4 k Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 8 January '86

I , : Seven Mile Beach M'Ellen Rowland 368-2294

After seeing the new year in 'til the wee hours we greeted the morning with restraint. Two nifty parties got us back in gear Marty and Jim Conlin (he's head of the business department at MTSH) have a traditional open house each Jan 1 With son Jeff they prepare and serve a threecourse breakfast for about 60. It's a jolly mix of

generations, bully grub and real conversation As usual we met new friends Katfcy and Arthur Coraril are p e lung for an extended for n extended cruise aboar QE II and Fraa and - -»1y -retired. George TW . from Green Creek Anino^ the familiar faces were Sandy and Don Cramer they own the charter boat). Elaine and Bob Juai. Jane and Carey-

Boss. Bill Groves who's just become a year-round resident, Fr. Michael Orsi, Harriet and Bud Zuccato with their son Rick, his wife and Marie Zuccato III. If you're wondering what they'll be wearing this year you should be with Harriet Jan. I — she personifies chic in a griege knit with doeslain boots to match. SECOND PARTY was a high lea at Delores and

Tony Celona's divine home overlooking the sea. Delores should be a professional interior designer; she must have had training in that field. When we raved, Tony said, "What you see is all Doris". Her innovations made us see them with envy. They had both worked all evening before on the Seniors' party and we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw their collation until Doris said Candlelight and Caviar had catered their own party. Star of the affair was Msgr. Vincent Giammarino. He has the unerring timing of a Jack Benny — always leaves them hoDing for more. Jeane LaBarre, a diminutive 22-year-older from Cehallis (near Seattle), Washington. Her company name is Little Thing. her hobbies are swimming, riding and photography. The words vivacity and enthusiasm encapsulate her description. Despite rising at 4:30 a.m. and having kitchen police duty all week, her interest sparkled at every conversational topic. We detached nostalgia only when she spoke of her parents and roles they play in the philanthropic Eagles' organization. Willowy Jill Russell of^ Port Richey, Fla. is 21. She chose USCG because of her love the sea, boating, swimming and fishing. Her warmth and quiet confidence are almost palpable, her espirit de corps tremendous. If the service is as perceptive as it is choosy about inductees, they'll place her in recruiting. Her description of morale-lift received from her company commander listens like idealism. The self- confidence for which she credits the Coast Guard is not misplaced — she knows where she's going, and she'll get there. THIRD GAL we loved is Ava Redmond of New Orleans. -La. She wears her uniform like a banner. A graduate cosmetician and former WAC, her hobbies are: Modeling, jazz, travel and gourmet cooking. She obviously missed her three-year-old laughter Grace, whose mentality leapt from her^ioto into our hearts. Ava's driving force is to succeed for her daughter's sake. Modesty prevents here realization that the quality of being a winner is inherent. Youngest of the litter was Bill Scott of Ridley Park, Pa. Bill has been summering in this area since infancy. Because he loved it so much, he chose USGG as a„ career, because he made such good grades he got a choice in his next tour of duty. He'll return to become part of the permanent cadre at Cape May after two weeks of liberty. He communicates his interest in the service, world affairs and sports readily. He was out-numbered that day but never out-classed. IF YOU SEE no hope for this generation and deplore the lack of patriotism Operation Fireside is the cure. These young people are terrific, their pride in their country and job undertaken unlimited.

