Tag Archives: volunteer

Public Fishes for Reason Native Fair Havenite Tossed from Volunteer Spot

Fair Haven residents and beyond are still fishing for an answer to an unprecedented rogue wave of a Fair Haven governing body decision to knock a volunteer out of a regional committee of his own resurrection designed to protect the Navesink River.

What was dubbed a “slap in the face” turned into some verbal fisticuffs when a wave of riled residents at Monday’s Fair Haven Borough Council meeting turned out to turn the tide of borough business by defending that volunteer, fourth-generation Fair Havenite and boat captain, Brian Rice. It became a full knock-out when the ousting became official with a contentious 3-2 vote with one abstention.

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In Memoriam: Former Longtime Little Silver Resident, Riverview Volunteer, Nancy MacConnell, 92

Former longtime Little Silver resident, Nancy Ann Birkenmeier MacConnell, more recently of Middletown, passed away at home on Jan. 25. She was 92.

Nancy MacConnell
Photo/family via Thompson Memorial Home

“Nancy was a 65-year member of the Tower Hill Presbyterian Church where she was a deacon from 2002 to 2004. She was a volunteer at Riverview Medical Center where she was president of the Ladies Auxiliary from 1950 to 1960. She was a member for 35 years of the Surfrider Beach Club and later at
Sands Beach Club in Sea Bright.

She was a true nature lover feeding all of the deer and wildlife in her backyard but her favorite was her dog Heidi.”

Loved ones of Nancy MacConnell in her obituary

Nancy was predeceased by: her parents, Robert and Elizabeth Birkenmeier; her sister, Betsy Mueller; brother R. Barrett Birkenmeier; her husband, Donald W. MacConnell, in 1996; and her son, Wylie, in 1960.

She is survived by: her children, Melissa and husband James Sullivan, Debbie and husband Tom Doremus, Peter and wife Cathy MacConnell, and Nancy and husband David Wikoff; her grandchildren, Sean, Shannon, Caitlin, T.D., Taylor, Kristyn, Blaire and Brian; and great-grandchildren, Cole, Teagan, Rhys, Camryn, Tessa, Ruby, Saylor and Brody.

All arrangements are private. Donations to the Monmouth County SPCA, 260 Wall Street, Eatontown, NJ 07724 would be appreciated.

— Edited obituary prepared by family via Thompson Memorial Home

Honoring Fair Haven’s Larry Quigley

By Elaine Van Develde

What is it that longtime Fair Havenite Larry Quigley has not done as a volunteer serving the town he has called home for more than a quarter of a century?

“That’s the question,” Mayor Ben Lucarelli said before Monday night’s Borough Council meeting as he looked over a proclamation the borough had prepared to honor Quigley. “If you ask what he’s done, the list is just endless. So the question becomes ‘What has Larry Quigley not done?’ and the answer is ‘Not much.’ I’m looking at about, let’s see, nine committees and/or boards he’s served on, not to mention the fire company.”

So, the mayor said, that’s why the borough decided to honor Quigley. “He really deserves it,” Lucarelli said.

Quigley, an attorney, has lived in the borough for more than 25 years, the proclamation said. He was recognized for his “many years of selfless public service.”

In those years, Quigley has served on Fair Haven’s: Historic Commission; Planning and Zoning (14 years) boards, with a stint as vice-chairman of Zoning; Long Range Planning Committee, as chairman of its Land Use subcommittee; Land Use and Revision Committee (1996 to 1998); Memorial Park Advisory Committee; World War II Veterans’ Memorial Monument Committee; 9/11 Memorial Committee; and the Communications Committee, as its first chairman in 2003.

Quigley was also chairman of the 2008 Veterans Day in the borough.

He was also a social member of the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department.

“As our first Communications Committee chair, Larry really helped a lot with advising the administration on how to effectively communicate with residents, such as with our newsletter (Focus on Fair Haven), and he was also the unofficial photographer for a lot of events,” the mayor said. “His dedication just didn’t stop at committees. Larry’s advice, as the proclamation says, has been sought out by everybody — mayors, administrators, council members, attorneys, employees. We thank him and wish him the best.”