There was no tricking and a lot of treating going on Sunday when Rumson and Fair Haven both hosted their annual Halloween festivities.
It all started with a parade in Fair Haven that culminated with costume prizes, some socializing and snacks at the firehouse. Then, in Rumson kids of all ages paraded a short route from the front to the back of Forrestdale School where some costume judging and prizes ensued along with some carnival-type fun and games.
Take a look at Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect’s slideshow for a peek-a-BOO into the day. Enjoy!
We will be posting the photos in a separate gallery for purchase if you’d like your own copies.
The Halloween spirit is in the air and festivities to conjure it up into a hearty haunt abound this weekend.
There are parades, parties, costume contests, a haunted theater a regional run, and an egg hunt — yes, an egg hunt.
It all starts on Friday night with …
• Brookdale Community College’s Haunted Theater:
Adult tours are held Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 10:30 p.m. at the college’s Performing Arts Center.
General admission is $12, senior admission is $10 (age 62 and up, college staff and alumni), high school students pay $8, and Brookdale students are admitted for $5 (two-ticket limit).
Saturday …
• Fair Haven’s Halloween Egg Hunt starts at 5:30 p.m. at Fair Haven Fields near the concession stand.
It’s a play on the Easter Egg Hunt with a Halloween twist. The fields will be peppered with black and orange candy-filled eggs. Be there 15 minutes early and bring a bag for eggs.
The hunt is free.
• After the hunt, borough boy scout troops are hosting their Haunted Hike at 6:15 p.m.
The hike will take participants through the Fair Haven Fields Nature Area. Admission is a canned food item for donation.
Sunday …
• The regional 22nd Annual Trick or Trot 5K Race and Pet Walk, hosted by the Jersey Shore Running Club (JSRC) and the Deal Fire Company No. 2, will take place at 11 a.m. at the Deal Casino in Deal.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the homeless animals at the Monmouth County SPCA and the Deal Fire Company. Over the past 21 years, the Trick or Trot has attracted nearly 50,000 participants and raised more than $25,000 for its beneficiaries. Formerly held in Long Branch, the large, regional run is now in Deal.
Race-day registration in person begins at the Deal Casino at 9:30 a.m. The Trick or Trot Kids Dash starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by the 5K Race at 11 a.m., with the Pet Walk at 11:05 a.m.
The People and Pet Costume Parades will take place at 11:45 a.m., followed by awards and prizes! Deal Fire Company will host a post-race party on site with hot dogs, beverages and music.
Registration costs for the 5K and Pet Walk are $25. Registration for the Kids Dashes is $15. Long-sleeved t-shirts are provided to all who pre-register.
Fair Haven Halloween Parade 2014 Photo/Elaine Van Develde
• The Fair Haven Halloween Parade/Costume Contest lines up at Knollwood School on Hance Road at 1:30 p.m. and makes its way down Hance and River roads and to the Fair Haven Firehouse at 2 p.m.
Prizes will be given out at the firehouse.
Children of all ages are welcome.
Rumson Halloween 2014 Photo/Elaine Van Develde
• The Rumson Halloween Parade and Party runs at Forrestdale School from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Line-up is at the school’s main entrance at 3:15 p.m. There will be a costume contest and prizes, thematic games and activities, hot dogs and beverages and a trick-or-treat.
It’s as good as it gets for anyone in the area and beyond — that classic lobster pizza at Val’s Tavern in Rumson.
The pie, as they call it, is pretty simple, yet has been a deluxe gourmet sort of pizza treat for many for decades.
It’s a thin-crust pizza flush with all the normal pizza stuff, but great quality, like the good sauce and cheese. Add to that some Brazilian lobster and, if you so choose, some hot sauce.
With Joaquin winding its way northeast, Rumson-Fair Haven area residents are hoping it the predicted path will stay on course and not become reminiscent of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath.
Despite the lack of similarities in storms, officials area urging preparedness with a since-Sandy “better-be-safe-than-sorry” mindset.
So, as a reminder that we made it through the worst in a storm, Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect is taking a look back at the post-Sandy scene in Rumson, Fair Haven and Sea Bright.
The Tandy and gifted and talented Rumson students Photo/Red Bank Register archives
Apparently, it was considered a gifted and talented trait in the early 1980s to be well-versed in the operation of a Tandy computer — or whatever you want to call it.
This Red Bank Register photo went unpublished in March of 1982.
It shows Rumson students, clad in the oh, so traditional preppie fair isle sweaters and turtle necks, gathering around the ol’ Tandy in this promo for a “conference on gifted students for elementary school teachers and administrators to be held at Brookdale Community College on March 26,” a photo caption in the archives of the 2011 Monmouth County Library exhibit entitled Red Bank Register: 40 Photographs, 1976-1985 said. “The Model 3, released in July 1980 and sold at Radio Shack, featured a 2.03 MHz processor; it predated by more than a year the first IBM PC, introduced in August 1981.”