Regretfully, we joined the caravan returning to Tracen. After a whispered consultation, the trainees serenaded us with Christmas carols during the journey. Memory of their sweet, soft voices, particularly Jill Russell's* pure tones, will remain with us always. When we dropped them off at the chapel, the sincerity of their thanks and the fondness of their hugs reduced us to tears. Opertion Fireside, we thank you for a beautiful day. We just spoke with Gertrude Reiss who is responsible for our having these young people. Asr you will have guessed, she is a terrific gal — she told us 380 students were entertained over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. She is exhausted but so grateful to all the hosts who helped. Stone Harbor Seniors, New Year's Eve was finally a blast despite setbacks of nasty weather and an ailing chairman of the event. Pauline and Frank D'Elia agreed to co-chair it (Frank is the one who master-minded Msgr. Giammarino's dinner party at Whitebrier Inn) but Dec. 30 he awoke with chills, fever and every k other indication that he would greet '86 while confined to his bed. Eastily-summoned Seniors rushed to salvage the evening and even without its high honcho it proved a great success Acoustical expert Drew Woolery set up the audio system. Jane Boss (with 'the assistance of the Women's Civic Club) filled the need for missing table cloths, Jean Westhoff, Dot and Norman McMahon, Delores and Tony Celona, Mary and BUI Duke. Marie and Len Helbig. Eleanor and Jim Kane and Alice and Scott Daniels applied minds and muscle and all other regulars supplied culinary specialties. / AMID EXTRAVAGANT decorations, courtesy of the Avalon/Stone Harbor Post 133 of American Legion, dancers dipped and strutted to music by Stone Harbor Seniors orchestra and a tape of Guy Lombardo's nostalgic New Yea's' Eve renditions. Solely in the interest of accurate news coverage (he tells us), our spouse checks out the terpsicichorean talent i.e., when Gayle (Mrs. Commander Jim) Daniel is among the guest he makes sure of her continued proficiency several times. Gayle isn't eligible (point of years) for Seniors so prexy Jerry Rowland concentrated on Mary Duke's considerable expertise in this area. Also in the interest in journalism, we did a.litte checking ourselves and can report that George Harper, Norm McMahon and Len Helbig wear the bravest smiles when trod upon by heavier toes. Swellest strut, by far, was performed by Dr. Jim K.ine (Seniors' veep), he even carried a tiny umbrella for the job. WE ALMOST missed the delightful holiday dinner given by Eleanor and Dr.

Kane in conjunction with Sara and Pat Brady in the • Kane's deceptively pmall red home in Pennsylvania Ave. Small it's not. It was designed with parties in mind, with three living rooms and a big fireplace in the main room. We had promised to cover a meeting at Borough Hall that night and missed out on Brady's reknowned pepper steak and Eleanor's tantalizing chicken salad, but our hosts were gracious an gave us a rain-check. Happily at the general meeting of Borough Council it passed an ordinance to control proliferation of duplex housing — empty tummy that night but a full heart. WE'VE FINALLY gotten to see Bonnie Rr ia's magnificent Sea House in Cape May in its Christmas finery. The enormous Victorian mansion is a legend and we expected to be impresed, but stunned is more like it. There are 31 Christmas trees for starters. There are also thousands upon thousands of ornaments, hundreds of dolls and myriad Teddy bears. We asked Bonnie's mother, Margaret Jones, how long it had taken to decorate their home and she said "eight 15-hour days." Before a brisk welcoming fire we got to know people with whom we've nad only a nodding acquaintance, enjoyed a bounteous buffet and took an unforgettable tour through almost a century s Christmas memories (three generations are represented). As we said, we've seen but we still don't believe it! STONE HARBOR Seniors' tour to Wheat on Village started off in busshaking sighs from Siberia but the wind died as we lunched in their new buffetv style restaurant. This is a j flat-heels-only extensive - walking tour and complete- " ly rewarding. We had our own knowledgeable guides with us, Arlene and Quentin Sternbergh, who owned an antique shop for years. Que told us what a schnitzelbaum (woodworking device) was when the volunteer guide didn't know. The glass museum is breathtaking. It even had the rare eyewinker glass which Arlene collects. The Christmas tree was fantastic. It was the top 15 feet of a 30-ft. tree brought from Laurel Lake and trimmed with ornaments of velvet, lace and ribbon created by volunteer guide Iva Shindler. Words can't describe the endless collection of paperweights or the fascination of watching one made by an artisan. For most this was the highlight of the day but the Victorian doll houses will ensure a return visit from us.

