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“Loyalty: John Basilone”

On November 10, 2017

Sgt. Basilone statue by childhood friend Philip Orlando

On this Veterans Day and the birthday of the Marine Corps, we remember with gratitude service members like Marine Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone. He was the first US Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest military award given by Congress for valor and presented by the president. Ninety-six brave New Jerseyans have had the medal bestowed on them in appreciation. Congress honored Sergeant Basilone for holding the line, single-handedly, in the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II when his men were wounded. He later crossed enemy lines to get ammunition for those men, who without it would have been defenseless. Not only was this champion boxer’s valor remarkable, but so was his loyalty and strategic thinking under duress. The rallying of his troops also turned the six-month battle into a US victory.

A modest man, John Basilone declined an officer’s commission after Guadalcanal. Despite carrying the burden of memories of the harshest realities of life, he was generously light-hearted with family and friends. Uncomfortable with the public acclaim he received upon his return to the US, Sergeant Basilone deflected attention to his fellow Marines who were still fighting in the Pacific. At a time when he and his fellow Italian-Americans were referred to by some as being “without papers,” the son of an Italian-born father chose to leave his bride, family, homeland, and safety to rejoin those Marines in combat where he bravely led them, many only teenagers, in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Part of the first wave, Sergeant Basilone destroyed a blockhouse, one of the beach fortresses from which enemy machine gun fire was killing Marines, enabling his men to take an airfield. Minutes later, he gave his life for his country at the age of 27.

Word spread quickly across the beach that Sergeant Basilone was down. Those left living in the bloody wave fought harder in what became a six-week onslaught and a vital strategic victory for the United States in WWII. In the face of such an unexpected defense, some of the young men on the beach could see the commanders order more forward into what was a slaughter, but with the Marines’ loyalty to each other and the miracle of noble character, they still fought as had their hero US Marine Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone.

“John Basilone remains the only soldier (non-officer) in U.S. history to be awarded both The Congressional Medal of Honor and The Navy Cross. He is also the only Medal of Honor winner to go back into combat and be killed in combat.” (Raritan-Online.com) Posthumously, Sergeant Basilone was honored with the Navy Cross, given to a member of the US Navy, US Marines, or US Coast Guard for heroism in combat, and the Purple Heart, the country’s oldest recurring military award created by President George Washington. The Purple Heart is given in the president’s name to any member of the Armed Forces wounded or killed in combat. He was one of 4,700 Marines who died in the Battle of Iwo Jima where 15,308 were also wounded, characteristic of the bravery and sacrifice of that generation. There was, however, respectful recognition noting a namesake bridge and a second battleship about to be named in his honor.

Statue with Veterans Park a few weeks before parade

…and the transformed corner on parade day.

Each September, his Raritan hometown honors him with a parade that ends at the statue created by his childhood friend, Philip Orlando. Philip, a sculptor, was a recipient of the Bronze Star, the award given after 1941 to anyone serving in the Armed Forces for “heroic or meritorious achievement” in non-air combat. Philip depicted Sergeant Basilone as he recalled him, not just as a war hero in battle from the heroic night commemorated at Guadalcanal, but as his larger-than-life childhood friend John who always won the neighborhood game of “King of the Hill”. The site of the statue, the busy corner of Somerset and Canal Streets, keeps the hometown hero a part of daily life, a perennial guardian of what he helped preserve.

“Trailside at Watchung Stable”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Animals, Horseback Riding, Lifestyle, Travel

“Some people are so much sunshine to the square inch.” Walt Whitman, Camden, New Jersey resident, 1873-1892. Should we apply the words of the great American poet to animals? The sentiment does come to mind when encountering the gentle horses at Watchung Stable in Mountainside, New Jersey. Like people, horses have personalities and communicate their thoughts. Enjoy a trail ride on the beautiful, leafy grounds of the Watchung Reservation and find out which horse is sweet, outgoing, or independent, though “friendly” would describe them all.

The stable, part of the county parks since 1933, features English riding in a new, state-of-the-art, indoor riding ring, three outdoor rings, and six paddocks. Trail rides wend their way through 26 miles of the 2,000-acre reservation, which is stunning with fall colors right now. Rides are on Saturdays at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. and are ideal for beginners as an introduction both to riding and the individual horses. Along the trail, you will also meet sociable people out enjoying the woodland paths with family, friends, and dogs

A trail ride at Watchung Stable is wonderful. Previously, my horse-riding experiences were like many of ours, mostly Western-style childhood pony rides with visits with horses at farms, zoos, or vicariously as a “Heartland” fan a few years back and now via some generous Instagrammers like Equestrian Canada, The West Coast Equestrian, and Horse-Training Resources who kindly follow on Instagram. On a trail ride last Saturday at Watchung, the guide was incredibly kind to two young equestrians in the group and shared some insights about horses when asked how best to approach them. When getting to know our state animal, let them smell your hand first so they may get your scent and then pet them. Though horses do not understand words as dogs do, they understand tone. Ears forward means that a horse is alert. If the ears go back while on the trail ride, they may be listening, though pinned back may indicate annoyance that another horse is getting too close. In competitions, however, ears back indicates focus. Ears turned to the side with a lowered head shows that horses are relaxed. A swishing tail means a good mood.

Unexpected fun is that the stable is a venue for birthday parties and festivities were in full swing in a beautiful setting. Parties with 30 minutes of a guided, or lead line, horse ride are for children ages 9 and younger. For those children who catch the riding bug, if they have not already, classes offer an opportunity to learn formally and are available for all ages, adults included. Riding troops and a summer riding camp are other fun options for young riders. The talented young equestrians in riding habits were an impressive sight in the outdoor riding ring.

The entire venue is striking with its modified Mission Revival Style architecture, serenely situated in the landscape. This began as the site for a US Army base during the Cold War and later segued into a peacetime role as a home to the horses, many bought at auction to start new lives. For those of you who wish to feed the horses apples, you may do so when the horses are in the paddocks and not ready to ride, but please check with staff beforehand to align your generous thoughts with theirs.

