By MADDY VITALE and DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Most people who see it on the beach at 72nd Street will simply call it a Christmas tree.
But for Joe Bologno, his sister, Debbie Brennan, and the rest of their family, the tree has a deeper meaning than just serving as a symbol of the holiday.
They consider it a “Tree of Remembrance” in memory of their late parents, Tom and Maureen Bologno.
“It started as a Tree of Remembrance,” Joe Bologno said. “That is what I originally called it for my parents.”
Bologno and Brennan planted the 6½-foot-tall Douglas fir in the sand at 72nd Street the Saturday after Thanksgiving to bring some Christmas joy to residents and visitors in the south end of Sea Isle City.
“Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love that we were able to put this tree up as a family,” said Brennan, who lives on 72nd Street. “It’s something that we enjoyed doing, and other families will be able to get joy out of it as well.”
This was the first year that Brennan and Bologno placed a Christmas tree on the beach.
“I spoke to my sister when we were on the beach and I said, ‘We should put up a Christmas tree on the beach.’ My sister said, ‘Yes, we should do that.’ It was a busy last few weeks for us with the holidays. I called her up on Wednesday and said I still want to do it,” Bologno recalled of the days just before Thanksgiving.
The Tree of Remembrance not only commemorates their late parents, but also their friends and neighbors on 72nd Street in Sea Isle who died over the years.
“There are still a lot of the same people on the block that I grew up with who said we need a Tree of Remembrance. My parents lived there and passed away and there were so many other people who lived on the block and have passed away,” Bologno said.
Bologno lives in Ocean View now. His family has roots in Sea Isle dating back to the 1950s.
Among their good friends are Mayor Leonard Desiderio and his family. The mayor’s late brother, Gerard, served as best man to Joe Bologno when he married his wife, Cheryl.
Bologno said he told the mayor that the Christmas tree is illuminated so that it will serve as a beacon of light to people walking on the beach at night.
“To me it is like a beacon. It is like what Sea Isle was,” he said of Sea Isle’s simpler past.
The tree on 72nd Street is not to be confused with another Christmas tree placed on the beach on 44th Street. The one on 44th Street was planted by the Giordano family of Sea Isle.
Nick and Shannon Giordano, along with their young children, Gracelynn, Giovanni and Vincenzo, have placed a Christmas tree on the beach at 44th Street for three years in a row to serve as a symbol of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bologno said he and his wife saw the 44th Street tree while walking on the beach in the last two years and were inspired to have their own tree at 72nd Street.
When Bologno and Brennan planted their tree, they left it largely unadorned with decorations. The idea is to encourage other residents and visitors to place their own ornaments on it, allowing the tree to be embraced by the entire community.
“People can put anything they want on it. I want to keep it up and get through Easter. When I take them down, I will dispose of them,” Bologno said of the tree decorations. “If people want to take them off, they are more than welcome. And the more green the better. We appreciate that.”
Even before Christmas arrives this year, Bologno is already thinking of putting a Christmas tree up on the 72nd Street beach in 2023.
“Next year, I want it up on Thanksgiving to put an ornament on,” he said.
“It means a lot to me,” he added.
