By Diane Stulga; Photography courtesy of Ron Spodofora
“Sometimes we took day trips, other times we stayed overnight,” says Ron Spodofora recalling his family’s ventures from Caldwell, New Jersey to Long Beach Island in the 1950s. As it has done with others, the 18 miles of sand and shore captured the hearts and imaginations of Ron’s parents, Dominic and Rose.
So, with a combination of courage and a touch of pioneering spirit, in 1957 the Spodofora’s relocated their family to Manahawkin. “Our house was on Route 9 across from Oxycocus Elementary School. The Columbus Dairy Farm was right behind the school,” explains Ron. “My father was a millworker. He rented their barn and set up his millwork shop where he built cabinets, vanities, and boats. Some of the cabinets he built were for Shapiro homes in Beach Haven West.”
In their father’s millwork shop Ron and his brothers, Dom, and John, learned the fundamentals of woodworking. Given their close proximity to the beach, it was only a matter of time before the boys began to build skimboards, surfboards, and skateboards after hours. “I still have the first skateboard that I built,” says Ron with a smile.
The woodworking skills they acquired as boys in their father’s dairy barn workshop became life-long skills that would serve them as men. Dom became a talented wood carver, and Ron went on to become a union carpenter for thirty-six years.
Ron attended Oxycocus School and Southern Regional High School. As he recalls, “In those days Manahawkin was like living in Small Town, USA. Everyone knew each other. Mr. Holiway owned the Texaco Gas Station on Bay Avenue. It was where the BP sign is today. He was a great guy. In the summer we rode our bikes to The Manahawkin Drive-In Theatre. It was located on Route 72 where the Holiday Inn is now. The owner would let us in for free. In those days we had two drive-ins. The other was where Walmart is located today on Route 72 — The Fly-In Drive-In. Small planes could land, watch the movie from their cockpit, and fly out when it was over. On Bay Avenue where the flea market is today there was Bill’s Skating Rink. Every Friday night there were dances and in the summer St. Mary’s held Sunday mass there because the crowds were so large.”
By 1962, Ron’s father relocated his dairy barn millwork to his new business in Waretown, Pine Crest Millwork. “We moved to 6th Street in Surf City and in 1964 my dad build a new house for us in Surf City on South 3rd Street. My father sometimes worked at the northern end of the Island at Small Point in Harvey Cedars where Maris Stella is today and at the southern end of the Island on The Cox Farm. I remember when the dairy farmers used to bring their cattle across the bay on barges from the mainland to let them graze on the Island.”
“Surf City was a great place to grow up. We swam, skimboarded, and surfed. I fished, crabbed, and clammed. Then I sold the clams for 5 cents and the crabs for 25 cents to our neighbors and friends,” says Ron with a slight nod and a wide smile. “Barnegat Bay was like my bank.”
Ron served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968. With his two-year tour of duty over, he made his way home to an unforgettable welcome. It was around 2:30 in the morning when the bus pulled into a local gas station in Manahawkin and Ron stepped off into the familiar damp salt air. At that hour, the gas station was closed. Without a ride or a telephone to call home, Ron sat down alongside the road to wait for the gas station to open. “A local police officer pulled up,” recalls Ron. “He offered to call my parents, but I didn’t want to wake them.” The officer contacted the Ship Bottom police and arranged for one of their officers to meet them at the Causeway Bridge. “The Ship Bottom officer took me to Ray’s Diner in Ship Bottom for breakfast and then drove me home,” says Ron warmly. “It was good to be home.”
In 1971, Ron married Jean Guinta. They met in high school and reconnected later. Her father, Thomas, owned Tom’s Body Shop in Manahawkin. He was one of the founders of the Stafford First Aid Squad and Chief of the Stafford Fire Company.
As a union carpenter, Ron worked at Six Flags Great Adventure in the design, construction, and maintenance of the park’s first wooden roller coaster, Rolling Thunder. After retirement, he plied his woodworking skills as a master craftsman boatbuilder at the Tuckerton Seaport Museum boatyard building sneakboxes and garveys. Ron’s craftsmanship was recognized at the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show in 2010 for First Place in the Pat and Gus Heinrichs Memorial Award Barnegat Bay Feather-Edged Sneakbox Contest – Rowing Division, and First Place in 2012 in the Hazelton Seaman Memorial Award Barnegat Bay Feather-Edge Sneakbox Contest – Sail Division.
More recently, Ron uses his wood working skills for the renovation and restoration of old homes in the area.
Ron’s philosophy has always been that “there are no problems, only solutions.” His intuition and imagination continue to be his motivation as he uses the skills he learned so long ago in his father’s dairy barn millwork shop.
