Latest news with #Brigantine
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
NJ couple celebrate 70 years of marriage: 'We hit it off immediately'
The Brief An Atlantic County couple are marking a milestone anniversary, celebrating 70 years of wedded bliss. After seven decades of marriage, they say it seems like just yesterday they tied the knot. BRIGANTINE, N.J. - An Atlantic County couple is marking a huge milestone as they celebrate 70 years of marriage. He's 96. She's 93. They look great, they feel great. They are mentally sharp and they say it seems like yesterday that they were married. The backstory Will and Jane Laverghetta, of Brigantine, walked down memory lane, recalling how they met in 1953 at Cooper Hospital where Jane was working as a nurse. "We hit it off immediately," Jane said. Will said, "My sister was a patient and I had just gotten out of the service and I needed a date and she told me there's a very cute nurse working along here." Will says Jane was very attractive and nice, "I got her phone number and I called her. And, that was the beginning." "Was it love at first sight?" asked FOX 29's Dawn Timmeney. "I don't know about that," Will laughed. Love story It didn't take the two long to figure out they were made for each other. They married on a Sunday, on May 29th, 1955, at a small Catholic church in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Jane said, "Normally, they didn't do weddings on a Sunday, but my father had a grocery store, and they couldn't close it on a Saturday. So, we did it on Sunday mass." The couple went on to have three children – two daughters and a son. They have six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The whole family gathered to celebrate their lifetime of love, the best gift they could ever receive. "It's a great feeling to see that," Will commented. "Really feel like you accomplished something, all together like that." Big picture view So, what is their secret to a successful marriage? They say it's simple, as Jane jokes, "I'm easy to get along with." Will said, "She always keeps an eye out on me. What I'm wearing. She sees a spot from a mile away. Just happened the other day. I'm 96 and she's telling me what to wear and how to wear it. 'You better change that shirt.'" All kidding aside, Will and Jane say they truly enjoy each other's company and doing things together. "We're still planting plants and everything else, working in the garden. Try to talk her out of that kind of stuff to no avail," Will joked. They also say the key to being together so long is lots of give and take. Jane explained, "Compromising and just being friends. He's my best friend. Let me put it that way. You don't fight with your best friend." Happy 70th anniversary to Will and Jane!
Fox News
7 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Mysterious bones that washed up on Jersey Shore finally identified 180 years after tragedy
Bones that mysteriously washed up on the Jersey Shore over the past three decades were recently identified, thanks to cutting-edge technology and diligent students. Ramapo College announced the discovery in a May 21 press release. The remains were identified as belonging to Henry Goodsell, a captain who died in an 1844 shipwreck off the coast of South Jersey's Brigantine Shoal. (See the video at the top of this article.) The ship was carrying 60 tons of marble for Girard College, a preparatory school, when it sprung a leak and sank. Goodsell's bones didn't wash up until over a century later, when they were found on various beaches in the Garden State. "A skull washed ashore in Longport in 1995, and more bones were found in Margate in 1999, both in Atlantic County," Ramapo College's statement noted. "In 2013, additional remains were found in Ocean City, Cape May County." "Scattered Man John Doe went without a name for 30 years since traditional methods of investigation could not deliver an identification." Cairenn Binder, assistant director of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center, told Fox News Digital that her team conducted traditional DNA testing to find a matching profile in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA profile database. "More identifications like these will be made now that we have advances in technology." "While there was no missing person sample on file that matched with the profiles from the bones, the bones all matched one another, so that's how [the New Jersey State Police] learned they were all connected before we began working on the case," she said. Over the past several months, Ramapo students have gleaned various details about Goodsell's life from old newspapers. He was 29 years old when he died, and his ancestors were among the earliest settlers in Connecticut. "Capt. Goodsell's ancestors lived in Litchfield and Fairfield Counties in Connecticut and had all been there since the 1600s – some of the earliest European Americans," Binder said. "He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but lived in Boston from at least the late 1830s." Goodsell also left behind a wife and two children when he perished; his family was financially devastated