MLH Mini-Series: The Basking Ridge Rushmore 5 Female Edition
Now It’s Time to Recognize the Basking Ridge Ladies Rushmore 5
Okay, so I live in Basking Ridge, which is part of Bernards Township, but we all refer to it as Basking Ridge, right? Now, I believe that history has to be over a hundred years old to be interesting. I love writing about recent events that will become or have become historic over the decades. These stories bring in the social aspects of history in the community and love to capture it when I can which is why I’m so grateful to the Mr. Local History Project for allowing me to write about almost anything I want (yes I have been blocked a few times too, which is a much healthier environment then a bunch of controlling social elites….. but that’s another story.)
June Kennedy, Kitty Stirling Alexander, Jaye Barre, Linda Arnold, and Paula Grossman
What better way to preserve social history than by writing about people who have made Basking Ridge an interesting place to live? So I’ve created a mini-series of what I call the Mr. Local History Basking Ridge Rushmore 5: people I’ve met or learned about over my twenty or so years living in the area. And I can honestly tell you, all of these people have or had character. Some people disagreed with them, and others hated them. But overall, they were undoubtedly worth writing about.
While I had to keep the limit to five since it was to tie in with the Historic Mt. Rushmore Five story we prepared about five historic personalities, that doesn’t mean there weren’t more in our collective history, it’s just we had to stop somewhere. And YES I do know that Mt. Rushmore only has four people on the actual monument, which is why we thought in honor of Rob Reiner and Spinal Tap famous quote about the power of 11….. so we thought, 5 is better than 4! RIP meathead.
June Kennedy (History)
June Kennedy’s love of history was rooted in people place and memory rather than objects alone. After moving to Basking Ridge from Little Silver she devoted herself fully to understanding Bernards Township on its own terms learning its roads homes families traditions and turning points from the inside out. As township historian for 30 years she did far more than record facts. She listened she asked questions she preserved stories before they disappeared and she cared deeply that Basking Ridge history be accurate grounded and human. She believed local history mattered because it gave people a sense of belonging and responsibility to the place they lived. Her passion was never academic or distant. It was personal neighborly and protective. She loved Basking Ridge enough to make its history her life’s work and in doing so she quietly inspired others including the future Mr. Local History long before the name ever existed. (See her deep dive below).
Kitty Stirling Alexander (Rev War Personality)
Kitty Stirling’s story is inseparable from the Revolution because her life unfolded at its center. She was the daughter of William Alexander known to history as Lord Stirling a Continental Army general whose estate in Basking Ridge became a crossroads of military planning political debate and constant movement during the war. Kitty grew up in a household where the Revolution was not an abstract idea but a daily reality shaped by her father’s command responsibilities and the steady presence of officers aides and messengers.
Through her father Kitty came into direct contact with the leadership of the Revolution including George Washington himself. Washington was not a distant figure passing through town. He was a frequent presence within Stirling’s circle and someone Kitty would have known as part of her family’s wartime life. That closeness is what makes her marriage so extraordinary. When Kitty married William Duer the ceremony was overseen by Washington and was remembered as the largest and most significant social event Basking Ridge had ever witnessed. In the middle of a brutal uncertain war the village briefly became a place of celebration unity and national symbolism.
Her husband William Duer was himself a figure of consequence serving in the Continental Congress and later becoming a prominent financier of the new nation. Their marriage represented more than personal union. It symbolized continuity between the military struggle political leadership and the civilian future the war was meant to secure. Kitty stood at the intersection of those worlds as a daughter a bride and a witness to history in motion.
Kitty Stirling is chosen not for documented achievements or written records but for what she represents. She embodies the personal side of the Revolution where family life love and ceremony persisted amid conflict. Her story reminds us that Basking Ridge was not only a place of encampments and strategy but also a place where the ideals of the Revolution were lived in human moments. She earns her place on the Rushmore as a symbol of how war touched households shaped relationships and briefly transformed a quiet village into a national stage. (Story below is about her father and the family).