So, the Retro Pic of the Day takes us back to that March 13, 1982 with a copy of an unpublished Register photo of that day.
The exhibit featured the work of several Register photographers. The photos came from years’ worth of preservation of negatives from the work of Carl Andrews, James J. Connolly, Carl Forino, Dave Kingdon, Don Lordi and Larry Perna.
While the records did not indicate which photographer took the RFH shot, it’s a classic, so we’re sharing it in our look back for the day.
So, have you ever worked on a Tandy? What about a word processor? Recognize anyone?
Skateboarding in the late 1970s in Rumson Photo/George Day
There has long been a debate in the Rumson-Fair Haven area about the merits and menaces inherent in skateboarding as a sport.
In the late 1990s and 2000, a contingent of parents and teens rallied for a skate park in Fair Haven. And there was also a group as enthusiastically opposed as supporters were supportive.
Here’s the new Holy Cross Church, here’s the steeple. Pretty soon the doors will be open and there will be people, as a Rumson twist on the classic rhyme goes.
If you drive by the revamped Holy Cross Church in Rumson, you’ll see that it’s ready for parishioners.
However, as Catholic church discipline dictates, there must first be a dedication before a Mass is celebrated in a new or rehabilitated house of worship.
That dedication will take place on Saturday at 4 p.m. A reception will follow in the gym of the school on the campus.
Longtime Rumson resident and area lawyer Thomas F. Daly died on Sept. 8.
A graduate of Lower Merion High School, Lafayette College and the Georgetown University Law School, he served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. While attending law school, he was the Georgetown Lacrosse Team’s Head Coach.
A longtime partner of the McCarter & English law firm, Tom was a communicant of Holy Cross Church in Rumson, a member and former governor of the Seabright Beach Club and a member of the Rumson First Aid Squad and member of its Board of Trustees.
He was also a commissioner and former president of the New Jersey Maritime and Docking Pilots Commission, a trustee of the National Maritime Historical Society and the Sandy Hook Foundation.
He was an adjunct professor of maritime law at Rutgers University Law School, as well as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Association of Barristers. He was a member of the International Association of Defense Council, the Maritime Law Society and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Tom lectured extensively on aviation, maritime law and trial procedures. He was a passionate athlete who loved lacrosse and football. Later in life he became an avid skier. He was always drawn to the water, whether it be fishing, sailing, lifeguarding or relaxing at the beach with his family.
He is survived by: his wife Nancy; their children Charles Bartlett (Trish), of Ocean, Julia Oliphant (David) of Royal Oaks, MI, Emily Mee (Daniel), of Rumson and Morgan Zimmerer (Hans), of Fair Haven; ten grandchildren Tyler, Andrew, Morgan, Ben, Kelly, Ellie, Annie, Grant, Riley & Cate and his brother, Rev. Jerome R. Daly of Fort Belvoir, VA.
He was predeceased by: his parents, John and Dorothy Daly; and his brother, John Daly.
Visitation was on Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Thompson Memorial Home, 310 Broad Street, Red Bank.
A Mass of christian burial was celebrated on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Nativity, 180 Ridge Rd., Fair Haven.
Interment followed at Woodbine Cemetery, Oceanport.
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to the Rumson First Aid Squad, 1 Wilson Circle, Rumson, NJ 07760 or the National Maritime Historical Society, PO Box 68, Peeksville, NY 10566 or online at www.seahistory.org
Don Blesse lived in Rumson for nearly half a century.
The U.S. Navy World War II and Korean War veteran raised his family in Rumson. And every Memorial and Veterans Day service you’d see the tall, gentleman front-and-center at Victory Park paying ode to fallen fellow vets, hat to his heart.
In fact, it was not too long ago, in May, when we last saw Blesse in his usual spot at the Rumson Memorial Day service.
Now we know that he will be missing at the Veterans Day service in November. That’s because he passed away at 89 on Aug. 12.
We remember Mr. Blesse. We knew his kids. We went to RFH with them. And while we did not know their dad well, we knew he was a vet. We knew he was a father of three. We knew he was excited a couple of years ago, when we chatted with him after a Veteran’s Day service, to soon be on his way to a visit with them.
Sporting his signature veteran’s hat, he modestly talked about how he was an aviation electrician who worked on aircraft carriers in the Atlantic Ocean during the war.
He was proud, yet soft-spoken and modest. You could see his love of country and hometown. He wore it in his smile and demeanor, his bride, the mother of his children still by his side, also smiling contentedly.
He said nothing about working tirelessly to bring that veteran’s memorial to Victory Park that day. We read that in his obituary.
Don Blesse died on Aug. 12 at his relatively new home in Red Bank. He won’t be at the next memorial service in town. His simple legacy will.
We missed his own memorial service. But, we haven’t forgotten him.
People like him shouldn’t be forgotten — people living their lives, cognizant of and considerate of the people in them, serving their country and community in modest, meaningful ways, doing the right thing.