A practical note: Signing a waiver is required before riding. Riding helmets are not necessary on a trail ride. In retrospect, as a novice, though the trail ride was delightful and went smoothly with an excellent guide and a well-trained horse, my personal choice would be to wear one. If you find that you enjoy riding and want to invest in one, they may be purchased online, though it may be better to get one fitted at a saddle and tack store. (Look for an ASTM/SEI certified label.) Prices for trail rides, riding lessons, lead line rides, shows, parties, and boarding are on the website with a reduced rate for Union County residents: Watchung Stable. Groups may also schedule barn tours, not only to see the facility, but to learn about how to take care of horses.

If you want outdoor fun in this incredible weather, Watchung Stable is a great place to go. Fall hours are Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In winter, the stable is closed on Mondays, but open Tuesday-Sunday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., then 1 p.m. till 4 p.m. More details are on the website or call: (908) 789-3665. Some enjoyable sleuthing is in order on my next visit for a lesson with the welcome hunch that there is “Sunshine” among the aptly named horses.

(Sources: ucnj.org, 4-H.org, equusmagazine.com, horsechannel.com, astm.org, Wiki)

“Edison” from “The Moral Quandary of Heels”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Culture, Family, Lifestyle, Travel

…[Jay Reilly] dared to go bending round his accustomed comfort zone when he was a business exchange student at OP Jindal University. The stalwart wiffle ball player…found himself at the literature festival in the heart of the Pink City of Jaipur one weekend afternoon. Ducking into a matinee, he met “my Aishyrwara” from the Goa seaside and visual poetry became a permanent part of his life.

Keya and Rory grew up in the glow of possibilities under the gleaming “Eternal Light” atop the Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Tower, a beacon [commemorating] invention in the Menlo Park neighborhood of Edison, the site of Thomas Edison’s first research center where the light bulb was perfected for everyday use. Nearby they played soccer and went ice skating in the winter with Tata on the sloping green of Roosevelt Park and fished there at the lake in the spring with Pop Reilly. When Pop shared his increasingly incredible fishing tales, Tata joined the siblings in their refrain, “Oh, really, O’Reilly?”. Sometimes, the two grandfathers took them on outings together to argue politics and smoke cigars when no one was looking, a vice on which they wholeheartedly agreed.

In the secret, fun ways that siblings have while growing up, Keya and Rory formed their bond by stealing away quietly to shred the curves at Edison Skate Park. When school was out, the sister and brother loved summering at Island Beach State Park with its powdery dunes like mirroring Earthly clouds. They had acquired the penchant of Jersey Shore locals for collecting tee shirts from every fundraising walk, marathon, and shore event in which they participated. The both egalitarian and orderly duo characteristically enjoyed alphabetizing their growing collection, sharing their bounty and adventures via social media. Like Sundance Film Festival vendors who handed out swag to social media stars for instant free advertising, Shore promoters realized the value of the brother and sister’s nearly 300,000 followers. They began to shower the two with tees, but the siblings would vouch for only those events that they had experienced themselves, evidenced by enthusiastic selfies or more often photos of other participants. They [posted] about festival highlights culminating in an annual prose poem on September 30^th, the birthday of Union City and Princeton University boy, W.S. Merwin, former Poet Laureate and their spiritual twin in his love of poetry and ecology:

“Festivals” or #Downashore #Seeyoulateralligator

Swinging synergy, the Asbury Park & Red Bank jazz and country fests,
the Barnegat Bay Festival via Belmar’s Seafood Festival,
the Bradley Beach Lobster Fest and Brigantine Sand Castles,
car shows, classic and non, in Atlantic Highlands, Beach Haven, Cape May, Ocean City, Ocean Grove, Seaside Heights, Tuckerton, and Wildwood, all,
to follow summer…
Then taking in Fair Haven Day,
Keyport Jazz & Blues and Keansburg Gratitude,
the Lakewood Blue Claws annual tee shirt giveaway :),
Lavalette’s Christmas in July,
Long Branch’s 4th of July Oceanfest,
the Manasquan Classic Longboard Surfing Contest, and
Margate City’s Beachstock, celebrated.
The iconic Miss America and Miss New Jersey pageants,
North Wildwood blues and the NJ Devils Point Pleasant Beach Bash bands
and the harmony of Ocean’s Township’s Italian Festival
all synced with the rhythm of Ocean County Bluegrass and Sea Bright’s Dunesday.
Sea Isle City’s Irish Festival Weekend graced by the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh,
bringing smiles, while the Shadow of the City concert in Seaside Heights
rocks on to the Spring Lake South End Surf Contest and 5K,
and the Wildwood Crest Sand Sculpting Festival.
Finally, the fall ProPlayer Football Camp and Charity Game in Toms River,
All forming the seasonal bouquet.

The college-bound siblings, serious sentinels who appreciated both the power and the beauty of the sea, guarded their fellow ocean lovers faithfully as substitute lifeguards in their most-prized tees with red crosses while working their way down the coast that year in a commemoration of the season. Serene blue skies enlivened with aerial banners like “Come n’ play with DJ Ray Thursday Nite” met summer’s lingering twilight along the coast. The twins’ sometime inland ventures included seeing the Quixotic balloonists at their fancied New Jersey Cappadocia, the Festival of Balloons at Solberg Airport in Hunterdon County. The sunset “balloon glow” like a horizon of celestial fireflies was an inspiring scene in the tradition of aviator Thor Solberg’s first solo flight to Norway after he practiced blindfolded to prepare for traversing the heavens.

Off duty, Keya and Rory crossed wide beaches and swam until in their dreams at night they still felt the lulling sensation of the waves, their bedroom windows cast wide open for there was never enough of the ocean air for the two. Theirs was a true love of the sea.

