Tag Archives: RFH

Retro RFH Class Prez Stuff

It’s the stuff … ing presidents are made of — or something like that.

In honor of Presidents Day, we’re honed in on presidents of the class kind — not country. And there have been many class presidents at RFH, some of whom have stuck out like beacons of, well, zaniness. Call them fearless fun leaders.

Continue reading Retro RFH Class Prez Stuff

Retro RFH Cool Dudes’ Winter Swim

RFH Polar Bear Club circa 1970s.  Photo/RFH yearbook
RFH Polar Bear Club circa 1970s.
Photo/RFH yearbook

No, it’s not the swim team.

This Retro Pic of the Day takes us back to a time at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) when taking a dip in the ocean at the chilliest of winter times was, well, very cool as a Polar Bear Club member. Yes, it was a club back then.

Continue reading Retro RFH Cool Dudes’ Winter Swim

Cooper’s Legacy: The Art of Circle Gaming Among Childhood Friends

“We’re captive on the carousel of time … We can’t return. We can only look behind from where we came and go round and round and round in the circle game …” ~ Joni Mitchell

The news hit his nimble-footed, intricately painted-and-penned world like a sledge hammer. Thirty-year-old Thomas “Cooper” Ley had died. He was my best friend’s beautiful boy.

The wound left by the merciless hammer’s mark was a deep one. Somehow it didn’t break the circle, though. It wouldn’t. Never could. That was the consolation, so I was posthumously reminded by his mother, if there was to be any at all in something that seemed so senseless and unfair.

Circle. It was stuck in my head. Once that hammer hit, she started whispering to me as I grappled with how to remember him best for her, for his family, for his friends, with my words.

Continue reading Cooper’s Legacy: The Art of Circle Gaming Among Childhood Friends

Retro RFH Ladies’ Club Times

RFH Ladies of the Round Table
Photo/ RFH Yearbook 77-78

A reprise in honor of forever RFH best friends … Cheers to Friday, courtesy of the RFH Ladies of the Round Table!

There’s a pair of besties in every crowd, or club. And there’s a club for just about everything, including things that likely would be frowned upon in the millennium.

Continue reading Retro RFH Ladies’ Club Times

Retro Snow-Capped Peninsula House Paradise

Peninsula House in Sea Bright in the 1970s. Photo/George Day
Peninsula House in Sea Bright in the 1970s.
Photo/George Day EXCLUSIVELY for R-FH Retro

This Retro Pic of the (George) Day is a reprise, just because it speaks to everyone so much about winter and some Sea Bright love. Sometimes you just can’t get enough of this kind of view and the memories it stirs … 

If you’re winter daydreaming of snow-capped visions of warm paradise memories, your thoughts may drift to the iconic Peninsula House. It’s as if it was still there. Sometimes, if you close your eyes, like any good memory, you can see it. It all comes back — blankets you in a Tsunami of heart smiles.

Continue reading Retro Snow-Capped Peninsula House Paradise

Retro RFH Cozy Winter Girl Gaggling

RFH girls gathering in the early 80s/Photo … Anne Kneuer

They call it a gaggle of geese, because when geese get together, they’re so excited to hang out that they are quite rambunctious. Well, maybe just have a lot to say. And they’re a close-knit bunch — just like this group of RFH girls from the early 80s.

Continue reading Retro RFH Cozy Winter Girl Gaggling

In Memoriam: Rumson-Raised RFH 2011 Grad, Artist, Skateboarder, Musician, Thomas ‘Cooper’ Ley, 30

“You gave no one a last farewell, nor ever said goodbye. You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why. A million times we will miss you. A million times we will cry. If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died. In life we loved you dearly, in death we love you still, in our hearts you hold a place no one else can fill.” 

It is with tremendous sorrow that the Ley family announces the unexpected passing of Thomas Cooper Ley on Jan. 11 — a beautiful soul taken too soon. 

Continue reading In Memoriam: Rumson-Raised RFH 2011 Grad, Artist, Skateboarder, Musician, Thomas ‘Cooper’ Ley, 30

Retro RFH Ski Club Sloping

RFH Ski Club of 1974-75
Photo/RFH Yearbook

Yes, we are in the throes of winter and its big chill. After some snow and rain, the sun came out today and made the cold sting just a little brighter. 

With that first little bit of white stuff in a flurry around the Rumson-Fair Haven area, our minds might be transported in time to RFH days when there was a small group of enthusiasts that loved the snow and took to the slopes regularly — the now defunct RFH Ski Club.

Continue reading Retro RFH Ski Club Sloping