Submitted by Don Sweeney
Following the Cranford Memorial Day parade last May, the Cranford 86 project dedicated an initial set of banners recalling local fallen heroes. The banners, which depict each of their likeness, were on display throughout Memorial Park, while their previously published stories were summarized from the dais in a moving ceremony. Over 100 booklets containing the full stories were purchased, as many attendees were enlightened about this new movement started by members of the Memorial Day Parade Committee and the Cranford Historical Society. The banners were made possible because of sponsorship by family members of the fallen, plus several of Cranford’s civic and charitable organizations. The banners were subsequently displayed on telephone poles around town. During the ceremony, it was suggested that future banners might be sponsored by Cranford residents whose street was named in memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The idea of such a tribute did not fall on deaf ears. One resident, Eric Rubinson, of Alan Okell Place, came forward after the conclusion of the ceremony. He said he would like to raise money from his neighbors to fund a banner honoring Alan Okell. We soon heard from Eric and were thrilled to hear that his neighbord had supported the idea enthusiastically. Eric had collected more than the $200 sponsorship fee. Alan Okell’s article was researched and written the following month; his banner will be ready in time for Memorial Day 2019.
Eric had read in that article that Roger Norton was a Cranford High School homeroom classmate of Alan Okell, and also one of our Cranford 86 heroes. In fact, their pictures in the 1936 yearbook were right next to each other. Eric and others soon expanded their door-to-door campaign, raising funds from residents of Roger Norton Place. He called back and said their enlarged campaign was successful, having raised the additional $200 needed to also sponsor a banner in memory of Roger Norton.
Out of curiosity, I inquired about Eric’s fundraising efforts, and how he inspired other neighborhoods to support the Cranford 86 project. He told me about his neighbor, Shannon Tallon, and her two children, Sam and Violet. Thirteen-year-old Sam is a First-Class Scout with Cranford’s Troop 80 Boy Scouts developed a fundraising advertisement (exhibited here) as fulfillment of one of his merit badge requirements. Violet, his seven-year-old sister, developed the graphics — a fundraising goal thermometer – like the United Way display on the North Avenue railroad overpass. The Tallons went door to door, left their fliers, and gradually raised the level of their progress thermometer as the donations accumulated.
One of the great things about living in a small town like Cranford is how charitable initiatives like these take root. We would like to thank the residents of Alan Okell Place and Roger Norton Place for their generosity and patriotic spirit and appreciate the Rubinson and Tallon families for their fundraising leadership.
A couple other inspirational stories are worth mentioning. The sole residents of Bargos Place, the Buontempo family, chose to sponsor last month’s hero, Juan Bargos. Sue Buontempo is the niece of Eugene McGarry, another Hometown Hero we recently profiled. We also received a surprise letter from Arlene Fricke of the Cranford HS Class of 1966 Reunion Committee, which included a check for $507 to sponsor their classmate, Raymond Ashnault, who died in Vietnam. Finally, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Cranford, Don Smith, came forward, offering to sponsor both Stanley H. Smith and Roderick W. Smith Jr., neither of whom are his relatives, but because he felt a kinship sharing the surname Smith.
Our stories and pictures of the Cranford 86 will continue next month, as we move closer to our goal of introducing all 86 Hometown Heroes to the people of Cranford. For without such men, life in Cranford as we know it today, may have been vastly different.
We invite you to visit our new website, Cranford86.org, to read our published stories or obtain information about our project. Please contact us at info@Cranford86.org if you would like to sponsor a hero or lead a fundraising campaign in your neighborhood.
(above) Presenting the funds that were collected to dedicate two Hometown Hero banners are L to Right back row. Stu Rosenthal and Don Sweeney of the Cranford Hometown Hero Project. Eric Rubinson, Shannon Tallon, front Violet Tallon and Sam Tallon.
(above) Alan Okell
