Post by admin on May 15, 2008 5:31:37 GMT -5
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FREEHOLD — Growing up, if Joseph Keyes Jr. needed to find his father, he knew where to look.
Odds were, Joseph M. Keyes Sr. probably was at Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge 1379, Keyes Jr. recalled recently.
"We all knew the phone number by heart," Keyes Jr. said.
Keyes Sr., 76, has belonged to the lodge for 51 years and is believed to be its longest continuous member. To honor his service to the lodge, his fellow members are hosting a banquet for him on May 17.
The younger Keyes' band, Nairobi Lounge, will perform during the event and several Elks leaders will speak.
"I've made a lot of friends since I've been an Elk," Keyes Sr. said recently, sitting in the Elks' banquet hall.
Keyes joined the historically black lodge because he was interested in their charitable work, he said. Then and now, lodge members make an effort to help community members through fundraisers and by awarding scholarships.
The lodge also was a social hub for Freehold's black community.
"It was the center of entertainment in Freehold for black people," Keyes Jr. said. "It was like the pillar of the community."
Keyes Sr. and his fellow brothers, as members are called, often would gather at the club on a Friday evening, Keyes Sr. said. Off and on for about 15 years, he also managed the bar, he said.
These days, members still congregate at the club's bar to grab a pint or watch whatever is on the television. Once a month, a group of brothers also visits a different lodge to meet other Elks, Keyes Sr. said.
"I enjoy it . . . the camaraderie," Keyes Sr. said.
Keyes Sr. said he joined the Elks in 1957, about two years after he moved to Freehold with his wife. In those days, he said, none of the fraternal organizations in town — including the borough's other Elks lodge on Main Street — accepted blacks.
"Back then, we were not welcome at the other clubs," he recalled.
Freehold was a different place then — blacks had to sit in a special section in the town's movie theater, and there was an all-black grade school on Court Street, Keyes Sr. said.
But he does not like to dwell on that period.
"That was a very angry period," Keyes Jr. said.
But, he added, "My father tried to raise us where color didn't matter."
These days, life in Freehold has changed.
Keyes Sr. said he belongs to the local American Legion Post now. And the town's two Elks lodges have gotten closer since the Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge burned down in 2003.
Elks member Elijah "Slick" Jenkins Jr., 68, was killed in the fire, which Tomango Sims was convicted of setting in 2005. After the fire, the Freehold Elks Lodge 1454 offered its facility to Conley Lodge members for meetings and gatherings until they rebuilt their club. The Freehold Elks Lodge also gave the Conley Lodge a United States flag and an Elks flag, Keyes Sr. said
The local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post also donated money to the Conley Lodge.
"It (Freehold) is different now," Keyes Sr. said.
IF YOU GO:
A banquet honoring Joseph M. Keyes Sr. will be held at 7 p.m. May 17 at the Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge 1379, 91 Throckmorton St.
The suggested donation is $20.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
This story contains information from a previous Asbury Park Press story.
FREEHOLD — Growing up, if Joseph Keyes Jr. needed to find his father, he knew where to look.
Odds were, Joseph M. Keyes Sr. probably was at Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge 1379, Keyes Jr. recalled recently.
"We all knew the phone number by heart," Keyes Jr. said.
Keyes Sr., 76, has belonged to the lodge for 51 years and is believed to be its longest continuous member. To honor his service to the lodge, his fellow members are hosting a banquet for him on May 17.
The younger Keyes' band, Nairobi Lounge, will perform during the event and several Elks leaders will speak.
"I've made a lot of friends since I've been an Elk," Keyes Sr. said recently, sitting in the Elks' banquet hall.
Keyes joined the historically black lodge because he was interested in their charitable work, he said. Then and now, lodge members make an effort to help community members through fundraisers and by awarding scholarships.
The lodge also was a social hub for Freehold's black community.
"It was the center of entertainment in Freehold for black people," Keyes Jr. said. "It was like the pillar of the community."
Keyes Sr. and his fellow brothers, as members are called, often would gather at the club on a Friday evening, Keyes Sr. said. Off and on for about 15 years, he also managed the bar, he said.
These days, members still congregate at the club's bar to grab a pint or watch whatever is on the television. Once a month, a group of brothers also visits a different lodge to meet other Elks, Keyes Sr. said.
"I enjoy it . . . the camaraderie," Keyes Sr. said.
Keyes Sr. said he joined the Elks in 1957, about two years after he moved to Freehold with his wife. In those days, he said, none of the fraternal organizations in town — including the borough's other Elks lodge on Main Street — accepted blacks.
"Back then, we were not welcome at the other clubs," he recalled.
Freehold was a different place then — blacks had to sit in a special section in the town's movie theater, and there was an all-black grade school on Court Street, Keyes Sr. said.
But he does not like to dwell on that period.
"That was a very angry period," Keyes Jr. said.
But, he added, "My father tried to raise us where color didn't matter."
These days, life in Freehold has changed.
Keyes Sr. said he belongs to the local American Legion Post now. And the town's two Elks lodges have gotten closer since the Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge burned down in 2003.
Elks member Elijah "Slick" Jenkins Jr., 68, was killed in the fire, which Tomango Sims was convicted of setting in 2005. After the fire, the Freehold Elks Lodge 1454 offered its facility to Conley Lodge members for meetings and gatherings until they rebuilt their club. The Freehold Elks Lodge also gave the Conley Lodge a United States flag and an Elks flag, Keyes Sr. said
The local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post also donated money to the Conley Lodge.
"It (Freehold) is different now," Keyes Sr. said.
IF YOU GO:
A banquet honoring Joseph M. Keyes Sr. will be held at 7 p.m. May 17 at the Walter J. Conley Elks Lodge 1379, 91 Throckmorton St.
The suggested donation is $20.
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
This story contains information from a previous Asbury Park Press story.