The Moral Quandary of Heels
All Rights Reserved © 2013 Kathleen Helen Levey. “Edison” posted on “Writing New Jersey Life,” September 25, 2017

“Margate Marvel, Lucy the Elephant”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Architecture, Culture, Lifestyle, Park, STEM, Travel

Charm as defined is “the power or quality of giving delight or causing admiration”. Margate City with its beautiful beaches, serene marinas, downtown shops, fun and fine dining, stunning and historic architecture is certainly elegant, but its charm is what makes it unique. The warm welcome to visitors is the delight that makes one return. A centerpiece of that charm is Lucy the Elephant.

Lucy the Elephant, the unique and “oldest roadside attraction in the US,” noted in People Magazine last summer, began as a real estate promotion, but became a beloved New Jersey and national icon. Lucy is the vision of Philadelphia entrepreneur James Lafferty, Jr.., son of parents from Dublin. In what was then South Atlantic City, comprised of undeveloped sandy land and shoreline, he envisioned this “novelty architecture” made of wood and tin, the result of his combined talents as an engineer and an inventor. To protect his idea, Mr. Lafferty applied for, and received a patent for Lucy, legally considered an invention. William Free, a Philadelphia architect, brought Mr. Lafferty’s vision to life in 1882.

Ingenuously, people can climb the stairs and peek through her eyes that are ship-like portholes, then ascend to the howdah and enjoy spectacular views of this year-round seaside city with its lively downtown. The remarkable central room was Mr. Lafferty’s office from where he sold the nearby real estate parcels, and the howdah served as an impressive podium for auctions.

Visitors may not know that Lucy was one sibling of triplets. After completing his work in Margate, Mr. Lafferty developed land similarly in Cape May, and then Coney Island. Lucy’s sister promotional elephants suffered demolishing and fire, making Lucy’s preservation all the more important. Over the years, Lucy had numerous roles including “…restaurant, ice cream parlor, tavern and private home”.

The name “Lucy” is from a little girl, the daughter of one of those subsequent owner who named her, affectionately, as children do. Lucy stands six-stories high in Josephine Harron Park, named after one of the local Save Lucy Committee members who kept the beloved icon from being demolished in the 1960’s after it had become “dilapidated”. The committee raised money to have her moved after The Elephant Hotel it was promoting was torn down. Lucy was restored, and in 1976, she became a National Historic Landmark in celebration of the Bicentennial.

Summer fun with Lucy includes watching the Fourth of July fireworks nearby on Huntington Beach as well as celebrating at her annual birthday party, the 136th being held today till 8 p.m. Though her actual birthday is July 20th, tradition has it that the celebration is the following Saturday, so more can join in events like playing miniature golf, climbing a Velcro wall, and of course, enjoying birthday cake.

Lucy is open year-round with no charge for the park, but her surprising interior, “Lucy movie,” and sky-high views are one-of-a-kind and not to be missed on an informative tour. Plus, you will help keep her looking runway ready. Admission and the tour are $8.50 for adults and $4.00 for children (3-12). Children under two may enter for free. US military with ID’s may receive complimentary tours. Summer hours are Monday-Saturday 10-8, Sunday 10-5. Guided tours for Lucy are every 30 minutes, and the last tour is 30 minutes before closing.

If you are planning a visit, Lucy the Elephant and her Margate home are minutes from Atlantic City, near a grille and a gift shop (with an online store) with adorable items. The proceeds also support her ongoing preservation as does an annual “Holiday in NYC Raffle” in early November . For anyone thinking outside the box for entertaining, the celebrity’s “people” note that she is available for events, which also support her upkeep. For inquires, please call: (267) 973-1938. After a visit, stay around for the friendly smiles, swimming and surfing, downtown fun, a farmer’s market, or Thrilling Thursday free family movies on the beach.

For more information about visiting, volunteering, or touring with a group, call: (609) 823-6473 or write: info@lucytheelephant.org and for Margate events Margate Has More. Too cute, Lucy has her own Facebook page and an Instagram account complete with “steppin’ out” pedicure photos @lucytheelephant, still trendy 136 years later.

“Clicking at the Clark”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Art, Culture, Lifestyle, Museum, Travel

Original gallery by Daniel Deverell Perry

Our first trip together to the Clark Art Institute was like the soft-focus idyll of its Renoirs. We pulled into Williamstown, Massachusetts, resplendent on a fall day. Dressed for the occasion with blazer and sundress, respectively, we reviewed the guide, mapped out our route and dreamily strolled and sighed with admiration among the premiere artworks of the French Impressionists. We discussed each other’s favorites, which led to conversations about other trips, other art, and finally, the getting-to-know each other memories, which this visit would become much like Renoir’s depictions of families and friends.

The George Inness trip took us into the landscape of the world. Weekend excursions sometimes call for sightseeing selection and, on a trip the following summer, the focus was Mount Greylock, which is part of happy, boyhood camping memories for my friend and was indeed wonderful to visit. Wistful, however, at the thought of passing by incredible art without a nod of respect, somewhat like going through town without at least a call to a local friend, our usual easy give and take resulted in a compromise regarding The Clark – a twenty minute stop. In sneakers, shorts, and having adopted the Jersey Shore penchant for tee shirt collecting, a Stephen Crane House tee shirt, which in New England elicited the occasional thumbs up and playful shouts of “Denny Crane!” the William Shatner character from “Boston Legal,” I raced past works by Sargent, Remington, Turner, Hokusai, Madrazo, Cassatt, della Francesca, and Degas to find the New Jersey paintings by George Inness and Winslow Homer, undertaking with abandon the sacrilege of photographing paintings for social media when time for note-taking and creative photos was out of the question. Dashed out, returned to the car, and with a nod to my friend who was studying the map, noted, “Fifteen”.

