Van Riper family'He was known as Artie,' said his daughter, Lyn Van Riper. 'He was always making people smile. 'Have a happy' is what he used to say.' Van Riper, who tended the farm for many years with his brothers Ralph and Peter, died Sunday in Ridgewood of natural causes.' He was a farmer, down to Earth,' said his son, Arthur Jr. 'Like a lot of farmers, he worked long, hard hours. But he enjoyed that people got enjoyment out of the farm.'
![]()
The farm, being about three hours from Sydney, ten minutes from the village and one hour from the town, was fairly isolated and the weather was cooling off so not many people would be visiting. Auntie was apparently subconsciously jealous of me being the only boy in our families and this I guess was the driving force in what was about to happen. Farm Story Halloween - price list & price comparison for Farm Story Halloween - Shop Over 200 000 Halloween Costumes and Accesories Online at Super Low Prices Halloweenious.com.
By the time the farm on Chestnut Ridge Road was in its final years, Arthur Sr. And his brother Peter were running the place, his son recalled. Ralph had left sometime in the 1970s. Of the two remaining brothers, Peter was the more outgoing.' My father was a little more shy or reserved, or whatever,' Arthur Jr.
'He was more behind the scenes. But he would have a joke if he hadn't seen you in a bit.' The most notorious was a shaggy dog story about Falling Rock, the lost son of a Native American chief.
![]()
Could make that one go on for a half-hour. The punch line was: 'And to this day, when you drive down the road, you still see signs that say, 'Look out for falling rock.' 'People would say, 'Boy, I stood here for this?' Said.When Van Riper's Farms was sold to an A&P Supermarket developer in 1994, it was widely believed to be the oldest continuously operated farm in North Jersey.POLICE: Funeral arrangements set for longtime Dumont police officerLOCAL: Brownstone Diner founder buys Matthews' Diner in BergenfieldThe first seeds went into the ground there in 1791, when a Van Riper planted his inaugural crop on 160 acres of what was yet to be called Woodcliff Lake. The family continued to farm there for 10 generations.Arthur Sr., a lifelong Woodcliff Lake resident, was born March 16, 1932. He served in Korea, then came back to shoulder the family farm with his brothers.Among his biggest pleasures were flying (he flew small single-engine craft) and the big shindig every October, when the farm had its famous Halloween displays — a tradition going back to at least the 1960s.
Peter Monsees/The Record'It was a source of pride for my father,' Lyn Van Riper said. 'Most of the time, he was the person that marked the prices on every single pumpkin. He used to joke, 'I'm the only guy I know who can work a 25-hour day.' Because daylight saving time happened then.' Apples and cider were the featured attractions, of course. But what made the event so memorable, for many Bergen County residents, were the other attractions: witches, scarecrows, hayrides and — in latter days — costumed vampires, witches and chainsaw-wielding maniacs who would leap out at the unsuspecting. Had a lot of fun getting the place ready.'
He was the one who basically built the display every year,' his son said. 'He was the one who tied the cornstalks to the fence. There were hundreds of bundles of cornstalks, easily. We had a machine that tied them into bundles in the field. And he would take the bundles and tie them to the fences, and around the various Halloween characters.' Don Smith, Exclusive Rights NJMGWhen the Woodcliff Lake Planning Board voted unanimously to approve a proposal for a 70,000-square-foot supermarket on the site of the farm, in November 1994, Arthur Sr. — then 62 — was ready to put down his plow.
What he regretted was not so much the loss of his farm, his son said. It was the loss of the adjoining house.
It had been his boyhood home.' What was particularly wrenching for him is that A&P wanted the property next to the farm, which included the house he grew up in,' Arthur Jr. 'The house was demolished. It was in excess of 100 years old.'
Arthur Van Riper is survived by his brother Ralph; wife, Bonnie; son, Arthur; daughter, Lyn; and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Visiting hours are Friday, Jan. 31, from 3 to 7 p.m. At Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Road, Westwood.
There will be a pastoral service at 6:15 p.m, followed by a military salute.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Hal Botsford Gift of Wings Fund, O.S.C.A.R animal rescue or the Experimental Aircraft Association.Jim Beckerman is an entertainment and culture reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to his insightful reports about how you spend your leisure time, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.Email: [email protected] Twitter: @jimbeckerman1.
![]() Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |