Sea Isle Fondly Remembers Beloved “Chair”

By Maddy Vitale There was a moment of silence. But the quiet crowd standing at 49^th Street and the Promenade on Tuesday morning wasn’t reflecting on an abandoned, rusty beach chair, adopted by the community and decorated, only to be destroyed by vandals on Sunday. Instead, they bowed their heads in silence to pray for the vandals to be gentler and kinder. “We are not here to honor a chair,” said resident Eva Feeley, the self-appointed “chairtaker” who spent the past year decorating the chair for holidays and other special occasions. “We are here for what the chair represents.” A group of residents who enjoyed the chair listen to Eva Feeley talk about what it represented. In the “memorial service” for the chair, Feeley addressed the group of local residents who came to enjoy what the offbeat attraction symbolized in the community.  “Chair,” as it was affectionately called by Feeley, became a landmark and a meeting place for residents who walk along the Promenade each day. People would pass by and stop to view the decorations. “It has given people hundreds of smiles,” Feeley said. “It must have been the high point of some people.” Sea Isle Mayor Lenny Desiderio talks about the close knit community and how the chair made people happy. Mayor Leonard Desiderio postponed an appointment to make the early morning service. He felt it was important to attend the ceremony, he said. “This chair was a focal point, where people would walk and see how Eva would decorate it,” Desiderio said. “It brought smiles for a year. The chair withstood heat, storms and winds. It brought something great to our community.” Feeley, whose husband is Sea Isle Councilman J.B. Feeley, decorated the chair for all sorts of occasions. A handwritten sign dated June 26 notes that the chair "has been granted a reprieve by Mayor Desiderio" The chair was decorated for Fourth of July. “The chair took on a life of its own during the holidays. I bet it was the only chair in the country decorated for the Eagles win,” Desiderio said with a laugh. “I take it as a community that shows love. Sea Isle is a very special community.” The destruction of this chair does not take away from what the community is all about, Desiderio said. In a small way, it may have showed the vandals how strong Sea Isle really is, residents said. Residents came out for "Chair" and what it came to symbolize. The chair had followers on Eva Feeley’s Facebook page. When vandals damaged it, Feeley received hundreds of posts on her page from people expressing their outrage. Sea Isle Public Information Officer Katherine Custer said a few words at the ceremony, summing up what Feeley and the chair did for people who walked or biked on the Promenade. “Seeing the chair brightened people’s days,” Custer said. “It was a charming bit of whimsy in a small plot of land that put smiles on thousands of people’s faces.”  Feeley said there will not be another chair. But this chair, at least, will be part of Sea Isle’s history and with that, it will live on. The chair was picked up by Sea Isle’s Department of Public Works on Monday. Feeley said she wasn’t sure where the chair was taken from there. The landmark chair, stripped of most of its decorations, lies in ruins on the Promenade. (Courtesy Eva Feeley)