Linda Arnold (Artist)
Our next Rushmore 5 selection is Linda Arnold of the Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township. While Mr. Local History has worked alongside her for decades her artistic legacy stands entirely on its own as some of the finest visual storytelling ever created in Basking Ridge. Through her paintings of downtown Basking Ridge English Farm and the Christmas Eve Sing she captured not just scenes but shared memory emotion and tradition turning everyday places into lasting communal touchstones. She also helped create the first history related coloring book distributed across the Bernards School System making local history accessible and meaningful to an entire generation of students. Linda shared her life with her husband Richard D. “Beadman” Arnold who was himself a touching and memorable local character and together they embodied the warmth creativity and humanity that define the spirit of Basking Ridge.
Jaye Barre (Community Theater)
Our next Rushmore 5 selection is Jaye Barre the artist educator and driving spirit behind live theater in Basking Ridge. Alongside her husband Richard “Hank the Town Crier” Barre, she helped shape the cultural life of this community through decades of artistic leadership. Jaye was fundamental to Trilogy Repertory Theater’s evolution from a small community venture into one of the region’s most beloved sources of performance and creative education. Trilogy began producing summer Plays in the Park that drew audiences of all ages and became a defining Basking Ridge tradition while also leading repertory summer camps that introduced generations of children to theater arts and ensemble collaboration.
Her devotion was not limited to performance. Jaye helped envision a permanent home for the performing arts in Basking Ridge through what became the Fellowship Village Performing Arts Center. The Sieminski Theater Cultural Arts Center on the campus of Fellowship Village opened in September 2019 as a state-of-the-art theater with seating for 257, bringing year-round live productions to residents and the broader community. Hank Barre was not just her partner in life; he was a central figure in Trilogy’s artistic life for more than 35 years as a performer director and producer and was affectionately known locally as “Hank the Town Crier.”
We would also always see Jaye at Charter Day as a devoted volunteer and coordinator bringing performances to the stage. Together Jaye and Hank helped make theater not just a pastime but a community language in Basking Ridge, transforming parks classrooms and eventually a dedicated arts center into spaces where people learn express and gather. Jaye Barre’s accomplishments stand as a testament to the power of art to connect generations and build lasting cultural infrastructure in a town she helped make a stage.
Paula Grossman (Unwanted Activist)
Our final recipient of our Rushmore 5 is awarded to Paula Grossman, not for what she did, but for what she came to represent. From her teaching home in Basking Ridge, her life became known far beyond this community as a powerful example of personal struggle lived with honesty dignity and resolve. Paula defied traditional norms at a time when doing so came at great personal cost yet she never lost sight of what mattered most, her love for her family. Her story continues to resonate around the world, not as a symbol of controversy, but as a reminder that courage and compassion can coexist and that authenticity does not require abandoning devotion to those you love. (See her deep dive below).
Honorable Mentions
Joanne L. Howell stepped into local leadership at a time when town government was still largely a men’s club. In 1978, she became the first female mayor of Bernards Township, serving through at least 1979. Rather than being elected in a November general election, she was chosen by the Township Committee at the annual reorganization meeting, which was the standard process at the time.
Her selection as the first woman mayor was a meaningful moment for Basking Ridge and Liberty Corner. It broke a long standing political barrier and sent a clear signal that leadership at the highest local level was no longer limited to one group. While the job itself involved the everyday work of governing, the larger impact was symbolic and lasting. Joanne Howell helped change expectations about who could lead, and she should be remembered as a pioneer who widened the door for opportunity and representation in local government.
A Republican, she became mayor in 1978 after previously overcoming an initial election loss, often citing perseverance as central to her success. As mayor, she focused on major zoning and growth issues that would shape the township’s future, including large scale residential development cases and significant tax assessment disputes involving major corporate properties in Basking Ridge. Howell’s leadership marked a turning point for women in Bernards Township government and helped open the door for greater female participation in local civic leadership.
Let us know in the comments section if you’d like to share a woman from our Basking Ridge community worthy of recognition.
