szosktak on Sunday, Feb. 26, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Szostak served as Fair Haven mayor for one four-year term, from 2002 to 2006. As a resident of Fair Haven, he was also a social member of the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Company.
He was known as a man who treasured his family, good food, traveling, outdoors and Fair Haven. Szostak, his family said in his obituary, was “a generous, kind, gregarious, sensitive man whose door was always open to whoever needed his help. He made the world a brighter place with his humor, warmth, and love.”
Surviving are: his loving children, Martin and his wife, Gayle McCarthy, Phillip, and David and his wife, Jennifer; cherished grandchildren, Grace and Leo, and former wife, Barbara Armbruster.
He was predeceased by: his siblings, Anna, Florence, Helen, Mildred, Frank and John Szostak.
Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect is preparing a memorial tribute to Szostak. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] with comments and/or photos. Thank you! RIP, Mayor Szostak. You are remembered.
It was hauntingly comforting — the icy, howling wind and the stark hues of black and blue along the Navesink River in Fair Haven Wednesday at dusk.
The wind whistled, beckoned, and the air cut like jagged-edged glass. It was a solitary, striking scene. Black branches jutting across a blue sky and seascape.
It was all so cold and clear-cut, yet still warm like a cup of cocoa. It’s home.
Take a look …
— Elaine Van Develde
The following January arrests were reported by Fair Haven police. An arrest does not constitute a conviction.
Thespians at Fair Haven’s Knollwood School are getting set to go on with a show in March — Beauty and the Beast Jr.
The 60-minute stage version of the 1991 Disney animated film and 1994 Broadway musical and is designed for middle-school aged performers.
The cast at Knollwood’s production is comprised of roughly 40 sixth, seventh and eighth graders.
The show tells the story of Belle, an adventurous young girl, and the Beast, her grisly captor, who is actually a young prince trapped under a spell. In order to break the spell, the Beast must learn to love another and earn love in return.
With the help of the staff at the prince’s castle, including a loving teapot, a charming candelabra, and a nervous mantel clock, Belle and the Beast find uncanny friendship and love. Beauty and the Beast Jr. features classic songs from the Academy Award®-winning film score such as “Be Our Guest” and “Belle,” as well as original songs from the 1994 Tony®-nominated Broadway musical.
The March 2 Knollwood performance will be presented in the Knollwood School all-purpose room at 7 p.m. Admission is free, and donations of nonperishable food items for local food banks would be appreciated.
— Edited press release from the Fair Haven School District
Rumson-Fair Haven area folks started their day with a dusting of snow.
The National Weather Service’s forecast for the area calls for some more snow and possibly sleet before 3 p.m. There’s a chance of rain later with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.
Tomorrow’s forecast: Mostly cloudy with a high temperature of about 45 degrees.
In the meantime, the snow was untouched on the Fair Haven Dock, offering a snow dusted picturesque view.
Take a look …
— Elaine Van Develde
He was just that kind of community guy, old school cop and fireman — the kind people remember.
He that face many remember peering around every corner, offering help, an anecdote or 10 with a wry smile and wisdom-inspired wink. He was George Chandler. It’s been just over a year since George, a former Fair Haven police chief and 65-year fire company member, died at 92 on Jan. 25, 2016.
He grew up in Fair Haven and spent most of his life in service to the borough in addition to serving in the U.S. Navy.
George Chandler was known as a tall order of homegrown gentleman and community kinship filled to the hilt. He loved to fish, dance, tell jokes, offer up lots of anecdotes and just plain be kind to his neighbors by serving the community he loved and treating everyone like family — Fair Haven family.
So, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day honor the George Chandler and his Fair Haven roots and dedicated service.
To ask for an anecdotal story about George’s well-known anecdotes of life (yes, that was intentional) was to hear something like the story that follows from the memory of a young boy growing up in the borough. This guy is one of many who still hears the former police chief’s voice and sees his friendly, old fashioned brand of stern with a caring smile.
It’s a classic from longtime Fair Havenite Thom White.
And it goes like this …
“On a ‘no school snow day’ in the 1960s my friends and I decided we’d throw snowballs at cars on River Road. We were hiding in a church’s bushes across River Road from George’s house. I threw one that smacked the side of a borough bus, and gleefully asked ‘Did you see that?’
“George answered from behind me, ‘Yes I did.’ Stop doing that right now. It’s dangerous. And go home and tell your mom that I caught you.’ He added with a wry smile, ‘I might just come by later and check.’
“Well, I did as I was told, and a couple of hours later there was a knock on our front door … and there was George in his uniform. He spoke to my mom, who told him that I had confessed, and he reminded me how dangerous it was to do what I was doing. Needless to say, I never did THAT again, and whenever I’d see him in later years, he was always friendly and wanted to know what I was up to. A true gentleman.”
From the closest of family members to distant friends who may have only had that one milestone memory of the chief that just stuck like that lingering wad of ABC (already been chewed) bubblegum under a kid’s shoe, he is remembered by many and emulated. OK, so no one chews bubblegum anymore. That’s the point — the sticking point.
RIP George Chandler. You are remembered.
— Elaine Van Develde
Who’s that lady?
Well, that lady … that sexy lady, as the song goes, is former longtime Fair Havenite Lee Weber (née Walker). Lee, long known as a model area mom with a generous spirit and heart, kicked the new year off with her 90th birthday on Sunday. Yes, 90! Yes, New Year’s Day.
This is a shot of her back in her modeling days in the late 1940s (roughly ’48, her daughter, RFH alum and Rumson resident Jenifer Weber-Zeller tells us). Bathing beauty, a/k/a Lee, modeled for Caroline Schnurer, a “very popular swimwear designer” of that era, Lee says.
In the post modeling days, Lee became Schnurer’s assistant, calling runway shows and such.
Lee now lives in Shrewsbury and is still looking runway ready.
See for yourselves …
Happy Birthday, Lee!
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