My daughter, Claire, recently broke the sad news to me that our beloved Surflight Theatre and the adjoining Show Place Ice Cream Parlour in Beach Haven are closed so far this summer with no news about reopening. That started a flood of memories of people, places and happy times connected to the Island that have changed, ended or simply faded from view.

My recollections of Long Beach Island go back over 70 years from the time I was a toddler.