WARETOWN – Jeanne Bonnell greeted the crowd with a big smile and a laugh, recognizing people as they stood, called out or waved from their seats. About 100 people gathered at the United Methodist Church after rain forced the event indoors from Corliss Park. They came to hear the 94-year-old share memories of Waretown.
The idea began while Jeanne and Linda Corliss Dugan were working on matters involving Cedar Grove Cemetery. They had been talking about recording some longtime residents’ memories, and Dugan suggested they record Jeanne. The idea grew into an event as word spread and more people wanted to hear her stories.
Bobby Corliss, a lifelong friend, sat up front with Jeanne and had prepared questions for her. But Jeanne soon began talking with the audience, recognizing friends and following memories as they surfaced. Her conversational style took over, and many of Corliss’ planned questions never needed to be asked.
Corliss recalled being a boy who dreaded mornings until Jeanne passed on her walk and called out, “Oh, hi, little Robbie!”
“I couldn’t not start the day off with a smile on my face because of her,” he said.
A Town Of 425 People
The Bonnell name has been part of Waretown since the 1800s, one of several familiar local names heard around the room, along with Corliss, Letts and Cottrell. Jeanne arrived in 1943, when she was 11, after her father bought the Waretown fishing station and began renting boats and cabins along the bay. She helped at the business and rowed boats. Her mother made chowder that, Jeanne said, everyone considered the best.
Jeanne estimated Waretown had about 425 residents when her family arrived. The 2020 Census counted 8,835 people in Ocean Township, which includes Waretown.
At the old post office on Main Street, mail could be addressed simply to “Jeanne Post Waretown” because, as Jeanne put it, “they knew who everybody was.” Across the street was her brother’s store, Bill’s Market. He joked that they “sold the best and ate the rest.”
Jeanne explained how the names of three local roads once included “Bay.” “This road out here used to be Bay Street. We lived over on Bay Avenue,” she said. Bay Street became Bryant Road, and Bay Avenue became Clearwater Drive. Bay Parkway in Sands Point kept its name. Jeanne said the changes were “something political at the time,” adding with a laugh that she had not been old enough to vote.
The Train Through Waretown
One of Jeanne’s most vivid memories was traveling by train between South Amboy and Waretown. In the spring, she and her mother would come down while her father worked on the boats. On Monday mornings, they caught the train back so Jeanne could get to school.
They boarded in South Amboy around 6 a.m. and got off in Waretown, where the tracks ran by what is now the Barnegat Rail Trail. Jeanne remembered the train passing through Lakehurst, Lakewood and Toms River, though she said she could never quite understand the route.
The trip came with plenty of soot. Jeanne described the old coal-fired train and how smoke and grit blew in during the summer. “You’d keep the doors and windows shut because it was so bad coming in,” she said.
A Boy With Big Biceps
Jeanne attended Barnegat High School, graduating from the original Route 9 building that later became Elizabeth V. Edwards Elementary School before its demolition in 2022. It was during those same high school years that she crossed paths with the young man who would eventually become her husband. Jeanne was just 15 years old when she saw Buddy pull up in a car. As she watched him get out, his biceps immediately caught her attention. “At 15, I said, ‘That’s what I want,’” she recalled, prompting laughter from the audience.
Buddy was 21 when they married two years later. His sisters predicted the marriage would never last because Jeanne was so young. The couple stayed together for 67 and a half years, until Buddy’s death.
Jeanne remembered him with humor and affection. In high school, he was known as King Bonnell, later as Junior, and eventually as Buddy. At his memorial service, she said, a friend told her Buddy was the only man he had ever known about whom nobody had anything bad to say. “What a legacy to leave to our kids,” she said.
Hitting The Books
At 29, Jeanne decided to become a teacher while raising five children. She applied to college, took the entrance exam and was put on a waiting list. “Well, that wasn’t quite good enough,” she told the audience.
She called the registrar’s office and made an appointment with Dr. Orr for Thursday. By Monday, she had her acceptance letter. “Not because I was so bright or anything, but because Dr. Orr knew I was serious,” she said. “He knew I was going for a reason.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree with a minor in library science, then went on to earn three master’s degrees. She began teaching first grade at Stafford Elementary School. When school evaluators later recommended that the school have a librarian, the principal encouraged Jeanne to move into the library. She initially resisted because she had studied to be a classroom teacher but said she was grateful he had encouraged the change. She ultimately earned master’s degrees in elementary education, library science and urban education.
Former students were among those who came to see her, including Kevin, now 71, who had been one of her grade school students in the 1960s. Jeanne was thrilled to see him, as well as other former pupils in the audience, now well into their seventies.
“I Miss The People Most”
When asked what she missed most about Waretown, her answer came easily. She missed the people. Jeanne remembered local characters, including Bill Reed, who wore a heavy jacket even in summer, and Sammy Hunt, whom everyone seemed to remember as a terrific dancer.
She also recalled Dr. Newberry, who made house calls. Jeanne joked that no matter what was wrong, he seemed ready with a needle. If one or two of her children were sick, she said, he might give all five of them a shot “just so they didn’t get it.”
As the event wound down, the gathering turned into a playful Waretown history quiz. One question asked who lived in Waretown the longest without ever moving away. At least 10 people initially stood when asked who had been there continuously for 40 years. The count reached 66 years, with Laura Bonnell Vassallo identified as the person who had lived in town the longest.
Adele Shaw, the township historian, praised Jeanne for helping preserve the community’s history. “What a joy it was for so many years to serve side by side with you,” she said, recalling the privilege of sharing “what’s wonderful and beautiful about Waretown for future generations.”
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