Lakewood natives relate fond hometown memories
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer

LAKEWOOD - "A Walk Down Memory Lane" gave a group of Lakewood natives the chance to recall their hometown during a recent event sponsored by the Lakewood Heritage Commission at the municipal building.

The participants' nostalgic recollections of the place where they grew up painted a picture of a utopia in the Garden State. Many of those who spoke called the 25- square-mile community unique. The sentiment from many of the panelists was that Lakewood was a place of opportunity for everyone regardless of their skin color, religion or creed.

Panelists included Roscoe Dabney, who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, artist Beryl Dabney, clergyman Cager Brown, retired postmaster and now real estate agent Lawrence Rozier, and Lakewood High School graduate and football star Melvin Brown.

JimWaters, the former president of the Lakewood Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was the event's moderator.

The panelists took turns discussing their upbringing and the experiences they had while living in Lakewood. The theme most of them shared was the sentiment of having no limitations on what they could do or would do in the world.

Melvin Brown reminisced and talked about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which ended school segregation. He said that although he grew up in a turbulent era, he never personally experienced the overt racism and Jim Crow environment that so many black Americans experienced across the country.

"When I was growing up, I never was denied anything I wanted to do because of the color of my skin. Although I was the subject of racial epithets, it was never in Lakewood," Brown said. "Lakewood was a special place in regard to race relations. When you looked at the TV and you saw what was going on in Alabama and other states," that was not the case in Lakewood.

Brown said he heard stories about young black people getting arrested because they tried to sit at a lunch counter that was designated for white people.

"We just didn't experience those kinds of things in Lakewood. I had white friends and black friends. Lakewood was a special kind of place. A great place to grow up," Brown said.

Audience member John Brown added that, "Lakewood gave me a sense of pride. It taught me that color shouldn't be an issue and that the character of a person is what determines the success of the individual. I have been in Vietnam and so many other countries, but I always look back at what I have learned in Lakewood. Lakewood taught me that I am not a color. I'm not black, I am just an individual who happens to have the pigmentation that other people desire."

In addition to what they said were the equal opportunities afforded to all of Lakewood's residents, the panelists attributed a lot of their success as adults to what they were taught inside and outside of the classroom.

As Roscoe Dabney explained, "The people in Lakewood, the school teachers, always gave you an opportunity to expand your knowledge.When I graduated in 1941 I went into the service, I was the first and only black member pilot navigator and commander of the Tuskegee Airmen. We had 966 pilots and I happened to be one of them. The background I got here in Lakewood helped me."

Waters joined the discussion, saying, "Lakewood gave me the foundation, the steppingstone to enter the pathway to my life. If I had to choose another place in the world that I would want to grow up in, I couldn't select it."

Some of the panelists have lived in Lakewood for more than seven decades. When asked by an audience member what they viewed to be the biggest change, some said the demographics of the community and some said the development of the town's land.

Cager Brown said, "There have been so many changes. The population here has grown tremendously. This building, the municipal building, was a small building before this one was built. You can hardly leave for a month now and see everything the same. They're building so fast everywhere. Inmany ways relationships seemto have changed. … And somehow we allow that to affect how we love each other."

John Brown said the sense of community that was once in Lakewood has diminished.

"The biggest change I have seen is that Lakewood no longer has a communitybased system anymore. I honestly feel, with the exception of a few individuals, thatmost of Lakewood is controlled by special interest groups. Other than that our desires are here, but as far as to put them in place, it doesn't work anymore."

Next on the Lakewood Heritage Commission's agenda is the observance of the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts and the 85th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. Between now and April 17 there will be displays of Lakewood scouting memorabilia, artifacts and uniforms in the Lakewood Heritage Museum, 655 Princeton Ave. The museumis open on Tuesday and Thursday from 2-5 p.m.