His story was new to us, until a descendent of Richard Meredy Jolly (1842-1928) sent me the book “The Story of My Reminiscences.” Mr. Jolly wrote the 50-page book in 1924 when he was 82. There have been multiple editions published over the years, and, using the latest (2009) edition, we’re republishing it here. The author writes of his ancestors, descendants, friends, neighbors and his experiences in a long and eventful life.
Another memoir—a much more recent one—is Carmel Honeycutt’s “Growing Up With Vernon,” an account of his boyhood in the ’30s with his older brother. Carmel wrote this in 2005 at the request of Vernon’s daughter, Linda, who wanted to know more about her father’s early life.
So many have lived and worked in Cliffside, then died or moved away, and are in time forgotten. One on-going effort of this site is to rekindle the memories of as many as we can. Here’s a profile of one who left Cliffside during the early 1940s, but who some still remember, Robert Andrew (Andy) Love, Jr.
As far as we know, Cliffside High did not publish a yearbook for the class of 1925, but they issued elegant diplomas. The name of the senior was embossed in gold on the rawhide cover of his document. We’ve come across the one belonging to Addie Festus Dobbins, one of the eleven graduates in ’25.