By Laura D.C. Kolnoski
TINTON FALLS – Laughter – and a few tears – permeated the proceedings May 18 when the women’s wing of the Gordon H. Mansfield veteran’s complex on Essex Road was dedicated for Monmouth County Commissioner Lillian G. Burry, who launched and spearheaded the 10-year effort to make the facility a reality.
Over 120 guests spilled out from a large tent onto the courtyard of the four-story, 70-unit structure opened in 2021, part of the Soldier On nonprofit organization that creates acclaimed communities for veterans facing challenges including homelessness, addiction and unemployment. Each location is named for the late Mansfield, a Vietnam War veteran and head of the Veteran’s Administration who helped the organization’s founder, Jack Downing, create the first Soldier On facility in Massachusetts.
Ten units in the Tinton Falls complex are dedicated solely to women, with a separate entrance, laundry room and gathering spaces. Some residents have experienced physical and sexual trauma, others homelessness and medical issues. United States Army veteran Carol Jones was among the first to move in. The assemblage went silent as she related her journey from a facility in East Orange to what is now the Lillian Burry Women’s Wing, including how “bad decisions” had led to “almost giving up,” until she applied for and was accepted to the community.
“I am thankful for Lillian Burry and for her vision, strength and determination,” Jones said.
Other speakers recounted their interactions with Burry as the effort to bring Soldier On to Monmouth County advanced and faltered repeatedly while Burry forged a coalition of bipartisan legislators and stakeholders from Monmouth County to Washington D.C. to keep the project alive.
Charles “Chuck” Richman, former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, was enlisted early on to arrange funding.
“When I said, ‘Lillian, there are rules,’ she responded, ‘Then change the rules,’ ” Richman said to knowing laughter. He related that Democrat Sheila Oliver, now the state’s lieutenant governor, became aware of Republican Burry’s efforts, and told him, “You have to make it work.” Consequently, Richman said Oliver is committed to seeing more Soldier On facilities built throughout New Jersey. (A second location was recently secured in Gloucester County.)
David Ginsberg, senior vice president of Winn Development, Soldier On’s construction partner, called Burry “the political champion who paved the way to this project.” Pointing to former Tinton Falls Mayor Jerry Turning and council president Gary Baldwin across the aisle, Burry interjected, “And these two, too!”
It was Burry’s retired Coast Guard captain husband Donald who showed an article about the organization to his wife that initially kickstarted the effort. Years were spent seeking a location on Fort Monmouth, a former U.S. Army base currently undergoing redevelopment, but sites were identified only to be discounted. Burry has been a voting member of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) since its inception after the Army shuttered the fort in 2011. As prospects dimmed, the Tinton Falls officials offered a vacant plot near Seabrook Village.
During the women’s wing dedication, Burry was presented with a proclamation that was read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives the day prior and is now part of the permanent Congressional Record, sent by Rep. Chris Smith (R- 4), a longtime friend who championed Soldier On at the federal level. Labeling Burry “the quarterback” of the project, the resolution states, “This extraordinary public servant led the way through the toughest roadblocks she faced.”
“This woman is absolutely incredible, a very special person who tells us what she’s thinking… always,” said state Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11), adding Burry would be honored at the statehouse this week. “This complex never would have happened without Lillian. The people of the 11th District are indebted to you.”
Soldier On CEO Bruce Buckley regaled attendees with how Burry berated him over the phone during the process, turning serious to praise her “tenacity” and “singular focus.”
“Our mission at Soldier On is to end veterans’ homelessness; it’s as simple, and as complicated, as that,” Buckley said, delivering a message from Downing. “What we give away freely in life lives after us.”
Rising to deliver her remarks, Burry quipped, “A lot of people called me a bitch over the past 10 years.” After thanking her family, she said, “It has long been a dedication of mine to seeing to it that the land of the free includes a home for the brave. Soldier On embodies that dedication. This should not be seen as an end, but rather a step along the path, part of a perpetual obligation of every American to the men and women who go in harm’s way so we can live free.”
In addition to greenhouses and outdoor recreation spaces, the complex includes a columbarium for the interment of deceased residents’ ashes which Buckley said recently saw its first interment. To meet residents’ needs, Soldier On partners with public and private entities including food pantries, legal aid, social services, employment assistance and transportation providers.
Among the attendees were former New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno; current and retired state and county officials and staff; former state Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso; Colts Neck Mayor Sue Fitzpatrick; Kara Kopach, FMERA executive director; and retired U.S. Navy Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman, Senior Naval Science Instructor at MAST; and many friends.
Burry, owner of Colts Neck Realty, is a former Colts Neck mayor and was the first woman elected to the Matawan Borough Council. She was also the first female director of the Monmouth County Commissioners and is now concluding her sixth and final term on that body, retiring after 53 years of public life in December.
During the reception following the dedication, residents greeted Burry warmly, some calling her “Mom.” One told her, “I was living in a parking lot. You saved my life.”
“If eternal vigilance is truly the price of freedom, then support for the vigilant should be eternal as well,” Burry said.
The article originally appeared in the May 25 – 31, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
