I Met My True Love in Wildwood
Allan and Doris (Russo) Wade

Allan and Doris (Russo) Wade Wildwood by-the-sea 1945

Sailing into the Cape May Naval Base on the heels of a hurricane in September of 1944, Allan and Doris met at the Cape May USO dance the winter of that year.

Several of Doris’s fellow graduates of the 1942 class of Wildwood High School belonged to the USO, which was strictly chaperoned by Mrs. Taylor. They traveled by bus from Wildwood every Wednesday to the USO headquarters, which was above the old Acme in Cape May. Doris remembers the USO rules were very strict. If we went over on the bus, we had to come back to Wildwood on the bus. Each week, Allan would ask Doris to dance, and then several months later, she invited him to dinner at her friend’s mother’s home. Eventually, they started to date, attending movies at the Hunts’ Theaters, going to the dances different local organizations would sponsor, and after a movie at the old “Shore or Casino” movie houses, walking the Boardwalk in the spring and summer of l945.

Doris remembers stopping for hot dogs at “Schaeffer’s Hot Dog Stand” on Cedar Avenue and the Hot Spot next to the Shore Theater. “We realized we had a lot in common, Doris continues. Allan was always made to feel like a member of our family by everyone, including my three older brothers.” Allan was fascinated that her family was all born in Wildwood and all still lived here.

They were engaged in 1945, just before he sailed to Japan on an YMS in August. Allan returned to Wildwood in May of 1946, and they were married Oct. 19, 1946 in the old St. Ann’s Church on Pacific Ave., which has since been torn down and replaced with St. Ann’s School.

In the following years, they had three children Donna, (deceased in 1962), Steven and Margaret. Their fondest memories are of the camaraderie of their friends here in Wildwood, bonding together as they all married and had children. Doris wrote that they were always there for each other, in the fun times and the sad times. They all belonged to their own service organizations and supported each other’s functions, i.e. .St. Ann’s “Snowball Dance”, Beth Judah’s “Chanukah Ball”, Wildwood Civic Club’s activities, Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis, etc.

I, being a “native”, and Allan being a “transfer” from Kenosha, Wis. and Chicago, Ill., he always loved the atmosphere I grew up with, writes Doris. He loved the small winter town and then an exciting, bustling, energetic, fun tourist-filled area in the summer. The Wades have always felt Wildwood has been a wonderful town to raise their children in and to prosper. Even though the area has physically changed through the years, it still has remained our “small friendly, neighborly hometown”.

Doris went on to write that Wildwood is a romantic place. “Where else can you find such serenity, even during the crowded summer seasons? she questioned.. “Sunset Lake’s views of sailboats, water skiers and people resting on the benches there is magnificent! Sitting on the bench at the end of our street, watching the tide, smelling the fresh ocean breeze, with kites flying and children laughing makes you feel like you are in an outer body experience. Wintering in Florida for four months has not changed our feeling for OUR HOME TOWN.

By the end of April, she and Allan were “chaffing” to get home to family and familiar faces and places. Wildwood is unique in that even though the summer months are like living in another world, it always becomes our small town after Labor Day.

Just three months short of celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, Allan passed away July 11, 2006. Having met at a dance and dancing together for all those years, “Mack the Knife” by Bobby Darrin will always bring back fond memories of our jitterbugging together, Doris reminisces…. She and her children and grandchildren are still an integral part of Wildwood By The Sea. Steven lives in Erma with his wife, Carol (Sandman), their son, Steven, Jr., lives in Portland, Oregon, and their daughter, Jennifer and husband Tay Person and daughter, Bella, with another one due in April ’09, live in Somers Point…Margaret moved back to Wildwood Crest in 2006 with her husband, Tom McAteer and children, Ryan and Donna.

And so, the Wade legacy lives on here in the Wildwoods. Doris has lived at her residence for nearly 60 years now, and says this is where she will always be.