Red Bank plans dedication to honor first female mayor

By JEREMY GROSSMAN
Staff Writer

 Katharine Elkus White, the first woman to serve as mayor of Red Bank. talks to a resident on Broad Street.  COURTESY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICALASSOCIATION LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES Katharine Elkus White, the first woman to serve as mayor of Red Bank. talks to a resident on Broad Street. COURTESY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICALASSOCIATION LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES In a gesture that members of the Red Bank community have described as long overdue, the borough will dedicate an area near Marine Park in honor of former U.S. Ambassador Katharine Elkus White, the only woman to hold the title of mayor of Red Bank.

At an Aug. 27 Borough Council meeting, Mayor Pasquale Menna proposed that the circle at the foot of Wharf Avenue be designated as the Ambassador Katharine Elkus White Circle.

“This is our opening to the water,” Menna said in a Sept. 3 interview. “And what better person [than someone] who opened our minds to the outside world?”

Menna’s professional relationship with White dated back many years. Before White died in 1985, Menna was one of the organizers of a gala event held at the Molly Pitcher Inn in 1981 to honor her achievements.

“She was sort of a bigger-than-life person … she was quite a revolutionary,” Menna said. “She challenged the good ol’ boys club.”

White served as mayor from 1951 to 1956. The daughter of Abram Isaac Elkus, a prominent industrialist who was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson as the U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, White was an internationalist with a broad vision about issues and a keen view of the world, according to Menna.

She was appointed as a commissioner on the New Jersey Highway Authority in 1954. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed White as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, a position she held until 1968. After her retirement, White remained active in organizations such as the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP.

“She was very familiar with the fact that there were inequalities in Monmouth County and in Red Bank,” Menna said. “She had a lifelong passion for civil rights.

“One of her first acts as commissioner of the highway authority was [bringing] an African-American woman with her as a personal administrative assistant at the headquarters. That was revolutionary. It didn’t go over well, but she made her point. That was the type of trailblazer she was.”

Menna came to know White personally during the years he attended law school.

“She actually educated me quite a bit,” he said. “She made me understand that the nuts and bolts are important, even in local office — making sure the sidewalks are safe and garbage is picked up — but she also said you can’t lose sight of the broader issues. Because sometimes, even at the local level, you can impact how those issues are perceived, just by taking a stance. That was her life.”

Arthur Kamin, former publisher of the Red Bank Register, considered White a close friend and collaborated with Menna to throw the celebratory event for her.

“She was very progressive and did many good things for the borough,” Kamin said. “… She had a good understanding of all the minority and other communities, and people respected her and were guided by what she said and did.

“She dealt on a local, national and international sphere — and that’s what made her very unique. Not many people can do that.”