The June return was our unrushed Alma-Tadema savoring of details having had a winter preview of his work by Clark curators at New York City’s The National Arts Club . Revisiting art museums allows us all to get off the bucket list treadmill, look around, and enjoy talking with people. Like taking in a Berkshire sunset on the beautiful Clark grounds, the art is different every time we view it. As a place of growth, The Clark literally changes with new artworks, buildings, and exhibitions. The cinematic painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema created a splendid music room for Gilded Age magnate Henry Marquand and the first-time restoration of its highlights is all about the exquisite design that created not only an impressive, but a serene space, much like the museum, for family and guests to enjoy.

Visitors can view the art of Alma-Tadema in “Orchestrating Elegance” this summer, as well as exhibits: “Picasso: Encounters,” Helen Frankenthaler “As in Nature” and “No Rules,” 17th century Dutch artists “An Inner World,” the Thomas Schutte Crystal, and Community Access to the Arts (CATA) “I Am Part of Art” with the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, art “drawing attention to the ability within disability”. If you have not been to The Clark think about wandering from the route this summer, or revisiting for a new view. The Clark (clarkart.org) is part of a consortium with The Williams College Museum of Art (wcma.williams.edu) and MASS MoCA (massmoca.org) in nearby North Adams, both of which we look forward to visiting.

“Remembrance Meets Welcome: Captain Carranza Ceremony and Mount Holly”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Aviation, Family, History, Lifestyle, Travel, US History

The American Legion Mount Holly Post 11’s beautiful 89th ceremony honoring Captain Emilio Carranza took place last Saturday in Wharton State Forest. Members of Captain Carranza’s family, dignitaries from the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC, the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, members of the Medford American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Civil Air Color Guard, local Scout troops, and rescue squad members joined in the remembrance of the Mexican aviator-hero. Elegant sashes adorned the floral wreaths with respects from the Carranza family, the ballet, other American Legion Posts, Sons of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Civil Air Patrol, and families, businesses, communities, and friends from Burlington County, the state, and beyond. Thanks to the dedication of Post 11 and long-term participants, it was wonderful to see more attendees this year.

Carranza Park with the monument to the captain and floral adornments has changed significantly since the American Legionnaires of Mount Holly Post 11 answered the call for aid in 1928. “In this desolate spot,” reads the Legion’s press release, ”was born the Post’s program of international amity.” (The New York Times, 2002) The occasion for the search was somber, but the Pinelands today has a distinct beauty that one appreciates more with each visit. Next year will be the 90th anniversary of Captain Carranza’s death and donations that directly support the ceremony and the preservation of the captain’s monument are most welcome. If you wish to support this commemoration, kindly send a check to: Mount Holly Post 11, PO Box 711, Mount Holly NJ 08060.

Members of the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York

Attendees were cordially invited to see the Ballet Folklorico of New York perform afterwards at a luncheon at where fundraising films, books, and materials commemorating the captain were available. (For commemorative items and more information about Captain Emilio Carranza, visit: www.post11.org.) The dancers delighted everyone by bringing audience members up to join them. The New York-based group announced that they will be performing dances from the annual Guelaguetza in Oaxaca on Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn, all day on July 30th to support the park. For more information about this event, visit the Facebook page of the Ballet Forklorico Mexicano de Nueva York facebook.com/BFMNY/.

La Legión Americana La 89 ceremonia hermosa del poste 11 del soporte Holly que honra al capitán Emilio Carranza ocurrió el sábado pasado en el bosque del estado de Wharton. Miembros de la familia del capitán Carranza, dignatarios de la Embajada de México en Washington, DC, el Ballet Folklórico de México, miembros de la Legión Americana Medford y Veteranos de Guerras Extranjeras, tropas Scouts locales y miembros del escuadrón de rescate se unieron al recuerdo del aviador mexicano -héroe. El próximo año será el 90 aniversario de la muerte del capitán Carranza y las donaciones que apoyan directamente la ceremonia y la preservación del monumento del capitán son bienvenidas. Si desea apoyar esta conmemoración, envíe un cheque a: Mount Holly Post 11, PO Box 711, Mount Holly NJ 08060.

Los asistentes fueron cordialmente invitados a ver el Ballet Folklorico de Nueva York realizar después en un almuerzo en donde las películas de recaudación de fondos, libros y materiales que conmemoraban al capitán estaban disponibles. (Para artículos conmemorativos y más información sobre el capitán Emilio Carranza en espanol, visite: www.post11.org.) Los bailarines deleitaron a todos reuniendo a los miembros de la audiencia para unirse a ellos. El grupo con sede en Nueva York anunció que presentará danzas de la Guelaguetza anual en Oaxaca en Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn, todo el día el 30 de julio para apoyar el parque. Para más información sobre este evento, visite la página de Facebook del Ballet Forklorico Mexicano de Nueva York facebook.com/BFMNY/. (Google translator.)

Mount Holly
As a means of a thank you, had the pleasure of returning to picturesque Mount Holly for a brief visit where visitors receive friendly hellos while walking around the town named for its holly trees. Town proud, new sidewalks, murals, and development are happening everywhere, and house proud, many people were out tending to their charming historic homes on the sunny afternoon in the seat of Burlington County, which our family first knew as the hometown of Franco Harris when we cheered for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mount Holly, site of the Battle of Iron Works Hill, two days before the Battle of Trenton, has points of interest ranging from historic Revolutionary War sites to the state-of-the-art campus of Rowan College at Burlington County. RCBC includes a culinary arts program, a student-run restaurant, and an art gallery right in the center of town. On this late Saturday afternoon, shoppers from both New Jersey and Philadelphia, the latter just a 40 minute drive, were finishing up in the Mill Race Village shops in the historic downtown district, which includes architectural styles from the early 1700’s through the late 1800’s. Shoppers were stepping out to go to the popular pizzeria on High Street and all the restaurants throughout the downtown.
If you will be attending the nearby Burlington County Farm Fair, July 18th-22nd, in Columbus, New Jersey, consider stopping by for a warm Mount Holly “hello”.

