Letter from the President
Pary Tell, President
Let me introduce myself. I am the new president of an old organization with a new name. As you may already know, Partners in Preservation and one of its standing committees, Preserving the Wildwoods, merged into one organization with a new name. Why the name change? After new officers were elected in December, the Executive Committee met and, after much discussion, decided we needed a new name to better reflect what we were all about. We will still be partnering with other history organizations on the island in the important work to preserve our past. We will still work to identify and save historic buildings. But we realized that our history is incomplete if we don’t include all our community and buildings become more important if we know the stories that go with them. We also need to remember that history isn’t something that happened a long time ago. What happened yesterday is already history, so we need to be sure that we’re including the history and stories of newer members of our community as well as longtime residents when we work to preserve our legacy. Taking all of this into consideration, we decided our new name should be Preserving the Wildwoods: A Community Alliance, and we hope that you recognize that YOU are included in that community and that your story is important to us.
As for me…I’ve lived “off shore” for the last 40 years, but only 4 miles away in Erma. I grew up in Wildwood, although my childhood home is now condos, and my family has longtime ties to the island. I attended St. Ann’s School and Wildwood Catholic High. I still remember riding my bike with my brother and our friends all over the island in the winter and hitting the beach and boardwalk every summer (Mack’s Pizza is the best!) When I was old enough, I went to Phil & Eddie’s or the Stardust to hear Mary Wells, Little Stevie Wonder and the Shirelles, among many other famous performers. There were 5 movie theaters, 2 that stayed open all winter – everyone’s Saturday night date. We felt sorry for the kids who had to live in Cape May. Those buildings are gone now, but the culture of that time, and other eras before that and since, are still important and still influence the Wildwoods of today. I hope as President, I can help foster a respect for our past and help us use it as a guide for our future. As Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park) once said, “If you don’t know your past, it’s like you’re a leaf that doesn’t know it’s part of a tree.” Here’s to saving our tree.
To join to our FREE email notification list, click here.