Bathing beauties of a Fair Haven neighborhood in 1965 Photo/Elaine Van Develde
A reprise in honor of beating the impending heatwave of summer days with a little backyard pool dip, dressing for the occasion, and those first, best neighborhood friends …
Back in the summer of ’65 … the heat was on, and some pint-sized bathing beauties were set to walk the walk, if the suit and the bathing cap fit.
Sunning with the Oceanic Bridge as a backdrop Photo/courtesy of Jo Ann Slocum Mazzucca
A classic reprise in honor of those summer days down by the river. Some things never change, except maybe swimwear …
Yes, summertime is here. And the livin’ is always easy down by the river. The sunning outfits may have changed over time, but the daydreaming state of mind has always stayed the same. After all, some Rumson river time is something to dream about. The reality is even more dreamy. And it shows in this snapshot back in time to about 85 years ago.
Cheers to Friday, a Rumson icon and his iconic River Road spot!
That would be Tony Mellaci and his father’s bar, Frank’s. The door was always open at the place, welcoming Rumson friends for a cold one, a Mellaci sausage sandwich, a little camaraderie and good conversation among locals. The senior Mellaci, Frank, owned it and ran it with his son, Tony. The proprietors, they were.
Sometimes those ’70s RFH graduation memories are not all a blur. They’re crystal clear. In focus. Like this Pomp and Circumstance walk snapshot back in time. It’s been almost a week since the RFH Class of 2026 did their graduation walk. So, we’re taking you back to a walk of the dinosaur kind — that of the RFH Class of ’78.
RFH Class of 1965 graduation Daisy Chain Photo/courtesy of Kim Christman
In honor of RFH graduation … Reprise of a classic originally posted in June of 2022 …
That’s the sight of the girls working on the Daisy Chain gang! When it comes to RFH graduation traditions gone, the Daisy Chain is a classic, well-remembered one. So are the links in the chain — the girls, not so much the flowers.
RFH 1978 graduation in front of the high school, replete with daisy chain Photo/Daryl Cooper Ley
The following was originally posted in May of 2017. It is being re-run in honor of graduation, time honored traditions of the past, and this RFH Daisy Chain girl of ’78, who passed away in February of 2018 — Daryl Cooper Ley.
In high school social circles, it was considered a popularity status symbol to be chosen for the chain. Daryl wasn’t all too thrilled about it at the time. It had confirmed what only her closest friends knew — that she was cool. It was often repeated to her. “I didn’t think so,” was always her answer. Sorry, Dar. We win. Got the last word. You were. RIP, Dar. You are remembered … in our hearts, souls and print, like it or not! Love you forever more. Oh, she would kill me …
It was considered a privilege and honor. They were chosen from the junior class at RFH to serve as the debutante-like ushers for the graduating class. All dressed in white and supposedly gracefully toting a chain of daisies, the Daisy Chain girls were a fixture of high school finery at graduations in the 1970s.
The origins of the somewhat upper-crust tradition date back to the 1900s, but this Retro Pic of the Day was snapped in 1978.
And, we at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect are of the mind that the day was really about much more than flipping a burger and patting a good ol’ dad on the back.
It’s bigger than that. It goes way beyond your own dad’s back yard and a grilling or two.
Growing up in a small-town niche like the Rumson-Fair Haven area carries with it that family tie feeling. Some of us were fortunate enough to have great dads. Some not.
Our annual RFH graduation reprise in honor of the RFH Class of 2025 … Congrats!
RFH graduation ’79
Photo/George Day
RFHers are doing the graduation walk tonight. And it’s a walk that has veered off onto different paths over the years — but always to Pomp & Circumstance.
Wow. So much has changed, yet stayed the same. The venue has gone from the RFH Borden Stadium to the front lawn to the Borden Stadium (when the stadium was being renovated) and the football field again to the RFH auditorium and mixed up and around over the years. Now it’s at the Monmouth University. And in pandemic times, the venue was outside, masked and virtual. And, again, back to Monmouth.
Class of ’76 seniors dive into summer Photo/RFH Yearbook 1976
The sun has been brutal in its summer sneak peaks these days. So, daydreaming about a cool summer time when a dive into the ocean in Sea Bright was all you needed comes a lot easier than that ball of fire and that imminent need to chill.
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