by the shipwreck. "The news reported that his family was left in 'very embarrassed' circumstances after the captain's death," Binder said. "There was a fundraiser held for Capt. Goodsell's widow a year after his death," she also said. Reports were that "she was destitute." Five or six other crew members were on the vessel, Binder noted, and all of them are believed to have died. One was found and buried while the others were lost at sea. Binder described the discovery as "extremely rare," noting that Ramapo researchers have not been able to find an older case where IGG was used to successfully identify remains. "There are a handful of cases where remains more than 100 years old have been identified with IGG, but this is the oldest we have been able to find," she said. "We believe that more identifications like these will be made now that we have the advances in technology to make them happen," she added. Authorities from various New Jersey law enforcement offices were also involved in the research. In a statement, Cape May County prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said the same technology is used to "bring offenders to justice." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP" "The hard work of Ramapo College's IGG Center and working with the New Jersey State Police Cold Case Unit has demonstrated the power and accuracy of this new technology combined with classic detective work in solving complex cold cases that will bring offenders to justice and provide closure to victims' families," he noted.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Skeletal remains found on New Jersey beaches decades ago identified as captain of doomed 19th-century ship
Skeletal remains found on New Jersey beaches decades ago have been identified as those of a 19th-century schooner captain, thanks to the investigative efforts of college students. The ship, the Oriental, sank in 1844. The schooner was transporting 60 tons of marble from Connecticut to Philadelphia to be used in the construction of Girard College, which still operates today. The ship likely sprung a leak, according to a news release announcing the identification of the remains, and sank off the coast of Brigantine Shoal. All five crew members aboard the ship died. The skeletal remains, including a skull, were found on a number of South Jersey beaches between 1995 and 2013. The set of remains became known as "Scattered Man John Doe." Police efforts to identify the bones failed. In 2023, the New Jersey State Police partnered with Ramapo College's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center. A sample from the bones was uploaded to genetic genealogy company Intermountain Forensics, which submitted it to DNA matching sites in February 2024. Meanwhile, students at Ramapo used the profile for research. They found ancestry matches dating back to the 1600s, including genetic relatives from Connecticut. For the next year, students continued to find ties to Connecticut, and eventually they started looking at shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey. They came upon two articles about the sinking of the Oriental. One article named the crew members aboard at the time of the sinking and another detailed the wreck itself. "The storm was so tremendous that no help could be given from the shore," said the article, which was published in the Boston Daily Bee in December 1844 and described an account from a Connecticut publication. According to the article, one crew member was "decently buried" after his "corpse was thrown on the shore." No other bodies were discovered immediately after the sinking. A clipping from the Boston Daily Bee. Ramapo College of New Jersey The circumstantial evidence and genetic ancestry led the students to believe "Scattered Man John Doe" might be the captain of the ship, Henry Goodsell. Goodsell was 29 at the time of his death, and left a wife and three children, according to the Boston Daily Bee. The New Jersey State Police collected a family reference sample from one of his great-grandchildren in March 2025. In April 2025, the NJSP confirmed that "Scattered Man John Doe" was Goodsell. This has become one of the oldest cold case identifications using investigative genetic genealogy, Ramapo said. "Identifying human remains is one of the most solemn and challenging responsibilities law enforcement is charged with," said Chief of County Detectives Patrick Snyder at the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. "Law enforcement works hard knowing that behind every case is a promise: that no one will be forgotten, and that we will pursue the truth until families have the answers they deserve." The Ramapo College IGG Center has consulted on 92 cases, Ramapo said. Two months ago, the program was credited with helping identify the remains of a woman who disappeared in 2014. In November 2024, student research led to an arrest in a decades-old cold case.
CTV News
07-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
WECHU advises of elevated risk of bird flu
A seagull sits at the edge of the beach in Brigantine, N.J., on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
