Smilestones
TYING THE KNOT
MINUTO-DARROCH ENGAGEMENT
Scott Minuto and Callie Darroch became engaged July 27. Scott proposed on the deck of an oceanfront house in Kitty Hawk, N.C., during a Darroch family vacation. He is the son of Russ and Janice Minuto of Voorhees, and Callie is the daughter of Doug and Tracee Darroch of Shamong. Callie’s dad is the copy editor for Sea Isle Times. Scott is a Special Education teacher specializing in Health and Physical Education at Seneca High School in Tabernacle. Callie is a Health and Physical Education teacher at Cherokee High School in Marlton. Although they both grew up in Shamong, they didn’t know each at the time because Scott is five years older, and they met through a dating app two years ago. They plan a fall 2023 wedding.
CECILIO-McCARTHY NUPTIALS SET
June 23, 2019. The Eagle Theatre in Hammonton. Eric Cecilio was costarring in “My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra.” It was closing night. Kelly McCarthy was in the audience with her parents, Tom and Barbara.
“I remember Eric looking handsome in his black tuxedo and his voice sounded amazing,” says Kelly, whose grandfather, Junior Burk was a singer in vaudeville. “Afterwards in the lobby, he introduced me to his talented children, Emma and Jack. And at the after-party, he came up to me with his arms outstretched and in that deep, mellifluous voice said, ‘You are sooo … lovely.’”
In December 2021, Eric and Kelly became engaged. On Oct. 8, their wedding will be held at The Deauville Inn.
“Kelly is amazing,” says Eric. “She’s changed everything. Before we met, I was planning on retiring to Florida, living alone, and fishing. But now she’s messed up my plans in the best way possible.”
Kelly and Eric divide their time between Sea Isle, where they take long walks up to Townsends Inlet Bridge, and Glassboro, in a cozy home overlooking a peach orchard.
KERN, MURPHY TO WED
“I have the perfect girl for you.”
Patrick Murphy heard those words from a good friend. There was only one catch. The perfect girl, Nicole Kern, was living in Florida.
Though she’d planned to return to the area it was two more years before Kern would move back. When she did, the two were more than ready for their first date, which took place on May 31, 2020, at Columbus Inn in Wilmington.
“She’s a beach person and a foodie like me so we both love coming down on the weekend,” says Murphy, who in 2017 purchased a home in Sea Isle City as a getaway for himself and his daughters Katie, 15, and Emma, almost 10.
“Nicole’s my partner, my best friend, and the girls love her. We have four dogs together. It’s easy, no arguments. It’s perfect,” he adds.
For their engagement on May 28, Patrick staged a romantic picnic for two on the 56th Street beach with champagne and roses, and with a chalk board with the words, “Will you marry me?”
“Our relationship blossomed,” Murphy says, “and we fell in love in Sea Isle.”
BARBARA & TOM McCARTHY’S 60TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
They met on Ocean City’s boardwalk. Barbara Burk was 14. Tom McCarthy was 17. She thought he was a bad boy. He thought she was prim and proper.
“She had her nose in the air,” he says.
She attended Notre Dame de Namur in Media. He, St. Tommy More High School in Philadelphia.
In their 20s they became reacquainted at Tony Mart in Somers Point.
“He kept taking me out to dinner and to see big-time entertainers,” says Barbara, about seeing Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., and Marlene Dietrich.
On Sept. 29, 1962, they married.
Following their honeymoon, he tended bar at the Tally Ho Hotel-Motel, adjacent to Valley Forge Music Fair: “On my breaks I went under the tent and watched live theater, and thought, ‘I can do that.’”
He would spend 50 years in “the business.” In 1997, he received Philadelphia’s Best Actor Barrymore Award for his portrayal of Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman.” And in 2003, he was awarded the Barrymore Lifetime Achievement Award. Television and film credits include “Law & Order,” “The West Wing,” “The Wire,” “Blow Out” and “Random Hearts.”
Barbara, a former schoolteacher, raised their children, Tommy and Kelly.
“Sixty years went fast,” he says. She agrees.
An instructor from Heritage Surf & Sport gives instructions before the surfers hit the water.
One of the participants catches a wave to shore.
‘SEIZE THE WAVE’ OFFERS KIDS CHANCE TO SURF
Thirty-five youngsters with epilepsy were given a chance to learn how to surf at the second annual Seize the Wave event July 26 at the 37th Street beach in Sea Isle City. The event was hosted by Epilepsy Services of New Jersey and Paul’s Purple Warriors.
“Seize the Wave is about possibility,” says Liza Gundell, CEO of Epilepsy Services of New Jersey. “It may seem like just a day at the beach for most, but we are defying the status quo. When we provide an opportunity for kids with epilepsy to go into the ocean and surf, we are challenging the presumption of what these kids are capable of doing. Epilepsy Services of New Jersey wants children with epilepsy to be able to do all the things they want to do to live their very best lives.”
Heritage Surf & Sport, a sponsor of the event, was on-site, giving instructional surf lessons to participants. Says owner Brian Heritage: “Some of these kids have never even seen the ocean. So, it’s joyous seeing them enjoying something that’s supposedly out of their wheelhouse. We’re sharing something with them that we take for granted.”
Siblings Ryder, 5, and Cosette Symons, 7, pose by the lemonade stand they operated to raise funds in honor of the three Sea Isle City police officers who were injured in the line of duty. They are joined here by SICPD Sgt. Steven Jankowski, Mayor Leonard Desiderio, and SICPD Lt. James McQuillen.
The Symons children raised $600 that was donated to the SICPD’s Good Will Fund. Here they are with (from left) Patrolman Henry Frank, Sgt. Thomas Ready, Capt. Anthony Garreffi, parents Jason and Krista Symons, and Mayor Desiderio.
YOUNGSTERS HONOR POLICE WITH LEMONADE STAND
Seven-year-old Cosette Symons and her 5-year-old brother Ryder raised $600 from the lemonade stand they operated Aug. 4 at the corner of 68th and Landis Avenue, not bad for a day’s work. What set their lemonade stand apart was its mission: to honor three Sea Isle City police officers injured after answering a 911 call about a domestic disturbance. Many customers gave generously upon learning of the mission.
The money they raised will be donated to Sea Isle City Police Department’s “Good Will Fund,” to help people in the community in need.
“You want to teach your kids the right things in life and hopefully they continue that when they get older,” says their father Jason, a retired police officer from Howell Township in Monmouth County. The Symons family owns a home in Sea Isle.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio arrived to acknowledge the children’s good deed. Members of Sea Isle City Police Department were also on hand.
Says Lt. James McQuillen: “Our acting chief and a couple of officers that were on patrol that day and myself, we stopped down and thanked them for everything they were doing. It’s awesome to see kids that young excited to do something like that. They were very respectful.”