BY LAUREN MATTHEW
Staff Writer
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Alvia Martin looks at a Raritan Railroad painting that was part of a recent exhibit at the Thomas Warne Museum. Martin served as curator of the museum for 41 years before retiring this month. OLD BRIDGE – Alvia Martin knows where everything is.
At least, that’s what members of the Madison Township Historical Society say. And at their annual picnic Tuesday night at the Thomas Warne Museum, Route 516, they honored Martin, who retired this month from her position as curator.
Martin, 82, has been “the one and only curator” of the museum, located across from Old Bridge High School, for the last 41 years.
“She’s been very, very instrumental in getting that museum to museum status,” Historical Society President Eleanore Whitaker said of Martin.
And, she added, it will be virtually impossible to replace her.
“She knows that museum like the back of her hand,” Whitaker told the Suburban.
The Thomas Warne Museum is a preserved one-room schoolhouse that stopped functioning as a school in the 1940s, according to historical society members. The building was donated through a lease from the Board of Education. Tours are given regularly to township schoolchildren.
According to Whitaker, “one or two Warnes” are still a part of the society.
The rest of the museum was added after the school room, and is stocked with township artifacts. Pottery, colonial dresses and an Indian headdress stand in glass cases in the same room as photographs from World War II.
“We’ve got a lot of history here,” said former society President Ann Miller.
Society members spent much of Tuesday’s picnic debating the finer points of Old Bridge history. The question, “Which came first, Southwood or Madison Park?” was answered swiftly by Miller: Southwood.
Mayor Jim Phillips was on hand to present Martin with a proclamation. And while he was there, he was given a piece of his own history.
“This is a picture of my father at the groundbreaking for the high school,” he said, holding out a black and white, 1960s-era photo of the late John A. Phillips, who also held elected office.
The mayor has been to the museum a handful of times.
“Each time I come, I see something different,” he said.
Phillips credited the museum’s success to those who founded it, including Martin.
Martin is a World War II veteran who served as a member of the Public Health Cadet Nurse Corps. She worked as a registered nurse at Jersey City Medical Center before becoming a full-time curator.
She attended classes at the Smithsonian Institute in order to learn how to properly handle artifacts, and she collected donations and raised funds for the expansion of the museum. She also wrote a book on the history of Old Bridge titled “At the Headwaters of Cheesequake Creek.”
“She was just always here,” Miller said of Martin after the proclamation was read. “[I told Alvia], ‘If you would just leave your head here, we would be fine.’ “
Martin could not be at Tuesday’s function. But she did receive her proclamation along with some cake from the event the next day. The cake had “Thank You Alvia” written in green icing on top.
“That cake was fantastic,” she said yesterday with a laugh.
Martin talked about the museum fondly, and was proud to list its progression toward becoming what it is today.
“We’ve accumulated quite a nice collection,” she said.
Martin plans to spend more time in her garden, at least when she’s not with her grandchildren or taking her dog to Thompson Park.
“She’s the most active 82-year-old I’ve ever seen,” Whitaker said.
Regarding her retirement, Martin said the new board of the historical society wanted to make things more computerized and high-tech – something she insists she is not, though she has no problem with the modernization.
“I’d be an obstruction to their vision,” she said.
Martin has lived in Old Bridge all her life.
“I’m right at home here,” she said.
And retirement doesn’t seem like it will slow her down.
“I feel free as a bird,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ll just enjoy the friendships and things I’ve already made.”
Whitaker said the society will work on finding a new curator, and will discuss the possibilities at meetings scheduled for July and August.