Wonderful News!
Paul and Marge Edelson win the 2022 Jane G. Clayton Award
We were just notified that Paul and Marge Edelson are recipients of this year’s Jane G. Clayton Award for sustained and exceptional contributions to preserving and promoting Monmouth County history. The award, created in 1997, is named for former County Clerk Jane Clayton, founder of the Monmouth County Archives. Winners are chosen by the County Clerk—in consultation with the directors of the County’s Historical Commission and Historical Association and its historian and archivist—based on a tangible record of contribution to the understanding and appreciation of our history.
The Edelsons’ record of contribution dates back more than half a century. In the 1970s, Marge was a charter member and president of the Ocean Township Historical Society. With Kay Zimmerer, she co-authored two definitive books on Township history. She co-founded, served as president, and is currently a trustee of the Township of Ocean Historical Museum. Marge is the visionary behind our 35 hand-made quilts for raffle and countless hand-crafted items that together have raised more than $80,000 for the Museum. She conceived and is an ongoing force behind the Spring and Doll Teas and other successful fund-raisers. Paul, as a member of the Ocean Township Board of Education, in 1984 helped secure the Museum’s first home in the school administration building in the old Oakhurst schoolhouse. Starting in 2001, he worked tirelessly with Doc Richmond to rescue the Woolley House and oversee its move to its current location where it opened in 2009 as the Museum’s new home. He has served as our president for nearly a decade and has helped raise the funds and oversee the restoration of the historic Tower and Cow Barn on parkland adjacent to the Museum.
Together, the Edelsons are a force of nature—or in this case—a force for history. We are thrilled that they have received this hard-earned and well-deserved honor.
As many of you know, Marge suffered a stroke on August 5. She is making encouraging progress toward full recovery at the Hackensack Meridian Johnson Rehabilitation Institute at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank and is expected home next week. What better medicine than this exciting news! No one who knows her doubts her strength and determination. And now she has a goal: Be ready and able, with her partner Paul, to accept the Jane G. Clayton Award at the Archives Day ceremonies at Brookdale Community College, on October 1!