Manahawkin's Gathering Place for Every Occasion

"My parents were some of the original founders of this organization. My father passed in 2006 at almost 90 years old. My mother is 95 and very close to the end. Dad was a vet of WW2, Korea and Vietnam. He met mom in Beirut, Lebanon and she became a citizen and threw herself into community activities. My dad fought against incorporating sidewalks into the community plan and won. He said he didnt want to see "every son of a gun" hanging out on the street corners at night. Dad used to give money to struggling neihbors or mow their lawns while they were on vacation. He sat on the school board for years and worked on the library-center design and implementation of the Intermediate school. It was a different time and they were a different breed of Americans. My mom raised money for Deborah which was the adopted charity of the organization. Together they raised over $100,000 ( a lot of money in those days ) and became platinum members. Ocean Acres was just starting up then and mom used to show up on the work sites where homes were being built and yell at the builders in broken english that they had to add a donation to the Civic association to every closing cost sheet. They laughed and opened their wallets. Everyone loved my mom. She was voted president 2 terms in a row. She won awards for community service, was voted "Mrs Stafford Twp" in a dress she made herself and had a wonderful life. Their time has long since come and gone, but they did so much for their neihbors and the community. I just wanted to remember their names. The Colonel and Mrs ( Mary ) Robert J Byrd."