Mount Holly, New Jersey

“Fidelity: Captain Emilio Carranza”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 7, 2017

In Aviation, History, Lifestyle, Travel

Captain Carranza Monument

As Amelia Earhart’s disputed fate resurfaces in the news, another hero of the Golden Age of Aviation, Captain Emilio Carranza, is forever entwined with New Jersey history. Captain Emilio Carranza, 1905-1928, despite having died as a young man, has an extraordinary public and personal narrative. The captain, nephew of the great Mexican aviator Alberto Salinas Carranza, was known as “The Lone Eagle of Mexico” in his native country, and in the United States as the “Lindbergh of Mexico”. By 22, the ace who grew up in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, was an experienced soldier and a survivor of a serious crash which required painful facial reconstruction. Flying in the advent of newsreels, he set the record for the third longest non-stop solo flight, San Diego to Mexico City, which was also the longest flight by a Mexican pilot at the time. He became internationally famous.

Young and personable, his countrymen admired him. On his next flight, Captain Carranza launched “The Mexican Excelsior,” a Ryan Brougham in the style of fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh’s “The Spirit of St. Louis”. Newly married, Captain Carranza did not decline duty and flew on a good will mission to the US in June of 1928. Among his numerous honors were having lunch with the president and receiving the key to New York City. In July at West Point, he had the rare privilege for one of his rank, a review of the troops, which conveyed a mutual respect.

While still in upstate New York, summer storms repeatedly delayed his attempted returns to Mexico. Yet again, when he planned to depart, another violent thunderstorm erupted. Historical rumor has it that during this particular storm, the grand-nephew of former President Carranza, received a telegram from a rival, a cabinet member of the current government, who ordered his immediate return. Another rumor notes that he was trying to get ahead of the weather. The sweet, sad truth is that despite the accolades, he missed his bride and wished to return to her. Several people, including fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh, who would later marry Englewood’s Anne Morrow, an accomplished pilot and navigator, warned him not to go. Despite Captain Carranza’s skill, while flying over the Pine Barrens to land on the New Jersey coast, his single engine plane could not pass through the worsening storm. He tried to land, ultimately crashing to his death at age 23 in Wharton State Forest, part of the town of Tabernacle…

…After the crash, the American Legionnaires of Mount Holly Post 11, along with local volunteers, retrieved his body by hacking through the woods and underbrush of the Pinelands, making a clearing around the plane where this [the monument] stands, marking the area to protect the crash site. They took his body, first to Chatsworth, then to their post, to ensure his dignity and a return with honor to Mexico. As Post 11 notes, their own US flag that draped Captain Carranza’s coffin now hangs in Mexico’s School of Aviation. A national hero, Mexico still commemorates the captain.

Captain Carranza photo and Post 11 Memorial Wreath

Reflecting the loyalty of Captain Carranza, the American Legion members made a promise to keep alive the young hero’s mission of good will and peace, carried on through the generations in an annual ceremony in Tabernacle. Each year on the Saturday nearest July 12^th, the beautiful ceremony in Captain Carranza’s honor takes place with some of his relatives, the Legionnaires, Mexican officials, the Girl and Boy Scouts, the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York, the Civil Air Patrol Color Guard, and Medford’s American Legion Post 526 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7677. On special anniversaries, the U.S. Air Force flies over in the missing man formation. The ceremony includes the Post members reenacting the search for the captain and his return accompanied with the hymn “Going Home” by Antonin Dvorak. This year marks the 89th ceremony.

The public is welcome at the ceremony this Saturday, July 9th, at 1:00 p.m. as they are daily at Carranza Park, the monument site. Heading down Carranza Way into the Wharton State Forest, though it is scenic country with wavering GPS upon entering 115,000 acres of woodlands, it is helpful to have a print out of directions. American Legion of Mount Holly 11 kindly provides the best ones: www.post11.org/carranza/carranza8e.html

The Carranza Monument, poignantly, is the heartfelt gift of Mexican schoolchildren, saddened by the loss of their hero in what seemed like the most lonesome place. They pooled coin donations nationwide…the monument’s engraving is of a downward eagle in the Aztec style, signifying the great loss of the young hero, addressed as the “Messenger of Peace” in English and Spanish. His ability and courage inspired many young Mexicans and others around the world to become aviators.

Post 11 periodically shows the documentary “Good Will: The Flight of Emilio Carranza” by Robert Emmons and offers commemorative items like the video “Flying with Emilio”. For comprehensive information on Captain Carranza, including an account by his cousin, visit the Mount Holly Post 11 website, www.post11.org, in English and Spanish. The website also contains information on other events like the Post’s observances for 9/11, Veterans’ Day, and Memorial Day.

American Legion Mount Holly Post 11 conducts the annual ceremony and helps oversee the preservation of Captain Carranza’s Memorial. Donations for the ceremony, the memorial preservation, or both, go directly to these as do the purchase of commemorative items, and would be greatly appreciated. Checks may be sent to: Mount Holly Post 11, PO Box 711, Mount Holly NJ 08060.

American Legionnaires of Mt. Holly and Medford

Space Shuttle Cake

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 6, 2017

In Baking, Culture, Family, Lifestyle

If this rainy start to the holiday weekend has changed your plans, have some fun making this Space Shuttle Cake together. The recipe is via Party Pieces, the party company of the family of Catherine, Princess of Wales.* A hit on Instagram @kathleenhelenlevey last summer, in the US pound cake can serve as a substitute for Madeira cake. You did not read it here, but if you only have an hour to prepare this vs. the several you had planned, rumor has it that defrosted pound cake held together by canned icing, decorated with Skittles, licorice, and some tinfoil improvisation will make children celebrating the Fourth of July just as happy :).

