Press of Atlantic City

AP Video

Legacies: For 'Hammonton Harry,' a shed was his castle

By JOHN MARTINS Staff Writer, 856-794-5114

Published: Nov 29, 2008

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.
HAMMONTON - For most of his adult life, Harry S. Jacobs was somewhat at odds with the world around him.

Like most people his age, the 77-year-old Hammonton native was a product of a bygone era, a time when the harsh economic realities of the Great Depression still lingered heavily in rural southern New Jersey. Food was either grown or caught. Money was spent sparingly, if at all. Life's little pleasures - which usually were gastronomic in nature - often were made with care, and rarely bought.

It was a simple world, a place ordered and governed by the old-world Italian traditions that shaped the sensibilities of many who lived in this farming community. It also was a world that Jacobs refused to leave.

"This guy was a legend, really," said longtime friend Tommy Mature, 69. "He was born 50 years too late." More

Nov 22, 2008

• Whether cooking or courting, he did it right

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Nov 15, 2008

• Legacies: Six years at sea fulfilled lifelong dream

An occasional series about southern New Jersey
residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Nov 08, 2008

• Legacies: Phillies came through for Vineland man

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Nov 01, 2008

• Legacies: Margate doctor's life was bed of roses

Click to view family movies

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Oct 19, 2008

• Vineland man marched to different drummer

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.
VINELAND - For a few years there, George Frederick Chew had the habit of telling people he was Jesus Christ.

Oct 04, 2008

• Legacies: Avalon man was always on the clock

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Sep 27, 2008

• Legacies: Ocean City doll doctors shop was an operation of love

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Sep 20, 2008

• Legacies / Ventnor man, immigrant from Fiji, believed in life of learning, hard work

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Sep 14, 2008

• Legacies: Egg Harbor Township's Irv String kept low profile, high standards

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Aug 30, 2008

• Middle Twp. man was just plane fascinated

Describing James McGill's life without airplanes would be like trying to fly a Douglas DC-4 without the engines.

Aug 23, 2008

• Legacies: Say goodbye to the Tremont Waver

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Aug 16, 2008

• Mullica Twp. man spent his life helping others

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends and families.

Aug 09, 2008

• A life of challenges, joy, humor in Atlantic City

ABSECON - Marie Palmisano had a knack for remembering everything.

Aug 06, 2008

• Christian Rossetti: 'Just an old-fashioned family man'

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Aug 06, 2008

• Self-made engineer learned from the Depression

Paul Bell Sr. made it through the sixth grade before the Depression forced him to leave school and take a job to help support his family.

Aug 02, 2008

• Shots, beers and barbs: Customers got a kick out of Big Fran

WILDWOOD - Two men walk into a bar.

Aug 02, 2008

• Muskrat trapper, gardener defined by land around him

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Aug 02, 2008

• Brigantine man made Navy way his way, for life

LEGACIES / An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Aug 02, 2008

• Dedicated family man had feet on the ground, but his head in the sky

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Feb 05, 2008

• Margate man loved family, jokes and art

An occasional series about southern New Jersey residents who recently died, leaving lasting marks on their community, their neighborhood, their friends or families.

Feb 05, 2008

• LEGACIES: GIFT FOR GIVING EARNED HER THE TITLE MRS. CLAUS

Two days before every Christmas, Marie Warren's house was jammed with gifts for people she didn't know.

Feb 05, 2008

• KIND HEART, TENACIOUS SPIRIT: 'MISS ALICE' REMEMBERED

"Miss Alice," as she was known, would never let anybody go hungry, especially poor folks who made up much of this community before Cape May real estate values spread westward.
"Most of the bills were never paid. People would say, `I don't have the money.' Alice would say, `That's OK. Take it anyhow,' " said her nephew, Broadway resident Clement Reeves. This giving spirit stemmed from a view that each life was precious, and she had to do everything she could to help each one. The same view led Alice to squeeze everything she could out of her own life, often doing things young women simply didn't do in that era.

Feb 05, 2008

• A LIFE'S PILGRIMAGE FROM BAGHDAD TO MAYS LANDING

Sadia Aljudi loved America, she loved the parks, where she could sit in the grass with her husband, Taha, and eat sandwiches. She loved New York City, and enjoyed drinking tea while she sat on a bench and admired the beauty of a bustling city. She loved the large Christmas displays in malls, especially the Whitefield Mall in Chicago, with its brightly lit Christmas tree in the center.

Feb 05, 2008

• HE LEAVES AS HE LIVED, WITH A SMILE

As hundreds of mourners filed past Jim Young's casket, friends and family couldn't help noticing something oddly consoling about Jim's expression: he was, as usual, smiling.

Mischievously. "He had that look he always had," said Andy Morris, a friend and coworker for 26 years.
Jim seemed to lack the ability to lie, and he was often betrayed by that ever-present smirk. He was brutally honest and had the cutting, deadpan streak of humor inherent in the Irish culture of which he was so proud.

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