ALLENTOWN — Alice Wikoff can remember a time when the Allentown school’s superintendent, Mr. E. S. Bailey, would ring the dismissal bell early so the children of the village could go skating on the pond before the evening dusk made it too dark to see.
The Allentown mill pond was a full mile around then and encompassed 38 acres of fresh water suitable for swimming, fishing and boating surrounded by forested green slopes that stretched from the heart of the little town out over the miles of meadows and country lanes to touch the seemingly endless expanse of verdant farmlands beyond.
She has used those crisply detailed memories as well as no small amount of research to publish a historical account of Allentown and its residents both famous and unknown that includes her own original illustrations.
Ms. Wikoff, 84, also has been an integral part of the Allentown Historical Society, the previous incarnation of the Allentown Garden Society, and many other volunteer organizations. Her book, “A Sketchbook of Allentown,” was published in 2006. The professional artist, recently retired, also is the creator of those handsome “Allentown” logo black silhouette signs that add welcoming and historical charm to the borough’s borders.
The Allentown Lions Club announced this week that Ms. Wikoff, because of her work in preserving the town’s cherished past, and her tireless efforts over her lifetime to improve the lives of others in the community, will be the grand marshal for the club’s 58th annual Memorial Day Parade.
”We are so very proud to name Alice Wikoff as this year’s grand Marshal,” Lions Club President Al Mottola said. “Her lifetime of community service and of historical preservation serves as a great example for others in the Allentown-Upper Freehold community.
”The Lions Club is first and foremost a community service organization. While our work, as the “Knights for the Blind,” does encompass a greater regional, national and international picture, our first duty is and has always been to serve our community on the local level. Through her volunteer work and efforts to add beauty and culture to our town, Alice represents the best of what it means to serve.”
Rob Strovinsky, past Lions Club president and parade chairman, said the Memorial Day parade on May 30 is something that both the Lions and the community look forward to every year. He also heralded Ms. Wikoff as a great choice for this year’s grand marshal.
”The parade is an integral part of our sense of community,” he said. “It represents, to some extent, what we are all about as a town. We take this time every year to both remember those who have served and given the ultimate sacrifice and, at the same time, we celebrate, through the parade and all that goes with it, that gift of liberty. Alice has given a lot to this town. That’s why we’re so pleased to have her as grand marshal.”
Mr. Strovinsky said the parade will kick off on Allen Street, as usual, at 10 a.m. sharp, and wind down Main Street, make a left onto High Street (Route 539) and conclude at the War Memorial in the parking lot of the Newell Elementary School.
Immediately following the parade, the Lions, joined by Ms. Wikoff, Allentown Mayor Stuart Fierstein and the Borough Council, the Upper Freehold Township Committee, the Allentown Scout troops, the award-winning Allentown Redbirds Marching Band, an honor guard, and other special guests and dignitaries, will conduct the annual memorial service.
Ms. Wikoff, who was born at 49 S. Main St. on Oct. 2, 1927, and raised at 10 Gordon St. in the house that her father built, said she was “pleased and very proud” to be named 2011 parade grand marshal.
”I feel quite honored,” she said. “I love this town so much and feel very deeply connected to it and to the people here. We are so lucky to still have our sense of small town life after all of this time.”
The borough’s representative to the Allentown-Upper Freehold Biways Commission noted that she is related to the town’s first mayor, Albert K. Ely, and is a direct descendent of Henry Allen, the brother of the town’s founding father, Nathan Allen. She added that her grandfather, John D. Conine, owned the gristmill, the millpond and the farm that residents and visitors now know as Heritage Park.
She reflected that over the years, Allentown was not merely a great place in which to raise a family, but rather served as a destination — a special place that attracted tourists, encouraged business, and served as a central location for both industry and recreation.
Ms. Wikoff remembered that her grandfather mounted lights over the pond. This allowed skaters to enjoy the pond long after dark.
”We had a phonograph and my grandfather would raise the back window and let the music play out over the pond,” she recalled. “That way, we had music to skate to. It was a wonderful childhood, growing up here in Allentown. I was, and still am, proud to say that I am from here.
”We have everything you could want in a town: We are halfway between Philadelphia and New York, close to the Jersey Shore, and, when I was growing up, we had busy shops and business, and a sense of community so strong that it seemed like you were surrounded by family all the time. When we were children, the pond was our playground. It was a paradise.”
When she graduated from high school in 1946, Ms. Wikoff, applied to and was accepted by Trenton Junior College where she studied art. She acknowledged that attending college was certainly not the norm for young women at this time and that, for most, a “career path” meant becoming a nurse, a schoolteacher, a secretary or a housewife. But study art Ms. Wikoff did and went on to paint professionally for two exclusive porcelain manufacturers: Edward Marshall Boehm, of Trenton, and Bronn Porcelain, of Brielle.
During her tenure with the latter, she painted a Western-themed statuary piece titled “Into the Silence” that, if sold at market, she estimated would have fetched as much as $15,000. The piece was sent as a gift to the Reagan White House and is currently on display at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.
Ms. Wikoff spent 18 years heading the Monmouth County Parks System’s Ceramic Arts Division and retired just eight years ago. She still works on personal and community art projects in her basement home studio.
Ms. Wikoff says that with effort and mutual cooperation, the community can work to keep Allentown’s distinctive charm.
”The bridge project has lowered the water level of the pond, destroyed wetlands and shrunk its overall size significantly,” she said. “On the other hand, I and others worked together to ensure that the new bridge would be made of that really beautiful stone that you see going up and not of the cement and steel as called for in the original plans. So, when it’s finished, the bridge is going to be a beautiful addition to our architectural character.”
As well as making her way as a career-woman in the post-war years and continuing right into the new century, Ms. Wikoff, divorced in 1968, raised three boys in the village: Howard Ely Wikoff, of Gordon Street; Henry Wikoff, of South Main Street; and Peter Wikoff, who currently resides in Alaska. The proud grandmother and great-grandmother noted that her mother graduated from Allentown in 1924, her grandfather attended school here through the eighth grade, and that now, her great-grand-daughter Erin, 11, attends school here.