Ingredients:

-1 x 4 egg quantity Madeira cake
-1 x 450g quantity of Buttercream icing
-4 or 5 shop-bought mini sponge rolls
-Red and blue Smarties, silver balls and liquorice to decorate
-orange or yellow sugar paste
-6 ice cream cones

Method:

Cook the Madeira cake mixture in a greased 1.2 litre ovenproof bowl for 50-55 minutes. Turn out and let cool. Trim the crust from the cake and slice the top flat. This will create the base of the spaceship.

To assemble:

Using buttercream, stick together the sponge rolls. This will form the middle part of the ship. Place them on top of the base, then stick an upturned ice-cream cone on top of them to form the nose cone. Cover the whole cake with the remaining buttercream icing.
3. Place the cake on a round cake board and stick five ice-cream cones around the base to form the space shuttle “legs”. Decorate the spaceship using blue and red Smarties, silver balls and liquorice wheels for portholes.
4. Roll out the orange sugar paste and cut into little triangles. Stick these around the base of the rocket and up around the sides to create a flame effect.

Sources: PartyPieces.co.uk blog (“The Party Times”) by Pippa Middleton Matthews and Children’s Parties by Ryland and Small.

*The Middletons sold Party Pieces in 2023. We thank them for the fun and wish them the best of luck!

“Ray Seery, Comedy Writer”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 6, 2017

In Comedy, Culture, Family, Lifestyle

Ray Seery at work in Randolph, New Jersey

“I believe that one of the things the world needs now is a good laugh.”

Jokes were to our uncle what fireworks are to Fourth of July, a way to celebrate life and spread joy. Long-term Morris County residents may recognize the name Ray Seery, a Randolph resident and “gag writer” interviewed in the 1970’s and 1980’s in The Randolph Reporter and New Jersey Monthly. Highlights for him also included interviews with The Star-Ledger and Parade magazine.

His Newark childhood in the 1930’s was an overall happy one, though in any retelling by his nieces and nephew, it may have begun like a set up to one of the jokes he would later write: “Our mother had two brothers. One was Sonny Boy, as his father’s love shone upon him. The other was Ray. He became a comedian.”

Smart and attention-seeking, he was a classic class cut-up and made the rounds of most of the Newark public schools in the 1940’s. Having finally landed at Seton Hall Prep, his patient parents were called in one day to speak about the jokester. Told to wait outside the archbishop’s office with his partner-in-crime, Ray and his friend spotted the clergyman’s shiny Studebaker, parked in front of the school. This proved too tempting for the boys to resist, a big mistake on steep South Orange Avenue when they did not know how to work a clutch. They promptly crashed the car at the bottom of the street. Miraculously, it was still intact.

On another school-aged adventure in the days when Hollywood stars appeared on Newark stages, Ray, 13, waited outside his first stage door for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy who were performing in vaudeville, a family story he shared in an early interview with The Star-Ledger. He had opportunity to speak with the talented Mr. Laurel, who was kind and took the time to talk with Ray and encourage him with his interest in comedy. Stan Laurel corresponded personally with fans, and they wrote to each other until Mr. Laurel’s death in 1965.

Uncle Ray’s Navy hi-jinks were numerous, more material for the comedian-in-training and a story for another day, but it was in his return home to the US that he found direction for his talent – comedy. He funded initial work as a comedian with a day job as a bank teller. When he read in the papers that Bob Hope and Babe Ruth, two of his idols, would be playing golf at Forest Hill Field Club in Bloomfield, he could not resist a young man’s impulse to play hooky. Charming, Ray worked his way through the crowd, managed to meet both men and formed a lifelong professional connection with Mr. Hope. The next day, a front page photo of Bob Hope and Babe Ruth featured Uncle Ray behind the rope line. This delighted Ray, but not his boss, which led to Ray’s cabbie career in New York City, a great way for the young comedian to try his material out with test audiences on wheels.

For the ultimate appraisal of his material, Ray would take fares from Broadway, sometimes coming upon the stars themselves whether they were seeing other shows or appearing in them. Navigating the cab to the curb on a rainy night, before looking at his fare, Uncle Ray heard a man say, “The Waldorf Hotel.” Without turning around, avid movie fan Ray said, “Claude Rains.”

Pleased, Mr. Rains, the brilliant Warner Brothers character actor probably best known today for his role as French Captain Louis Renault in “Casablanca,” replied, “Thank you.”

Young Raymond from his New York City taxi’s driver’s license

On forays when he ventured outside the cab and into the theater, Ray sought out his look-a-like, as Orson Welles was in his younger days, when he was on Broadway. The two hit it off creatively and maintained a lifelong friendship, exchanging ideas and jokes whenever they saw each other at events or corresponded. Regardless of how the press described the young genius, who married his first wife in New Jersey, Orson was always warm and gracious.

Orson Welles, just 23, Howard Koch, and John Houseman of the Mercury Theater created panic on October 30, 1938 when they broadcast a dramatization of H. G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” with a news-like format much like the 1937 Hindenburg real-life newscast asserting that a Martian invasion had begun in Grovers Mill, New Jersey about 30 miles from Lakehurst. (Sources: The Asbury Park Press, SmithsonianMagazine.com) Upon hearing that his in-laws were among those who had fled their homes, our grandfather quipped, “That’s what they get for not listening to Charlie McCarthy.”

Serene Grovers Mill, now part of West Windsor

Monument for “War of the Worlds in Van Nest Park,” where historical markers, an Eagle Scout project, take visitors along a timeline of the broadcast. A nearby water tower was thought to be a Martian spaceship. Of an approximate 6 million listeners, it is estimated that in a jittery pre-WWII US, an estimated one million thought that there was an invasion.

