Red Bank History Through the Eyes of Its Elders

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By John Burton
RED BANK ­– Red Bank Library’s Elizabeth McDermott and a Red Bank Regional High School student are working to preserve the past.
McDermott, who is the library’s acting director, and Kayla Williams, 16-year-old borough resident, are undertaking an oral history project this summer and are seeking longtime residents to share their lives and experiences to be preserved for posterity.
“I see this as a valuable resource” for the library and community at large, said McDermott of her plans to document the lives and thoughts of some of the community’s longest residents. “These people can tell us things nobody else can.”
The idea for the project began percolating in 2012, McDermott said, when the library was celebrating its 75th anniversary. The library staff began collecting Red Bank memorabilia – a slew of photos, documents ands books – for the history room on the second floor of the 84 W. Front St. library building. As the collection grew –“and people started talking” about the collection – McDermott said she was struck by how important it was to gain a sense of the borough’s history before it was lost as residents age, move or pass away, especially since the borough doesn’t have a historical society to collect the information.
“The library has an opportunity to collect this information and share it, and the public can find out things they would not know about their own town,” McDermott said.
Last year, McDermott conducted her first interview with longtime borough residents Dan Dorn Jr. and Harry Greenwood. “That was real fun,” she said. The men offered funny and rich reminisces of years gone by. A video, filmed by a relative of Greenwood’s, was downloaded to New Jersey Digital Highway, an informational portal for state-themed historical and cultural information.
Future video interviews also will be downloaded to the site and the public can access them through a portal on the library’s website, McDermott said.
Earlier this week, McDermott and Williams interviewed and recorded Anthony Trufolo, a 97-year-old former teacher at Red Bank High School, who lived much of his life in Red Bank.
Red Bank Board of Education member Suzanne Viscomi, who regularly videotapes borough council meetings, agreed to serve a videographer for this project, according to McDermott.
Williams became aware of the project recently and approached McDermott about participating during her summer break.
“I think it’s important to do this to preserve the history and memories we have. It’s a valuable resource,” Williams said. “These people can tell us things nobody else can.”
Williams, who will be a senior in September, is in the creative writing program at Red Bank Regional’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy. She has composed a list of nearly 20 questions she would like to pose to participants about their lives and experiences. She hopes her peers will find this as interesting as she has and more vital that textbook history lessons.
“This is talking to people, looking at their photos,” as opposed to the traditional classroom experience, she said. Hopefully, other students will be inspired to help.
Trufolo, who now lives in Little Silver, grew up on Shrewsbury Avenue. His parents, who were Italian immigrants, settled in the predominately Italian west side neighborhood. His father  worked as a personal tailor for Sigmund Eisner, who owned and operated a military uniform factory at what is now the Galleria office and retail complex on Bridge Avenue and whose family donated the library’s building.
Trufolo said he wanted to be a doctor, but his family’s financial difficulties during the Great Depression, which led them to lose the family home, killed that dream. He became a teacher with a local teacher helping him obtain a college scholarship. He returned to Red Bank after college with a sense of wanting to help young people achieve their dreams.
“I was just a poor kid from Red Bank,” he said, “but I was always ready to help somebody.
He is participating in the project because he wants “people to know Red Bank was special – and still is.
“It was always home to me,” he added.
McDermott will have a spot at 27 Monmouth St. during the July 25-27 downtown sidewalk sale, where Williams’ questionnaire, historic photos and details about the project will be available for the public.
“It might encourage other people to share,” either their own or family members’ experiences or even to volunteer time toward the project, McDermott said.