Oceanic Free Library is a Living Memorial to a Fallen Aviator

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By Eileen Moon | emoon@tworivertimes.com

RUMSON – In the 1920s, as the horrors of World War I began to fade into history, a steady stream of books and letters began to arrive at the brand new Oceanic Free Library in the small town of Rumson.

Each contribution came from an author whose name was then a household word – someone well-known in the fields of fiction, poetry, politics, theater, science, history, adventure, memoir. 

Some sent signed copies of their books, while others sent autographed notes or letters several paragraphs long.

Each of the writers was responding to a poignant letter they’d received from Henry Eugene Meeker of Rumson and New York City.

“In the village of Oceanic, New Jersey, where he was born, my wife and I have built a free library as a memorial to our son, William Henry Meeker, who gave his life in France, in the service of his country,” the grieving father wrote. “This little library contains four thousand volumes, and it has seemed to us that it would be an interesting part in the memorial, and give added character to the library itself, if we could attach the autographs of the living authors represented in this list to one or more of their books.”

While it’s not known how many requests the elder Meeker mailed out, he ultimately received responses from about 300 authors, several of whom expressed support and gratitude for Meeker’s request.

The contributors included A.A. Milne, Joseph Conrad, Charles Lindbergh, P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton, Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Benito Mussolini, Amy Lowell, J.M. Barry, as well as many authors whose works have fallen out of the spotlight over the decades. “It has been a fun project, looking through and finding out who some of these people are,” said library board member Janine Hallisey.

Other authors achieved such lasting fame that their names are easily recognized.

“I am so glad to think that you have some of my books in your library,” wrote Wodehouse.

“Mrs Wharton asks me to say that she makes it a rule not to give her autograph except to friends,” Wharton’s secretary wrote. “But that she is happy to make an exception for the library founded in memory of your son.”

A talented writer whose family preserved his own work in a volume that bears his name, the younger Meeker served as editor of the Harvard Crimson during his years at Harvard University, where he also joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

With armed conflict in Europe stirring up passions on both sides of the Atlantic, Meeker joined an American flying corps, the Escadrille Americaine (later known as the Lafayette Flying Corps) and went to France to support the war effort. Trained in combat and acrobatic flying, Meeker was killed Sept. 11, 1917 while executing a vertical spiral, one of nine members of the flying corps killed in training. An additional 51 would die in combat. 

Because of their son’s love for the written word, the Meekers turned their grief toward establishing a living memorial, a library that would serve residents for generations to come.

The idea swiftly garnered community support, with townspeople contributing more than 2,000 books for library shelves and helping to raise funds to buy a library building. The first library was located on River Road, in a small building that is now part of the Bank of America complex on Second Street. The library moved to its present location, once used as a post office and as Hintelmann’s Corner market, in 1959.

According to a library history written by Will Morrissey, in its first six months, library attendance averaged 800 per month in a town with only 1,600 residents.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the library and members of the board of trustees will be hosting a fundraising celebration for the library Sept. 13 at the Seabright Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club.

The money raised at the event will be used to restore and preserve the collection of books and letters that Henry Eugene Meeker solicited in memory of his son, said board president Carolyn Risko Miller. 

For Miller, preserving the Meeker’s collection is something of a family endeavor. Her son, Brad, 16, has been working on cataloguing the collection. Another teen, Thomas Makin, a junior at High Technology High School in Lincroft, created a spreadsheet listing the titles, authors, entries and conditions of all the books.

Thanks to Eric Burdge, a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School graduate who is now a carpenter in Vermont, the library has a custom-crafted wood cabinet to hold the books. “He built this for us for almost nothing,” said board member Janine Hallisey.

Library patrons are welcome to look at the books, but they can’t be checked out. Years of wear and tear have taken their toll on some of the volumes, and some books, like a Joseph Conrad contribution, have even had the autograph pages ripped out. 

Board members credit library director Nanette Reis for urging them to take steps to preserve the collection. “Nanette just kept pushing for this,” said Hallisey. 

“I was the burr in the saddle,” laughed Reis.

The library staff and trustees are seeking grants and donations to assist in rebinding, restoring and protecting the books to extend their lives for future readers.

“What people don’t realize about the library is that it really is a war memorial,” noted Hallisey. 

But unlike many war memorials, the Oceanic Free Library is a living, thriving enterprise that in addition to an extensive book collection, offers a busy calendar of events for the community that ranges from knitting clubs to art exhibits, lectures and contests, like a recent Irish Soda Bread competition. It also boasts a rich collection of children’s books – something the Meeker family insisted on from the beginning.

“It’s very lively here,” said Miller, the board president. “I think people are amazed when they come in and look around.”

“The Meekers would be very proud, I think,” said Hallisey.


The article originally appeared in the March 12-18, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.