Folks,
What a wonderful evening was had by all at last night’s Awards Presentation (May 19). It was held in the activities room of the Presbyterian Church, with a delicious cake from L&M bakery & iced tea. Thank you Phyllis and Pat for the preparation.
The recipients, T. Robins Brown, Tracey Foedisch, Nancy Grimes, Joe Rainer, Paul Schopp, and Steve & Sue Schwering, all seemed very pleased and thanked HSR for the honor that they received.
Thank you,
Bill Brown, HSR President
Board Members Pat Brunker, Iris Gaughan, Roger Prichard, Phyllis Rodgers, and Bill Brown each expressed our gratitude to the individuals and presented them with a framed certificate, a historically themed mug, and a copy of Riverton’s just published Images of America book. Their edited remarks follow.
Bill Brown: Riverton for approximately 30 years Nancy Grimes has been a member of the 4th of July Committee, where she coordinates the Cocktail party.
She instituted a wreath program two years ago and donated the profits to the Historical Society of Riverton (2020) and to the Riverton Fire Department (2021). She fielded a small army of volunteers (with well-organized lists) who got them all hung in no time.
She was very active in the Riverton school as a member of the PTO. Nancy is community-oriented with a give-back attitude to help make Riverton a better place to live.
John Laverty: Joe Rainer has been up since 1 AM this morning handling the situation with the fire at his building at Broad and Main. He intends to get restoration work started immediately so that the affected business and apartments can be back in use as soon as possible…
…Joe started investing in properties in Riverton in 1986. He now owns 18 properties in Riverton, including nearly all of the commercial/mixed-use properties on the North side of the intersection of Broad and Main…
Joe is the Founder of Rainer Painting Company. Rainer Painting has… done charitable work in repainting the homes of military veterans in this area… painted Riverton Public School, The Riverton Fire Company Building, and the Riverton Police Station, and donated the materials needed for these projects…
We are very fortunate for the presence of his investments in our Town. So with the above in mind, I hereby present to Joseph Rainer this Recognition from the Historical Society of Riverton.
Iris Gaughan: Just about 100 years ago on September 25, 1922, Schwering’s Hardware store, then called Schwering’s Wayside Hardware opened its door for business. Steve’s grandfather was the first owner/proprietor. Schwering’s stock has changed many times over in the last 100 years, but what hasn’t changed is the professional and sincere service one always gets as a Schwering customer.
In the Gaughan household, it is a very rare week that goes by without at least 3 trips to Schwering’s.
Steve and Sue Schwering, congratulations on this Historical Society of Riverton recognition. You have continued to make Schwering’s Hardware a tri-boro community treasure. It is my honor to present you with this award.
Pat Brunker: T. Robins Brown has worked on the HSR archives since January 2019, approximately once a week for a few hours at a time, cataloging our collection of artifacts. She has nearly completed the 300 items in our clothing archives and is waiting to put them into an accessible database when we get one.
She will move on to catalog the other artifacts in our collection. She has also researched the people who donated items and come up with a comprehensive story of their connections to Riverton…
We are indeed fortunate to have the expertise of this retired professional architectural historian and historic preservationist.
What she has done is amazing.
Phyllis Rodgers: It is my pleasure to introduce Tracy Foedisch as a recipient of the HSR Recognition Award. For the past 25 years, Tracy has devoted her time to making Riverton a very special place to live by serving as chairperson of Riverton’s Fourth of July Committee.
Each year she spends countless hours to ensure that Riverton’s Fourth of July encompasses numerous memorable activities. Her idea of working with Circle of Friends to produce the Concert in the Park added yet another layer of festivities to an already awesome holiday…
As Tracy plans her last year as Fourth of July chairperson, we wish her the best and are forever grateful for her dedication and service to Riverton.
Roger Prichard: Paul Schopp has been researching and collecting information all his life about South Jersey, and specifically Riverton. He shares this passion for South Jersey professionally in his position as Assistant Director of the South Jersey Culture & History Center at Stockton University, where his work with their regional history publication SoJourn brings fascinating aspects of our past to life.
As a prolific contributor to our Gaslight News… his encyclopedic knowledge of these and many other subjects has been invaluable.
Even more than facts and context, Paul’s most lasting contribution has been to bring a professional’s skill at documenting HOW we know these things, an approach that has helped raised HSR’s activities well above those one might expect of the typical small, local historical society…
Paul has always insisted that we know what we’re talking about and we can document how we know that. The ring of truth always makes stories that much more engaging.
Until 2023, when we hope to acknowledge another group of people who have been instrumental in furthering our mission to preserve Riverton’s history.