As soon as he started working, Ray, the big brother, brought along his younger siblings to share his adventures from trips to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier to Coney Island to movie premieres. At a presidential debate shortly before the 1948 election, Uncle Ray brought our mother to snap photos while he greeted the candidates. As President Truman stepped off the elevator and our teen-aged mother tried to take a photo, Ray, a Democrat, called over, “Forget him, he’s going to lose!” The snaps of Governor Dewey were wonderful, though.

Comedy was difficult to break into, and kindhearted Ray soon saw that he was better suited to writing material than jousting with hecklers. Bob Hope bought some of his material, giving him his first paycheck as a comedy writer, which he had enlarged and framed. Once one comedian’s name was on the resume, doors opened with others: Phyllis Diller, Billy Rose, Rodney Dangerfield, and occasionally, people as varied as Daily News columnist Liz Smith and Bishop Fulton Sheen. For Bishop Sheen, Uncle Ray coined the phrase “Uncle Fultie” like “Uncle Miltie” for Milton Berle, both on television at the time, stories which he enjoyed sharing in interviews. Demand for jokes ran hot and cold, however, and aside from these noted professionals, paychecks from others sometimes got lost in the mail, so Ray was wise to have a full-time job.

Whenever Bob Hope came to the Garden State, Uncle Ray would meet him and have the backstage thrill of listening to the veteran comedian deliver his jokes to great laughter at places like the Garden State Arts Center. Even at White House events during two respectively different administrations, Ray and our aunt had the same pleasure. Committed to the USO and humanitarian causes, Bob Hope often hosted fundraising events in New Jersey and New York City. On one celebrated occasion, Uncle Ray and our mother met Grace Kelly. Princess Grace, who grew up in Philadelphia and spent summers in Ocean City, New Jersey, was as warm and beautiful in person as they had anticipated.

Steve Allen, comedian, author, musician, composer, and first host of “The Tonight Show,” encouraged Uncle Ray when he was starting out. Mr. Allen not only paid Uncle Ray for his material, but credited him publicly and treated him like a friend. Public taste in comedy changed over the years, but Steve Allen kept his material clever, clean, and not mean, which sounds like an Uncle Ray quip. This is one of the many reasons why they got along so well for decades. One of Uncle Ray’s favorite stories about Mr. Allen was how, after getting Mr. Allen to read his jokes by placing them under his car windshield, Ray enlisted the aid of a cousin to fly a banner over the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner on which Steve and his lovely wife Jayne Meadows, equally kind, were departing. Unbeknownst to Ray, Steve had wanted a low-key departure without press. The banner read: “Bon Voyage Steverino! Ray Seery”. The actual punchline was that Ray’s father (with the same name) and brother were fishing off Sandy Hook and, knowing Ray, nonchalantly took in the sight of the banner as Ray carried on a Jersey Shore summer tradition.

An all-round creative person, Uncle Ray was a talented cartoonist and artist. The Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Newark-born Jerry Lewis, Cary Grant, and Babe Ruth paintings throughout @kathleenhelen15 on Instagram are by him. He is the “uncle” of #uncleart, which when spoken, sounds much more aptly like, “Uncle Heart”.

Bob Hope and Princess Grace of Monaco

“Ray Seery, Comedy Writer”: Adapted from “The Music Box” from Proverbs All Rights Reserved © 2013 Kathleen Helen Levey and Instagram @kathleenhelen15 Published June 26, 2017 “Writing New Jersey Life” All Rights Reserved © 2017

“The Two Graces: Grace Hartigan and Grandma Moses”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On November 6, 2017

In Art, Culture, Lifestyle, Travel

Grace Hartigan

“I cannot expect even my own art to provide all of the answers, only to hope that it keeps asking the right questions.”

An Abstract Expressionist who started life in Newark, Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) grew up in Millburn, New Jersey. Having little formal training as an artist beyond some lessons with Newark-based Abstract Expressionist Issac Lane Muse, she saw works of Henri Matisse in a book and felt inspired to paint. In the circle of Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, and Willem de Kooning, who started the US chapter of his life as a house painter in Hoboken, Grace might have resided comfortably in their sphere, but ultimately chose to make her own path.

Grace’s art was immediately successful, giving her the self-assurance to carry on in the primarily male, star-laden New York City art scene of the late 1940’s-1950’s. A New York Times article described her as “brash,” a quality she would have needed to prevail. Consistent in the Times of NY and LA on Grace’s life is that she did not look primarily to her inner life for inspiration like the other Abstract Expressionists in that era, but responded to, and was inspired by, the world around her. This world connection was reflected in her paintings in which she gradually added images, an influence of poet and friend Frank O’Hara who combined “high art” and “low art”. The LA Times reported that, endearingly, he wrote several poems for her.

Ironically, by including these images, she became known as the founder of “Pop Art,” a title which she disdained. Nevertheless, as an independent spirit, she appreciated, “I’d much rather be a pioneer of a movement that I hate than the second generation than the second generation of a movement that I love,” noted in The Washington Post. The one “most celebrated of American woman painters,” Life, 1957, her work fell into disfavor by the 1960’s with fellow Abstract Expressionists and art critics and sales of her paintings fell off.

Grace was resilient and, having become more appreciative of art history in the 1950’s, another factor separating her from her Abstract Expressionist peers, became part of the faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She taught and ultimately became director of the Hoffberger School of Painting, created to showcase her talent, and she in turn, worked to raise its cachet as an art school. Of her life as an artist, she reflected in a “World Artist” interview via NY Times, “Now as before it is the vulgar and the vital and the possibility of its transformation into the beautiful which continues to challenge and fascinate me…Or perhaps the subject of my art is life the definition of humor – emotional pain remembered in tranquility.”

In the 1980’s, Grace had the resolve to paint again, expanding her talents to include different mediums that she came to appreciate through art history, printmaking, watercolor, and pointillism. She had the foresight and generosity to set aside paintings created during her tenure at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The donated paintings, worth more than $1 million dollars, were to benefit her students when she was no longer able to teach them as described in a MICA article worth visiting via mica.edu.

