by Dorothy Kulisek
Across the street from Sunset Lake stands a modest home built in the 1950s, where dwells a much-in-love couple that I fell in love with upon our first meeting.
I was welcomed in and given the grand tour through the house, into a workshop and through a greenhouse, across a well-manicured backyard dotted with Bonsai trees and lined with stepping stones, over a wooden bridge and a pond filled with yellow and orange red Koi, all leading to Cary & Jane’s tiny retreat cottage.
Within their seaside sanctuary, they occasionally light candles, turn the music on and enjoy a slow dance and a glass of wine.
Voracious readers, Jane & Cary spend blissful hours there reading. It’s also where Jane finds solitude while she writes.
Jane, who has a love for all-things-literary, was once upon a time an Avalon Elementary School Librarian, with her master’s degree in Library Science.
Dr. Cary is a retired Wildwood dentist who graduated from Temple University School of Dentistry and served as a Captain in the Dental Corps in the US Army from 1965-1967.
His creative space flourishes in the Orchid Greenhouse, where he practices his non-dentistry skills cultivating many species of Orchidaceae as well as Bonsai.
When not spending time in their sweet haven, they love to travel, even if it’s just a mini vacation to Cape May, where their relaxing getaway includes fine dining and wonderful theater.
They are “two old hippies,” as Jane puts it, extremely young septuagenarians who love being outdoors as much as they can, kayaking on Sunset Lake, playing golf, beachcombing for sea glass, or just the simple pleasure of sitting on the beach, where, Cary says, “we love watching clouds.”
Golfing has been a staple in their lives, having brought them together one fateful October day in 1970. Cary and his father and friends just finished a typical day of golfing at the Wildwood Country Club and couldn’t decide whether to head over to Cape May or Stone Harbor for a bite to eat. Reflecting on their 46 years of marriage, Jane & Cary are still amazed at how one decision can determine the course of your whole life, even one such as deciding between the Lobster House and Henny’s.
As fate, and a bit of seaside magic would have it, Jane was working as a hostess at Henny’s in Stone Harbor that lifechanging day. She fondly recalls Cary walking up to the hostess station, with his long blonde hair, wearing a pair of red, white & blue bell-bottom pants and a red shirt. Her natural beauty immediately caught his eye and by the time dinner was over, he asked her out on their first date.
Jane and Cary Stone were married in August 1972 at the home of Mayor and Mrs. Ruth Bell, principal of Avalon Elementary School.
They’ve built a beautiful life together as long-standing members of the Baptist church in Cape May Courthouse and are proud of their children Caren, John, Gregg and Eric and will forever miss their two sons, Sean and Keith. Their growing family totaled 32 around the table this past Christmas!
While pondering their many blessings, they are thankful to God, who has brought a lifetime of love and happiness to their home by the sea.