To Village, Park Hall* School Moving

. By E. J. DUFFY Joseph Edwards House Movers of Deimont is scheduled to uproot Lower Township's old municipal hall next week and the Green Creek Schoolhouse sometime in the near future. Edwards was supposed to begin work Monday on preparing the 1897 hall for its move up Seashore Road, from the township Public Works complex to the county's Historic Cold Spring Village, according to Freeholder Herbert Frederick who oversees village operations. There, the two-story frame landmark will become a county maritime museum and focal point of a new Route 9 entrance. Middle Township planners last month approved moving the 1840 schoolhouse from Route 47 in Green Creek to the County Park South, Del Haven. SCHOOLHOUSE OWNER. William Szathmary of Szathmary Supply Co. Inc. said he expects the move during the "first quarter" of this year but "can't pin down" the exact date. J "See," he explained last week, "the county has put in the footing and the foundation." ' That work was underway last week, but moving permits were pending then, according to Leon Fulginiti, Park Commission executive director. He was expecting the schoolhouse move "any day." Szathmary had offered the county $10,000 toward moving the two-story frame schoolhouse to Historic Cold spring Village but its nine-member board rejected that proposal. The board reconsidered it and the old township hall for a county maritime museum at the village, however, after the state promised a $250,000 grant for that project. Board members seemed to be favoring the old hall when the Park Commission indicated interest in the old schoolhouse and later decided to take it. County government plans for a maritime museum at the village sparked a dispute last summer with Cape May County Fisherman's Memorial Inc. It has been raising money for a monument to lost seamen in Cape May and. eventually, a maritime museum there. "EVERYTHING'S POSITIVE" between both sides now. Frederick said last week, as the result of a "very successful" meeting to settle differences. "That's correct." confirmed Jeff Reichle of the memorial committee, calling the resolved dispute over the maritime museum "a basic misunderstanding." The county, he said, has offered to help the committee raise money for its project and will advertise it in tourist brochures. His organization's "first priority" is to construct the 17-ton, 1 1-foot monument on a 60- by 200-foot site along Cold Spring (Cape May) Inlet at Missouri and Pittsburgh avenues. Memorial committee members have budgeted $150,000 for the seamen's monument and are "still in the process of raising funds," Reichle explained. They're hoping to acquire an antenna site nearby from the federal government for a museum, but that's still in the future, he added. He said the county will concentrate on collecting artifacts from the fishing and boating industries in general while the memorial group's museum would focus on commercial fishing. "WE'RE GOING TO WORK together on artifacts, too," Frederick said of the two proposed museums. "We're going to be looking for things

that had to do with fishing in the early days," he added, stressing that artifacts "have to be of historic value. "Really, right now, we're not restricted to anything," the freeholder continued, referring to artifacts for the county museum. Donors will be recognized on plaques for their contributions of nautical antiques, he noted. "Starting in January," Frederick said last week, county Public Affairs Assistant Director Louis A. Rodia Jr., who drafted the museum grant proposal, will be coordinating maritime artifact collection efforts with the village board and memorial committee. Collecting several outbuildings for the 15-acre village from Historic Smithville has "run into a snag," though, Frederick confirmed, with zoners for the Atlantic County municipality that includes that tourist attraction. "ITS A REAL PROBLEM." the freeholder added. "It (outbuilding acquisition) might not be as quickly as we hoped." But it looks like the old township hall will be restored and renovated into the county 's maritime museum in time for the summer tourist season. Frederick said. "Our projected date is Memorial Day," he added. Workers have "started to clear" the museum site while the movers are severing the old hall from one-story additions Electrical and other utility lines have already been cut "The planned move ... should start around Jan. lp." Frederick said. "It takes about a week to prep." While serving as a municipal court, the hall's second floor was damaged in a July 1977 arson, but Frederick has said, the damage appears "only superficim." Lower Township, which bought the building in August 1941 for $4,000 from a patriotic organization, has been using it for storage since a new municipal hall was built in Villas seven years ago. CALLING THE LANDMARK a fire hazard, Township Manager James R. Stump wanted to donate it to anyone willing to move it — with $1,000-$3,000 from Lower toward the estimated $7,000-$8,000 cost — rather than demolish the historic structure. Stump proposed to bulldoze the building last January after a prospective taker. Dr. Joseph Salvatore, donated Historic Cold Spring Village to the county and it seemed uninterested in accepting the hall. That all changed with the state museum grant and a township boost in the moving contribution to $5,000. "... We definitely do need a building at the other (Route 9) end," Frederick has said of a second entrance to the village. The village board, he said, has easements from utility companies for that roadway and verbal approval from Conrail for the entrance jcross its unused railroad tracts along Riute 9, the former Pennsylvania-Reading ieashore Line. Still pending, however, is a state permit for the new roadway. It's needed. Frederick said, because Route 9 is a state highway. 1 "We don't know if we're going to get to 1 that this year," he added, referring to village plans for repairing the historic cold 1 spring that lends the village its name. Near the proposed Route 9 entrance, the ' spring's enclosure has needed repair for » some time. The village board intends to fix it. Frederick said, but might have to wait ' until next year.