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Fighting for The Irish
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100 and still bowling strong Owner of Slocum’s Bowling, Bar and Grille turning 100 years old this month By RebeKah Schroeder
Nothing is stopping Lew Slocum from bowling, not his age, nor his family—he is set to turn 100 on Feb. 2, and still taking to the 12 lanes at Slocum’s Bowling Center with gusto. His father, Lewis Slocum Sr., started the business back in 1939, passing the property, and his name, on. Lew Slocum’s son, “Chip” Slocum, currently runs the business, having taken over in 1984. Slocum’s Bowling Center shares the space with
Sloc’s Grille, facing the street along Pennington Road. Their sign whimsically transforms the ‘o’ in their last name into a bowling ball, and for three generations, the Slocum family has been bowling perfect games. With a building that originally served as a truck repair and automobile dealership, Chip told the Observer that when men were drafted in the first world war, his grandfather decided to put in eight lanes of bowling, as well as a small snack bar. Lew was drafted in 1942 for WWII, and after basic training, he was sent to Kelly Field, Texas, to join the 84th Depot Repair Squadron. Prior to the formation of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the
aviation-focused unit of the military was known as the U.S. Army Air Corps. With his squadron, Lew went to Africa for three months, then onto Italy at the Foggia Airfield Complex. At the air bases, Lew and his team would repair planes to go back into service. Following a year and a half of being in southern Italy, the war ended in Germany, so Lew’s team headed to Spokane, Washington. There, he joined the baseball team, reminiscing of playing the sport in his younger years. “We were practicing on the field one day, and all of a sudden those sirens and whistles start blowing, so the lieutenSee SLOCUM, Page 12
Ewing author tells the story of a free black man in America By Joe EMansKi
Notre Dame High School senior Ean Chambers, a Ewing resident, plays tough defense for the team. For more, see story on Page 16. (Photo by Rich Fisher.)
Jacob Francis, like many men who lived in Colonial America, was a farmer and a soldier. Born in Amwell in 1754, Francis served in both the Continental Army and the New Jersey Militia during the American Revolution. After the war for independence between the colonists and the British was over, he bought a farm in his hometown, married, and raised a family with his wife, Mary. But Francis’ story is different from the story of many of his contemporaries in one significant way: Francis was a
free Black man, living in a time when a great many Black people were enslaved, in New Jersey and throughout the Colonies. William L. (Larry) Kidder, a local author and historian, has recently published a book about Francis, entitled The Revolutionary World of a Free Black Man: Jacob Francis 1754–1836. Kidder, a Ewing resident, is a former president of both the Hopewell Valley Historical Society and the Ewing Township Historical Preservation Society. He taught history for 40 years, including 8 years at Ewing High and 32 at The Hun School in
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Princeton. Kidder received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He served four years on active duty in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the U.S. Navy Research and Development Unit, Vietnam and then the destroyer USS Brownson home ported in Newport, Rhode Island. In the 1980s he was the lead researcher and writer for the creation of the Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyer Museum aboard the destroyer See KIDDER, Page 14
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