2003-02 - TOHM Newsletter

Township of Ocean Historical Museum 163 Monmouth Road, Oakhurst New Jersey 07755 (732) 531-2136

February 10, 2003 Volume 18, No. 1

Calendar Tuesday, February 25

ANNUAL MUSEUM MEETING – All Welcome

7:30 p.m.

Auditorium, Old Oakhurst Schoolhouse.

Election of Officers, By-law revisions

Notes – Save Tuesday May 6th – Museum program “Antique Unique” – More to Follow DUES

A big thank you to the nearly 100 members who promptly sent in their dues when our notice arrived a couple of weeks ago. Of this total more than 20 are Patrons at $25.00 and 3 are Benefactors at $100.00. PLEASE, if you have not yet sent in your dues for 2003, do so TODAY and help the museum save the postage of sending out second notices.

Dues are: family or member: $10.00, Patron $25.00, Benefactor, 100.00 _________________________________________________________________________

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The Nominating Committee presents the following slate of officers to you: President: Vice President: Corresponding Secretary Recording Secretary Treasurer Museum Director Trustee

Virginia Richmond Richard Kurkjian Maryann Farry Joal Leone Joan Berzansky Eileen McCormack Kay Zimmerer

Respectfully submitted by the Nominating Committee Kathy Parratt, Chair Lesley Dorsett Betty Wilderotter Lois Landis _________________________________________________________________________

NEW MUSEUM UPDATE

In December the old roof was removed down to the rafters on the Woolley House and a new roof was installed. Roof leaks causing plaster to fall inside the house have now been corrected. The roof was paid for entirely with county and state grant money.

The next step is the preparation of a historic structures report and the preparation of a moving plan for the museum.

BY-LAWS REVISION

_________________________________________________________________________ The original Constitution and by-laws were written when our Museum was established in 1983. It has been proposed that some changes be enacted at this time. Proposed changes are listed below. If you would like a copy of our original Constitution and By-laws, call the museum at 732-531-2136 or Ginny Richmond at 732-531-4295.

CONSTITUTION REVISIONS: Article II Change Statement of Purpose to Mission.

The Township of Ocean Historical Museum Association is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to collecting, preserving and exhibiting records, memorabilia and artifacts of local, regional, and New Jersey history as well as providing educational programs for local schools and the greater Shore community. The Museum serves the residents of the Township of Ocean as well as surrounding municipalities.

Article IV Officers: Add the office of Museum Director with a description of the duties involved.

This position is elected and was not a part of the original document.

Change term of office to two years for all officers and six years for trustees. Delete limiting office to 2 terms.

Article V Election of Officers: Change January meeting to February for election of officers.

Section 3 - Add, “A candidate for election to office shall be an individual who has been an active member in good standing for a minimum of one year.” (A member in good standing is one whose dues are up-to-date) Section 4 - Add Museum Director BY-LAWS REVISIONS Article I- Section 2. Change to annual dues shall be payable by the February meeting.

Article II, Section 1. Meetings and Quorum Change to, “Regular meetings of the Association shall be held four (4) times a year at the call of the President.”

Article III Duties of Elected Officers Section 5 -The Treasurer. Change 3rd sentence to read,” Monies shall be paid out by numbered checks signed by one (1) officer. Two (2) officers will have access to funds. Add The treasurer shall prepare an annual budget.

Section 6 Add Museum Director as an elected officer and enumerate duties.

Section 7 Change to, “The Trustees will serve in an advisory capacity to the officers and the organization.”

Section 8 Change to, “The Executive Board of the Association shall consist of the officers and the trustees and will be responsible for the annual auditing of the books of the organization.

Article IV Add Honorary Trustee The position of Honorary Trustee shall be established. Persons considered for this honorary position must have given noteworthy service or support to the Museum. A member who nominates a candidate for this position must present supporting evidence in writing at the time of nomination. This is a prestigious award and merits very careful consideration of all nominated candidates.

Any officer or member can nominate a person for the position of Honorary Trustee. The nominee will be considered by the Executive Board and must receive a majority vote with the President abstaining. In the case of a tie, the President will cast the deciding vote. The 2

nominee will then be presented to the general membership and must be approved by a majority vote of the members present.

There shall be no limit to the number of Honorary Trustees accepted by the membership.

DECEMBER 2002 EXHIBIT

Our December exhibit, “Old Fashioned Fun: 100 Years of Toys, Games, and Local Pastimes,”. was well received by the public. Once again we thank the Asbury Park Press and The Coaster for their excellent coverage. This year, for the first time, the Explorer Police Post 281 under the direction of Ocean Township Patrolman John Bernacchi provided some additional security for our exhibit. We thank this group for their assistance.

On Friday, Dec. 6, museum members and guests enjoyed a presentation by five members of the Ocean Township Intermediate School Enrichment Class. These young students, under the expert direction of Mrs. Trudy Wolfe-Larkin, portrayed people from earlier times as they talked about toys and activities of yesteryear.

Left to right: Lisa Henderson, Kari Leibowitz, Tyler Hayes, Tyler Gaspich, and Hannah Sultana .

A big thank you goes to those members who purchased and sold a record number of 2,370 raffle tickets. Many members personally sold 4, 5, 6, and even 10 books. The winner of the quilt was Pat Berzansky of Pennsylvania. A big THANK YOU goes to Jim and Felicia Serano for again being the sponsor of our raffle tickets. Total profit from the exhibit was $3,450.00 _________________________________________________________________________

WOOLLEY MODEL HOUSE

At the exhibit, a scale model of the Woolley House was on display for the first time. This model was built by volunteer, Frank West. Frank is a Woolley descendant and a retired master craftsman. He worked 3 full months on the model, building from his own carefully drawn blueprint. (one-half inch to one-foot scale) The house is custom made—each window, door, and column.

When finished, there will be 5,600 individually beveled and glued wooden shingles on the roof—taking many times longer to apply than the roof replacement recently completed on the real Woolley House.

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We thank Frank for his talent, commitment, and generosity. _________________________________________________________________________

MEMORIAL BRICKS

Our memorial bricks chairman, Paul Edelson, reports that we have sold 94 bricks to date.

All the profit from this project will be used for the restoration of the Woolley House. The money that has been collected is in an interest bearing account. _________________________________________________________________________

3RD GRADE PROGRAM

All of our township’s 3rd grade students have visited the museum during this school year.

Marge Edelson, long time member and trustee of the museum accompanies each class on a historic bus tour of our town before the day of their museum visit. Mrs. Edelson visits each classroom first introducing them to some of Ocean Township’s history and then they complete the bus tour. When the students visit the museum, volunteer docents teach them about school and home approximately 100 years ago. The bus tour reinforces their understanding as they are shown maps, photos, and artifacts relating to the history of our town. These students listen with interest and ask excellent questions. Thank you to docents, Marge Edelson, Lesley Dorsett, Lois Landis, Maryann Farry, Kathy Parratt, Joan Berzansky, Ann Stiles, Peggy Dellinger and Ginny Richmond. More help is always needed for this program. Please call us at 732-531-2136 if you would like to learn about becoming a docent. _________________________________________________________________________

CENTENNIAL Our museum has a continuing project involving identifying and marking homes and sites HOMES that are a century or more of age. The owner of the property does need to provide the museum with some proof of the age of the structure. In the photo below, Kay Zimmerer, Chairperson of this project presents a Centennial Plaque to Tina Gordon of 86 Monmouth Rd., Oakhurst. Ms Gordon researched all the deeds pertaining to her home and presented the museum with a copy of some of the deeds dating from 1899. If you are interested in having your home marked as a centennial home, call or visit the museum.

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