It’s that time of the year when the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School Tower Singers sing — in that traditional winter concert. And they’ve sung.
The instrumental groups play, too. We’ve already reprised that part of those concert times of yesteryear, ironically, with the death of RFH’s former longtime instrumental director, Ken Walters.
Continue reading Retro RFH Holiday-Spirited Tower SingingFormer longtime Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Band Director Ken Walters, formerly of West Long Branch, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Friday morning, Dec. 12. He was 96.
Continue reading In Memoriam: Former Longtime RFH Band Director Ken Walters, 96
Letters of Intent are signed. It’s official. Four more Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) senior student-athletes have committed to their chosen colleges — athletically and academically.
A winter version reprise, by popular demand in honor of Toni Pomphrey, who worked there and recently passed away, and Lisa Preston, the RFH Class of ’75 girl at the counter who also passed and just had a birthday … Campus was a “free period” hot spot, as RFH dinosaurs know …
It’s all about being cool these winter days. It was in the 70s for RFHers, too.
Tonight, the RFH Tower Players are opening their fall show of the school year — Frozen Jr.. The RFH shows of this era are always billed as Tower Players plays, because, of course, it’s the drama club. But, in the age of the RFH Tower Player dinosaur, playing with the Tower Players was a bit different.
There were always been two productions, as with now, but not two musicals. That was the spring production only. Originally, there was a fall drama and a spring musical. The fall drama was a Tower Players play. Tower Players only were auditioned and cast. The spring musical a different, bigger, more school-wide production. It was billed as an RFH show, with auditions open to anyone in RFH, casting dance and vocal choruses, lead and supporting role actors and all.
Continue reading Retro RFH Tower Players Play Time
Call it a cool production.
The curtain goes up Friday on the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players in their fall musical production of Frozen Jr.; and the show will run through Sunday.
Thanksgiving is coming and football is still being served up at RFH, but no longer on the big turkey day as it was for decades.
Six Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) student-athletes have made their college choices official.
With the chill in the fall air and thoughts starting to turn to turkey and football, old-school RFHers are thinking homecoming. November used to be the time of year for such a thing. And it’s happening in a couple different ways pre-Thanksgiving this year in Rumson.
Say “uncle” and hold on tight.
One could say it’s never time to say “uncle” when it comes to letting go of the memories of two iconic Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) teachers/coaches. And it’s really not a problem — never relenting on remembrance. No reason to let such good go, right?
Saying “uncle” often literally had the opposite of the surrender effect for one Sea Bright-raised girl when it comes to her vise-gripping good memories of the now-gone RFH coaches/teachers Hal Lorme and Tom Botti, who taught her and many others well. That girl is Fran Rooney Raffetto and she’s called Lorme and Botti, family to her, “uncle” her entire life. And she’s not giving up that or the memories.
Her parents’ close relationship with the two and their spouses made Raffetto an adopted RFHer and niece, one could say, with enough of Lorme- and Botti-inspired RFH memories to last a lifetime and plenty to pass on to future generations. And she’s always been more than happy to share.
Legacy and love of the RFH teachers/coaches and their de-facto family ties in mind, Raffetto decided that now is that never-too-late time to bring people together who loved and admired her aunts and uncles and share the love by honoring their spirits in a special mass for the foursome years after their deaths on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Holy Cross Church in Rumson.
“I thought the memorial mass would be a nice way to see the Lorme and Botti family and give people a chance to honor and remember them,” Raffetto said. “(We need to) keep their memory alive. We frequented the RFH games throughout my childhood. I was so fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.”
The family-by-choice tie? Well, the Lormes were her godparents, so saying “uncle” — and “aunt” — to them was a real thing. The Bottis were best friends of her parents, who were Sea Bright icons in their own right, Charlie and Frances Rooney. Charlie was mayor at one time and, well, Frances is none other than Mrs. Rooney of Mrs. Rooney’s Hot Dog Stand fame for half a century. The two and their wives have taught Raffetto well, and she didn’t even have to be taught or coached by them in the traditional RFH sense.
Teachers. Coaches. It’s a pretty sure bet that most have had at least one, the other or both who mentored or taught them a lesson or a thousand in or out of the classroom in their youth. Botti and Lorme were two who embodied that.
Sometimes those lessons, or even a word or a few at just that right moment in our youth change us forever. Unforgettable. That’s what some are. And it’s pretty safe to say that besides Lorme and Botti, there’s an RFH teacher or a few that made that sort of lasting impact on many an RFH student’s life — and then some … even outside of the RFH campus.
And outside of the RFH halls and fields, there were some, like Raffetto, who got to call those teachers and coaches family.
“We spent so many wonderful times together over so many years,” Raffetto said. “One of many great memories was going to cheer on the RFH Bulldogs when my Uncle Hal and Mr. Botti where coaches! It was incredible!”
And the now-92 Mrs. Rooney, over the bridge in RFHers’ adopted beach and party hometown of Sea Bright, is family to RFH students, too. In fact, her photo made it on the inside cover of one of the RFH yearbooks, a de facto auntie.
So, a Bulldog cheer to saying “uncle” for the right familial reason and never letting go of the good memories!
Raffetto asks that all who would like to honor and remember the Hal and Joan Lorme (who passed away on Feb. 15, 2015 and Jan 21, 2020, respectively) and Tom and Vivian Botti (who passed away on July 6 and Oct. 14, 2016, respectively) join her, her family and theirs at Holy Cross on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Holy Cross at 5 p.m..
A reprise (originally posted on March 15, 2017, in honor of RFH gym teacher Lynn Broten, who recently passed away …
With the sting of the first fall frost and longing for that breath of warm fresh air, thoughts turn to days spent in the young teen sweat-infused gym at RFH. Oh, the ritual of that mandatory indoor exercise.
Ahhh, memories. More like a little PTSD remembrance of the torture the class was for some — especially when stuck inside. When you’re not an athlete and, for that matter, can barely volley a ball (and I mean barely), gym class day was the day of trying to get some sort of note of excuse from your mom to get you out of the embarrassment. Forgery became a talent. Though some moms could feel the uncoordinated kids’ pain and easily relented with prompt penning.
Former longtime Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) gym teacher and coach and vice principal, Caroll “Lynn” Broten, more recently of Tinton Falls, passed away peacefully at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank of complications due to COPD on Oct. 30. She was 83.
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