I Met My True Love in Wildwood- Al & Diane Brannen

by Jessica W. Mumford

Al & Diane on a date at the Lobster House
Do you remember when and where you met the love of your life? Al and Diane Brannen do: They met and fell in love in Wildwood, and have stayed here ever since.
Diane was from Buffalo NY, and her family owned the Ocean Crest Lodge on Hildreth Avenue. The year was 1964, and she had just graduated high school at 18 years old. “The minute we could get out of school, my father would drive us here,” Diane recalled.
Al was from Kensington Philadelphia, and had joined the Coast Guard. At the time there were no barracks, so he and his coast guard friends had a place in Wildwood. He and some of these friends were earning some summer cash painting the Ocean Crest Lodge when he met Diane on June 19th.
“Originally he tried to fix me up with his friend. But I think Al was my one real rebellion, “ Diane laughed. “We liked that we were opposites.” Al joked that he was a party guy, and she a nerd, with the humor belonging to a couple that truly loves each other.
They spent the summer hanging out and getting to know each other after work. Then Al got into a minor car accident on Ocean Avenue, and when Diane came to see him in the hospital he knew she was the girl for him. He proposed one evening on the Wildwood boardwalk, just down the street from the family motel. After Al asked, Diane said, “Are you going to be rich someday?” Al interjected, “I said sure!” “And then I said yes!” Diane finished.
They got married the night before Halloween one year later. Even when they were engaged, they already planned to settle in Wildwood. Diane had been coming down to Wildwood her whole life, but decided she wanted to live in just one place. “I had a winter life, and a summer life, and two sets of friends and sports. So we decided we wouldn’t do that to our children, we would move down here.”
Al also had been coming to Wildwood since he was a teen. “I used to come down here and tell my parents I was staying at Johnny’s, Johnny would say he was staying at my house, we would come down here with a few dollars, and sleep in the woods at the end of the Crest.” Al said with a mischievous smile.
The Brannens ended up owning and managing three hotels adjacent to each other, The Candlelight Motel, The Dutch Boy, and Diane’s family motel The Ocean Crest Lodge. For many happy years the couple ran the businesses, and raised their two sons Thomas and Andrew. Eventually they decided to tear down their hotels and build condos, and take a break from the 24/7 job that running three businesses really is. They both wanted more time with their family, and grandchildren.
“It was sad when they tore the motels down. People don’t come down to stay at a hotel, they come down to see the people who run the hotel. But we thought we had a great idea to build condos…little did we know everyone else did too,” Diane remembered.
Instead of tearing down the house they had lived in next door to the Candlelight Motel, they decided to move it down the street. “I guess I got sentimental at the last minute, and I didn’t want to give up the house. We put our heart and soul into the house, we raised our children here! Al would ask me what is the plan B. And I would say there is no plan B!” Diane said.
And so, their 1930’s brick house was moved one block away to another property on Bennett Avenue they owned, and that is where it still stands today. It was moved down the street slowly, inch by inch on rollers, a task made a bit trickier with a brick house. It was a complete success. The whole process went so smooth, Al and Diane didn’t even pack up their china and glassware when they moved it and not a single item was broken in the transition.
Over half a century later, Al and Diane’s love of family, home and each other is still adding chapters to their story.
And we can’t forget to add of course, their love of Wildwood Island!