Aboard their beloved Leprechaun
by Dorothy McMonagle Kulisek
This winter, I spent hours sifting through a box of old photographs of my grandparents, generously entrusted to me by one of my cousins, knowing that The Sun has become a keeper of Wildwood memories and stories.
As I turned each photograph over in my hands, seeing my grandmom’s writing on the back, I found myself overwhelmed by their memory. Their joy is palpable in every image. I can almost see them aboard their beloved Leprechaun, gliding across the deep blue in their glory days, their laughter carried by the ocean breeze. There were hundreds of photographs taken on their beautiful 40-foot Chris-Craft, once docked at the Canyon Club from the early 1960s through the 1980s ~a treasured chapter of their lives spent on the water they loved so dearly.
The Wildwood we cherish today once lived in their hearts, too. They treasured their shore house on 14th St. and those glorious mornings heading out to the Canyon as the sun rose above the horizon. Looking through these photographs, I was reminded that for many of us, not just myself, this place we love, known as The Wildwoods, becomes even more meaningful because of the people who loved it before us. The memories, traditions, and love passed down by those who came before us continue to shape who we are.
For that, I am forever grateful.
Thank you, Grandmom and Grandpop, for the beautiful legacy you left behind.
P.S. Knowing how much you loved reading your papers, I wish you could have read The Sun.