Henry J. Coffey Photo/family via John E. Day Funeral Home
Born in New York City to the late Henry and Jean (Moore) Coffey, Henry worked throughout his life for Chester Cable and City Service Oil Company. He retired from Paige Electric as its executive vice president in 2017.
Henry is survived by: his beloved wife of 62 years, Therese Moran Coffey, of Rumson; his loving children, Howard and his wife Elaine Coffey, of Red Bank, James and his wife Rosa Coffey, of Florida, Kelli Ann and her husband Dr. Lawrence Caplin, of Pennsylvania; his dear sister, Barbara and her husband Roland Babcock, of Nevada; and his nine cherished grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements are private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Henry’s memory may be sent to Rumson Ambulance Corp. and the local food bank in Red Bank.
Oceanfront Softball Team circa 1980 Photo/Chip Irish via Facebook
As we continue to mourn the loss of the baseball season, among other athletics, due to COVID-19, thoughts, and a memory scroll on Facebook bring us back to the days of another kind of ballgame camaraderie — the softball league of the past.
The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) alumnus community with the death from complications of the virus of RFH Class of ’72 graduate and community theater actor Hal Holst on April 2.
Of the previous week’s seven infractions of the statewide stay-at-home edict during the COVID-19 pandemic that were cited on Sunday by Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Saturday’s Rumson party was honed in on as the most flagrant of defiances.
“Well, you don’t get much more blatant than the party crowd in Rumson that resisted and insulted police officers who asked them to disperse,” NJ State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick Callahan said in a released statement.
As social media comments ran rampant after Rumson police on Saturday night issued a statement about the party and the blatant defiance they were met with when they broke it up, announcing a zero tolerance policy moving forward, they followed that up on Sunday an announcement that the matter was under investigation and charges were pending.
Rumson Police Chief Scott Paterson is handling all inquiries and has been contacted by R-FH Retro. His comments will be included when they become available.
In the meantime, the Attorney General has announced that charges were filed in the incident against at least one person.
“John Maldjian, 54, of Rumson, was charged today by the Rumson Police with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and two separate charges related to violating the emergency orders. All are disorderly persons offenses,” the release from the Attorney General said.
The charges are all disorderly persons offenses.
Maldjian is a musician and attorney, according to his Facebook page. Police, according to the release, were dispatched at 8:19 p.m. to respond to a large party on Blackpoint Road with a band.
“When they arrived, they discovered the homeowner, John Maldjian, together with another man, playing acoustic guitars on the front porch of the home. There were approximately 30 people, between the ages of 40 and 50, gathered on Maldjian’s front lawn and the adjoining street watching the performance. Some had lawn chairs and alcoholic beverages,” the release added.
The police cars’ flashing lights and requests to end the party were ignored. The band kept playing. Maldjian did not stop singing and playing until approached by an officer.
The crowd became unruly at this point, police said, and shouting curses at police and “Welcome to Nazi Germany.”
Charges against those unruly audience members/party attendees are “forthcoming,” the Attorney General said.
“The Governor’s executive orders are commonsense measures to keep people safe during this historic health crisis,” Attorney General Grewal said. “When people like the partiers in Rumson flout the orders and show disrespect and hostility to police officers, they not only put themselves and the others immediately involved in peril, they risk inciting others to engage in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior. Our police officers are working courageously every day to protect us all, and we will continue to charge anyone who violates the emergency orders, which literally are a matter of life and death.”
The other statewide incidents cited included: 11 non-essential businesses in Newark being open; a woman arrested in Teaneck coughing and spitting on police while in custody, saying she had the virus; a Wegmans supermarket coughing incident; a dog groomer continuing to operate; a backyard gathering in Toms River; and someone bringing five youths from a youth shelter out to play basketball.
As of Sunday, there were 2,351 positive cases of COVID-19 in Monmouth County alone. In Rumson, the positive count is up to 21. In Fair Haven the count is up to 14. In Middletown, the largest municipality in the county, over the bridge from Rumson, the township has largest number of positive cases at 217 now.
A gloomy day at the riverfront in Rumson Photo/Doug Borden
The sun may have finally come out today, but the picture is a dank, grim one as far as soaring COVID-19 stats go for the state and area. It’s no April Fool’s joke. Solitude is the only thing that will squash the curve, state, county and local authorities repeat with veracity daily.
Many quarantined Rumson-Fair Haven area folks of a certain generation may be, about now, replaying in their minds, or even acting out a mantra from an old Seinfeld episode — “Serenity nowwwww!”
With New Jersey seeing a total of 18,696 as of Tuesday afternoon having tested positive for the virus, a jump overnight of 2,196 and 265 deaths (up by 69), three in their 30s, NJ Gov. Phil Murphy has continually pleaded with residents to just stay home to save lives and flatten the curve.
Citing the two young men who succumbed to COVID-19, but reaffirming that deaths from the virus tend to still hit the older and compromised community harder, Murphy stressed that the young mens’ deaths bring home the fact that “this is a reality for ALL of us.”
“I cannot be any clearer in my call,” the governor added. “Stay at home before this hits home. Please do your part to flatten this curve … We are not an average state. We are a “We can do the impossible” state. That is New Jersey. “Our job collectively is to stay at home and flatten that curve. If we do our part, we can meaningfully slow the spread and save lives … This is not about you, it’s about us. Now is the time to be selfless, not selfish … The very best thing we can do together is to stay home and to keep our distance from anyone else, even at home. “
NJ Gov. Phil Murphy, Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2020
The governor thanked everyone on the front lines, especially healthcare workers and emergency responders. He particularly pointed to the state’s “unsung heroes … home health aides, sanitation workers, retail employees, teamsters, truck drivers and transit workers. Their dedication means the world and it means that we will emerge from this stronger.”
The RFH Class of 2020 at the annual 100 Nights Dinner Photo/RFH
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s (RFH) Class of 2020 got its last gathering hurrah in before COVID-19 descended on the community with the high school’s annual tradition of the 100 Nights Dinner.
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