To the editor:
On July 17, Westwood—“the Hub of the Pascack Valley”—lost a pillar of the community—Ed Vanderbeck. Ed was a longtime member and ardent supporter of the Pascack Historical Society and I was lucky enough to call him a dear friend.
Ed was a kind, gentle, self-deprecating, hilarious, quietly faithful family man. To say he was a wealth of local knowledge and history is an enormous understatement.
Do you realize that when Ed was born in 1922 Warren Harding was president (that was 17 presidents ago!!!), women only had the right to vote for two years and Westwood’s population was about 2,600 people (today it is about 11,000)?
We are lucky enough to have several video and oral recordings of Ed’s memories at the Pascack Historical Society, so his reminisces live on.
I was fortunate enough to sit with Ed for many, many hours over the years, listening to stories of the people and places of Westwood and the Pascack Valley. It was because of Ed that I quickly started to think of Westwood as my “home” and not merely the “town where I live.”
Thank you Ed and may you rest in peace!