Many bold quotes are ascribed to this artist who experienced life to the fullest, perhaps most famously, “I didn’t choose painting….It chose me. I didn’t have any talent. I just had genius.” Beyond the sound bites, perhaps the epitaph of her friend Frank O’Hara best reveals Grace, “Grace/to be born and live as variously as possible.”

Her works are online at Artsy.com and there is a great overview of her development as an artist with highlighted works on theartstory.org, which credits her as an influence on Neo-Expressionist artists like Julian Schnabel and David Salle.

The paintings of Grace’s peer Helen Frankenthaler are having a new appreciation this summer as an exhibit at The Clark in Massachusetts and in a Grandma Moses exhibit at the Bennington Museum in Vermont. Periodically, Grace’s work appears in galleries in New York City and on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

A few weeks ago, Artsy.com noted that Grace was a New Jerseyan as well as a New Yorker, which led to more reading about her life.

Wildflowers, Bennington Museum

Grandma Moses, Anna Mary Robertson Moses

“Life is what we make it, always has been and always will be.”

Like Grace Hartigan, folk artist Grandma Moses, her artistic contemporary for a time, was a fellow Modernist who found inspiration in life. Born as Anna Mary Robertson (1860-1961), she grew up on a farm in Greenwich in Upstate New York, but attended classes in a one-room schoolhouse in nearby Bennington, Vermont. From a large family, economics required that she spend her teen years with another family as a live-in housekeeper, a “hired girl” as noted by Time. Ultimately, in an extraordinary life path, that schoolhouse became the Bennington Museum which houses the largest collection of her paintings today.

Throughout her life, Anna revealed artistic talent, but her days revolved around taking care of her family and their farm. She and her husband were first tenant farmers in Virginia, worked hard, and then became farm owners in Eagles Nest, New York, not far from where Anna spent her childhood. After her husband died, Anna took up embroidery until her arthritis made it difficult. Her sister suggested painting, which Anna took up at the age of 76, sometimes switching hands, and it was one of these paintings spotted in a drugstore window by art collector Louis J. Caldor that led her to notoriety. Considered a “folk artist,” a fluid term a self-taught artist who carries on a tradition (JSTOR.org from University of Chicago archive), Anna became known publicly by her family address, “Grandma Moses”.

Both the American public and the media were taken with Grandma Moses, embraced like a national grandmother, and she was an incredibly popular figure in the 1940’s and ’50’s. Favorite winter scenes that she painted were everywhere across the US, most notably on Christmas cards with sales of an estimated 48 million. Her illustrated version of Clement Moore’s The Night Before Christmas is still in print, a perennial favorite, its paintings created, inspiringly, at the age of 100. Those paintings are on exhibit at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, which is home to the largest collection of her paintings.

Grandma Moses’s charming winter scenes look like happiness defined and are even more delightful viewed in their original form. As the Bennington Museum curators note, Grandma Moses added sugar to the white paint to create snow that sparkled, which initially unmoored art critics. Nonplussed, she carried on with a brilliant result. Her joyful nature is clear in her observations, “Christmas is not just one day” as well as her art, which she described as “daydreams” both in a Time revisiting of her work.

Seeing her art with “fresh eyes” is how the dedicated museum staff will be presenting Grandma Moses’ work as part of “American Modern” from July 1st through November 5th. The exhibit will place her work alongside that of other Modernists, also peers of Grace Hartigan: Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Fernand Leger, Joseph Cornell, Helen Frankenthaler, and folk artists Edward Hicks and Joseph Pickett to appreciate Anna’s talent anew.

The museum, founded by the Bennington Historical Society, 1852, has an array of exhibits to appeal to everyone. For history buffs, there are vibrant exhibits like the “Battle of Bennington” (the monument is nearby), “Grandma Moses Schoolhouse,” and “Gilded Age Vermont” to renowned Bennington stoneware to fashion & style to photography. The museum cooperates with nearby Bennington College, and you will also find beautiful works from artists both in the college and local community.

Allow time for the upstairs Church Gallery of Bennington and Vermont history, which was indeed a church and looks like a marvelous attic filled with furniture, inventions, paintings, sculpture, awards, remembrances, and more. These may not be the “marquee” pieces in the extensive museum collection like paintings by William Morris Hunt, born in Brattleboro, but they comprise a treasure trove as the town unfolds in such a moving, wonderful way.

We had a whirlwind visit, having just missed museum hours (open daily 10-5, June through October) on a first try, and look forward to returning. The grounds are beautiful and include trails. The cemetery behind the former schoolhouse leads to the modest grave of Robert Frost, more to come on the poet in another, “Symmetry,” a series of blogs that will feature New Jersey cultural and historical connections outside the state. For more information on the Bennington Museum, visit: benningtonmuseum.org.

North American Reciprocal Museum memberships (NARM) with entrée to 924 museums and cultural centers around the world can be purchased in the museum shop or at participating New Jersey museums:

Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial
Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton
Macculloch Hall, Morristown
The Monmouth Art Museum, Lincroft
Monmouth County Historical Association, Freehold
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair
Morris Museum, Morristown
The Newark Museum, Newark
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton
The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farm, Morris Plains
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit
Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville

For more information on NARM, visit: https://narmassociation.org/

Bennington Museum

Writing New Jersey Life

People and places of New Jersey…with some travels.

Page 6 of 7

“Loyalty: John Basilone”

“Trailside at Watchung Stable”

“Edison” from “The Moral Quandary of Heels”

“Margate Marvel, Lucy the Elephant”

“Clicking at the Clark”

“Remembrance Meets Welcome: Captain Carranza Ceremony and Mount Holly”

“Fidelity: Captain Emilio Carranza”

Space Shuttle Cake

“Ray Seery, Comedy Writer”

“The Two Graces: Grace Hartigan and Grandma Moses”

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