Tag Archives: feature

News, Obituaries, Opinion

Remembering RFH’s Mr. Botti

Image

Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) graduates going back several decades are honoring the memory of former RFH math teacher and basketball and baseball coach, Thomas Botti.

Botti passed away in July 6 at what had become his Royal Palm Beach, Florida home in 1999 after retirement, according to his obituary on legacy.com. He was 87 and was laid to rest today at South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth, FL.

Botti taught math for more than four decades and was chairman of the Math Department at RFH until the end of his tenure there in addition to coaching freshman baseball and varsity basketball.

“RIP Coach,” said RFH grad Troy Brandon on the Fair Haven Facebook page.

“He was a super teacher and class advisor to the graduationing class of 1963,” said Jacqui Foster Reynoso on the Facebook page.

“I had Mr. Botti for Algebra I in freshman year,”  RFH grad Susan Mapes Zimmermann said. “My only A in mathematics, and I never did much good after that. I liked him very much.”

So, the Retro Pic(s) of the day honor the math teacher and coach with the above shots of Mr. Botti in action coaching and being a department head in the RFH yearbooks of the mid-1970s. Anyone remember who that is in the featured photo with the coach?

RIP, Mr. Botti. Coach. You are remembered.

Some things you may or may not know about Mr. Botti from his obituary …

Botti had a master’s degree in Education from New York University. He also served in the United States Marine Corps for a year, from 1950 to 1951.

He worked summers at Monmouth Park in Oceanport while teaching and became a mutual clerk after retirement. He enjoyed golf and ceramic painting.

Mr. Botti is survived by: his wife, Vivian; daughter, Liz Newsome and son-in-law John Newsome, of Wellington, Fl.; and daughter Cindy Morgan, of Hackensack; grandson, Spencer Morgan, of Montclair; and granddaughters Emily and Katherine Newsome, of Wellington, FL.

 

Local Life

Simple Summer: River Kayaking

It’s summertime and the living is filled with typical summer activity — and not-so-typical. We’re in the midst of a heatwave.

A lot of people in the Rumson-Fair Haven area have predictable seasonal habits — like vacationing, beach clubbing, beachfront partying … any number of things.

Then there are others who have opted to take the opportunity to just simply enjoy some quality alone time.

That was the idea with this kayaker who was just enjoying some coasting and contemplation time on the Navesink River at Victory Park in Rumson. This is a bit of a retro pic, as it was taken a couple of years ago, before the clinging jellyfish fear set in. But, you get the idea.

This moment is the kind of thing it’s all about with our Simple Summer weekly feature. What’s your favorite simple thing to do in the summer?

It may just be sitting at the end of a dock or taking a stroll on the beach or a swim. We’ll be out and about capturing those simple summer moments.

Enjoy!

Local Life

Olympian Connor Jaeger: Present Day & Retro

Image

You could say that former Fair Havenite Connor Jaeger is swimming in Olympic success.

Continue reading Olympian Connor Jaeger: Present Day & Retro →

Local Life

Retro Fair Haven Kindergarten

Fair Haven Youth Center kindergarten p.m. 1965-66. Class Photo
Fair Haven Youth Center kindergarten p.m. 1965-66.
Class Photo

Recent talk about kids moving on up to full-day school and into middle school from elementary prompted a look back to what Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect thought was the first kindergarten class in Fair Haven at Knollwood School.

It turns out that we were wrong. Many people responded saying that they had attended kindergarten at Knollwood and what was Willow Street School in those earlier years.

We’re not sure if it was that things got switched around a lot back in the late 1950s and into the mid- to late-60s or if, perhaps, it was the morning classes that attended Knollwood and Willow Street or the kids were just split among classes due to that Baby Boom, but we do know that there was a rope and kids were walked to kindergarten at the Youth Center in the borough in 1965-66.

So, the Retro Pic of the Day is a look back at that afternoon kindergarten class to which yours truly, your editor, was toted daily at the tender young age of 5. Yikes.

There are a few familiar faces in this photo. Some are still in the area. One is a popular funeral director. Another just recently wrote a book and has a younger brother who is a popular landscaper/photographer.

Oh, and the teachers were Mrs. Oliverson and Mrs. Wikoff (sp?).

Recognize anyone?

— Elaine Van Develde

Local Life, News

Clinging Jellyfish: The Facts

With the rise in rampant fear looming over the dime-sized clinging jellyfish’s sting to people recreating in the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers that border the Rumson-Fair Haven peninsula, Fair Haven officials have issued a fact sheet advising people of the jellyfish’s characteristics and where they thrive.

Here it is …

The Clinging Jellyfish (Gonionemus vertens) is a small hydrozoan jellyfish about the size of a dime that can be found in bay and estuarine waters.

WHERE ARE THEY FOUND?

Clinging jelly sh are native to the Paci c Ocean. They were introduced to the eastern Atlantic Coast as early as 1894 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, but can be found from Maine to North Carolina. Clinging jelly sh thrive in temperate regions, and can be found in sheltered shallow bay and estuarine waters where tides are not strong enough to dislodge them.

They prefer to cling to vegetation and other substrates (e.g. shells) during the day. They typically feed at night in the water column on small marine animals (zooplankton), but have been observed during the day. They are not typically found in coastal ocean waters.

HOW BIG DO THEY GET?

This is a small jelly sh that only grows to about 25 mm (1 inch) in diameter, but it can expand to about three inches in diameter. They have 60-90 tentacles that contain the nematocysts or stinging cells.

WHY ARE THEY IN NEW JERSEY WATERS THIS YEAR?

Although they have not been previously reported in New Jersey waters, their presence here may be a recent introduction, or they may have gone unnoticed in the past. They do not produce large populations as do some other jellyfish, but can be found in local areas in small to moderate numbers.

Continue reading Clinging Jellyfish: The Facts →

Local Life

Focus: People of ‘R-FH Retro’

It’s been two years since Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect’s (R-FH Retro) domain names were registered and, bit by bit, publishing began.

 

In those two years, myriad locals at community events have been captured by this founding editor’s lens.

Check out our most-viewed shots of the people and events of the Rumson-Fair Haven area since the inception of the hyperlocal news and features site that ties the treasured past of the area to the present.

Thank you for supporting Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect! Stay tuned for many more special local news spotlights to come!

Local Life

Retro R-FH Retro

Image

Yes, friends and fans, it’s been exactly two years since Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect (or R-FH Retro, for short) registered its domain name and got started.

It’s been a great two years, sharing news, features and photos from the past and present with all of you!

So, to honor the first days of the website, we are posting the first photos posted on www.rfhretro.com. The very first, and featured photo, was a look from the dock of Eventide in Sea Bright looking onto the shores of Rumson. The other (below) is a photo of the Navesink River and Oceanic Bridge from the shores of Victory Park in Rumson.

Thank you all for your support and patronage of R-FH Retro. We look forward to bringing you more news and looks back than ever in the coming year.

Reach out to us at [email protected] and find out how you can advertise on the site for a nominal fee and support the continued flow of news, features and photos at no cost to readers.

Thank you and enjoy! Here’s to the view from this beautiful peninsula we all call home!

With all thoughts good and hyperlocal,

Elaine Van Develde

publisher/founding editor