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Historic Preservation Committee

E-mail Recollection

  1. Name:

    Tom Stewart

  2. Mailing address:a

    Greenville, SC 29605

  3. When and where were you born?

    February, 1954 Springfield, Mass.

  4. When did you come to Mountain Lakes?

    September, 1954

  5. Tell us something about your family did your parents also live here?

    My father moved to Mountain Lakes in 1938, and graduated from MLHS in 1943. Fought in WWII, lived in the Boston area after the war and moved back to Mountain Lakes in 1954, with me.

  6. Where have you lived in the Borough? In which houses?

    My father lived in the Delchamps' house at 80 Laurel Hill Rd (1938-1943). Built a house next door at 92 Laurel Hill Rd. in 1954-1974.

  7. What do you remember particularly about the houses and properties where you lived?

    A lot of beautiful stone work, everywhere.

  8. What are some of your special memories growing up in Mountain Lakes?

    Memorial Day parade, 4th of July at the ML Club, the "HERD" football team,

  9. Where did you go to school?

    Wildwood, Lake Drive, Briarcliff, MLHS.

  10. What particular memories do you have from your school years?

    The "HERD" football team, beating Glen Ridge, 51-8 my junior year, and losing to Morris Catholic, in the snow 7-6 my senior year.

  11. Are there any special stories you associate with that time of your life?

  12. Where did you and your family shop?

    Dell's village, Shop-Rite in Boonton.

  13. What were the roads and the lakes like?

    About the same. The parking lots at the lakes were all gravel.

  14. Did your parents and the parents of your friends work nearby?

    My father took the train into New York everyday. Most of the Dads on our street also took the train into New York.

  15. Did you have a sense of Mountain Lakes as a unique place in its lifestyle, its homes, as a community?

    Not until I moved away after high school.

  16. How did the world's events -- World War I, the Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the assassination of JFK, Viet Nam, Watergate, etc. -- affect you and fellow Mountain Lakes residents when you were growing up?

    I was at my grandmother's house, on Shallow Lake, when the news broke out about the assassination of JFK, it was the first and last time I ever saw her cry.




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