It was nice to have that brief chat with that dad and man behind the kids we knew that one day, a couple of years ago. It was good to get that glimpse — however fleeting — of yet another person who had passed through our lives, in an unobtrusive way, through his children, through his sometimes everyday, sometimes grander contributions to the community.
“Speak to people.” It’s what Fair Haven Police Chief Darryl Breckenridge told us was his mother’s best advice to him in life.
She was right. One hello, one day, brought a little insight into a life and a nice surprise. And every time we saw Don Blesse after that, we remembered a little something about him.
Now we say goodbye, never forgetting the hello.
RIP Mr. Blesse. Condolences to Carol, Paul, Donald and Ken — and your many friends and extended family.
Donald Edwin Blesse, 89, of Red Bank died at home on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015.
He was born in Weehawken and lived in Rumson and Little Silver before moving to Red Bank three years ago.
He was a tall, friendly and kind man who willingly served for many years in the communities in which he lived and his church. After earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Business Administration from Rutgers University, he worked for Bell Laboratories for 38 years before retiring in 1987.
He honorably served in the US Navy as an Aviation Electrician’s Mate aboard aircraft carriers during WWII and the Korean War.
Continually steadfast in his faith as a member of St. George’s by the River Episcopal Church for 53 years, he served as church school Superintendent for 28 years, Canterbury Fair treasurer, sang in the choir and was on the Vestry.
In Rumson, he was on the school board, active as a leader in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and in later years worked tirelessly to create a new veterans’ memorial in Victory Park.
He is survived by: his wife of 63 years, Carol Einbeck Blesse; three sons, Donald A. Blesse, of Lakewood, OH; Ken Blesse, of Fairview Park, OH; Paul Blesse, of Johns Creek, GA; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his name would be welcome to the St. George’s Outreach or Memorial funds, 7 Lincoln Avenue, Rumson, NJ 07760; www.stgeorgesrumson.org. In the notes section, please identify which fund.
Bob Jones, of Rumson, passed away on Aug. 16. Photo/courtesy of Thompson Memorial Home
Services are set for Monday for Rumson’s Robert (Bob) S. Jones, Jr., former president of Rumson Country Club Board and trustee of the Riverview Medical Center Foundation, who died Sunday, Aug. 16, after a losing a courageous battle with cancer. He was 74.
Born in Baltimore, Bob attended Lower Merion High School where he met the love of his life, Sharon. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he served from 1959 to 1962.
A 1987 graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University,having earned both his CLU designation (1971) and ChFC degree(1982), he got his undergraduate degree in economics from Gettysburg College in 1965.
In the summer of 1965, Bob began his 42-year career with AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S.), serving as an advisor, district and agency manager, and in the company’s marketing and retail operations as well as executive vice president, head of Retail and chairman of company advisors.
Bob had myriad professional and community affiliations. He was president of the Pittsburgh Life Underwriters, president of the Agency Round Table, a board member of the LUTC, president of Equitable’s Management Association, and a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable.
Bob was also a board member of the Riverview Medical Center Foundation, served on the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, and the U.S.O. of Metropolitan New York, and was a trustee emeritus of Gettysburg College.
He was a member of: the Pittsburgh Field Club, where he served as a board member from 1980-84; Rumson Country Club, where he served as a board member from 2000-06, and president from 2003-06; the Sailfish Point Foundation, the Sailfish Point Golf Board and the Sailfish Point Marina Board; the Medalist Golf Club and the Stone Harbor Golf Club.
After retiring, Bob enjoyed golfing, bird hunting, fishing and thoroughbred racehorse ownership, his latest hobby.
“As part of ABL Stables (formerly BDL Stables), Bob found tremendous joy in each and every racehorse he owned,” his obituary said. “Bob was also a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan, never giving up his season tickets even after he moved to New Jersey. However, Bob’s greatest happiness came from his family. He became known around town as “Big Bob” shortly after his first grandchild was born.
“Bob made an impact on everyone around him, with his zest for life, his kindness and his generosity. He will be forever missed by the numerous people whose lives he touched.”
Bob is survived by: his wife of 52 years, Sharon Jones, of Rumson; his daughter, Kelly DalPra and husband Kenny, of Rumson; his daughter, Kirsten Ward, and husband Chris, of Fair Haven; his daughter Ashley Jones and Sue Dillon of Fair Haven; and his son, Matt Jones and wife Elaine, of Fair Haven; his eight grandchildren, Robert, Klayton, Kyle, Marin, Brayden, Liam, May and Milo; his brother, Elliot Jones and wife Melanie, of Florida; and many nieces, nephews and friends.
Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24 at Thompson Memorial Home, 310 Broad Street, Red Bank.
A memorial Mass will follow on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 11 a.m. at The Church of the Nativity, 180 Ridge Road, Fair Haven.
Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made in his memory to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123, 1-800-227-2345 or online at www.cancer.org/donate.
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