Artist Barbara Welti Van Der Sluys in 1989 exhibits some of her oil paintings of the North Jersey area. (File photo by Ann Genader)
The farmhouse of the Creevy, Welti, Van Der Sluys family. It had been under water in the Monksville Reservoir since 1984. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Welti Van Der Sluys)
When he read the “Looking Back” column last week about the memories of Barbara Welti Vander Sluys, whose family home and riding stables were lost when the Monksville Reservoir flooded the Wanaque Valley, Bradley Bender, formerly of Hewitt, did some reminiscing too.
Although they are from different generations, Vander Sluys and Bender shared thoughts about prize fighter Rocky Graziano and his time training in the boxing ring at Brown’s Hotel in Greenwood Lake, N.Y.
Bender lives in Danby, Vt., where he is the mayor and director at Wallcoverings Academy Installation. He is also justice of the peace, trustee of public funds and clerk-treasurer of Danby-Mt. Tabor Fire Department.
His business career began in the 1970s as manager of a branch location for the Lazon Paints home-decorating business in a satellite store in an early West Milford ShopRite complex.
He now is director of education and an instructor at the U.S. School of Professional Paper Hanging in Rutland, Vt.
After graduating from William Paterson University in 1977, he attracted attention when he was elected to the West Milford Board of Education and recognized as the youngest school board member in the state.
Middleweight champ
Graziano was one of the fighters who trained in the ring at Brown’s Hotel in the 1940s. He held the World Middleweight Championship Title and still is considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history.
He was able to take out an opponent with a single punch.
Born Thomas Rocco Barbella in Brooklyn on Jan. 1, 1919, he died May 22, 1990, in New York City after suffering a stroke a month earlier.
In a total of 83 fights, the renowned fighter had 67 wins, with 52 of those by knockout.
Actor Paul Newman starred in a movie about Graziano’s life in 1956: “Somebody Up There Likes Me.”
The fighter also did some acting after he retired from boxing. In 1967, he had a part as a boxer. He played Martha Raye’s boyfriend on “The Martha Raye Show” and his 28 credits include roles in the once-popular TV shows “Car 54, Where are You?” and “Naked City.”
Graziano was one of the boxers who often stopped at the Wanaque Valley Riding Stables.
Like other customers of Thomas Francis Xavier Creevy, Vander Sluys’s grandfather, he would choose the horse he wanted to ride, then head out on local riding trails through the thick Hewitt forests that were especially beautiful with red and gold colors in the fall.
Vander Sluys recalled that as a young girl, she thought he “resembled a Comanche Indian and it was apparent that he loved my dad.”
Watching fighters
Two of the residents who enjoyed watching Graziano in the ring at Brown’s Hotel were Sam Bunting, who originally owned the (still existing) gas station at the corner of Lakeside Road and Greenwood Lake Turnpike, and his son-in-law Joe Bender, who took over the station when Sam retired.
Joe Bender was married to Bunting’s daughter Marilyn Bunting Bender and served as a member of the West Milford Township Council.
Brad Bender, son of the couple, remembers his father and grandfather often walking over to the nearby hotel after closing the station for the night to watch Graziano and other fighters in the ring.
Years later, after all three died, Brad Bender and Graziano’s grandson Ryan Lifton happened to meet in Vermont and became friends.
Brad Bender’s daughter Casandra lived in Danby across the street from her father. When she moved, he advertised that the house was for rent. Lifton responded and Bender rented the house to him.
During a conversation, they discovered an interesting twist with ties back to West Milford. Bender, born in 1955, did not get to see Brown’s Hotel. It burned down a couple of years before he was born.
Remembering the Brown’s Hotel property being a vacant lot, he recalled when a bowling alley was built on property on Greenwood Lake Turnpike near where the hotel had been. The bowling alley was one of his father’s hangouts.
Lifton was a teenager when his “Gramp Rocky” died. He told Bender that he was proud to have been given some of his grandfather’s favorite possessions. He remembered spending some of his childhood at Greenwood Lake with Graziano and other family members.
Beloved doctor
Vander Sluys, of the Silent Generation, and Bender, a baby boomer, both fondly remember Dr. William Somerville, a beloved country doctor who followed in the steps of his father.
Dr. Bill was known for having a having “a very kind heart,” Vander Sluys said.
About 1949, one of delivery trucks that brought bread and cake to the area was traveling north on Greenwood Lake Turnpike when the driver accidentally hit and injured a fawn with the truck. “This happened just up the road from our house,” she remembered.
“The driver thought my grandfather could help since he cared for the horses. He came to our house for help. Both legs of the animal were broken. We did not know what to do for the baby deer. It was so badly hurt!”
Her grandfather came to where the deer was lying and made a body sling to keep the fawn off its legs. Back then, there were no vets nearby.
“My mother thought it would be a good idea to telephone Bill Somerville for a suggestion. He was a medical school student at the time and had brought friends home with him for a weekend visit. After getting the phone call, he came down to the stable and put casts on the deer’s front broken legs.
“Sadly, the animal died during the night because of its obvious severe injuries. When Dr. Bill graduated and became a local doctor, everyone loved him.”
Jungle Habitat, a 450-acre theme park and wildlife preserve with 2,000 animals, walk-up rides and attractions, operated from 1972 to 1976 in Hewitt.
Vander Sluys, already an artist, did charcoal portraits of the tourists.
“I was allowed to go into the nursery to sketch the tiger, lion and leopard cubs,” she said. “They were very playful, like house kittens. One climbed up my leg and another took off with my purse.”
Vander Sluys, who will turn 90 in May, is well and living in Warwick, N.Y.