5 minute read
The Koeneke Family Home was once a Funeral Home by Dorothy Kulisek
“Life is amazingly good when it’s simple, and amazingly simple when it’s good.”~Anon.
THE KOENEKE FAMILY HOME
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This home at 1405 was once Johnson’s Funeral Parlor This is a story about the sturdy brick house at 14th and Central Aves., which may surprise you to know was actually Johnson’s Funeral Parlor at one time. It has been the proud home of the Koeneke’s since 1943. According to Brook Koeneke, his father, William Carol, came upon the house through good, old-fashioned hard work.
For a small amount of historical perspective , just imagine you were born in 1918 as William Carol Koeneke was. World War I was just ending, killing 22 million people. For the next 2 years, a Spanish Flu epidemic hit the planet, killing 50 million people between 1918 and 1920. Then, in 1929, the Great Depression began. The country, along with the world economy, nearly collapsed. In 1939, World War II began, with the United States fully entering into it in 1941.
Consequently, people were desperate to find work, especially here in the Wildwoods, and were willing to do whatever it took to provide for themselves and their families.
Fortuitously, Carol, who was born and raised on the island, had a love for the water and found employment as a lifeguard. When summer was over, reluctant, yet determined, he put on a suit and tie and landed a job as a teller at Marine National Bank (the main branch on Pacific Ave., now Crest Savings.) Thomas Jefferson famously stated, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Carol Koeneke lived up to that theory of good fortune.
Further adding to his good luck, while working at the bank, Carol met his true love Clara Brook, whose parents had immigrated from England. Her father was a home builder in Princeton, NJ. They soon married and Carol quickly moved up the corporate ladder with one promotion following another, becoming president in his later years.
Good fortune aside, he was contending with wartime rationing and needed a home for his new family. A little extra help that he needed came in the form of Mr. Harry Cinalli, a tailor who came from Italy with a tape measure and some pins. Harry had already found his success by landing a government contracts to cut and sew woolen pants for the army, with his factory located by Maxwell Field on Park Blvd. Harry generously loaned Carol what he needed to buy the house. Every Friday after work, Carol faithfully paid Harry until the loan was paid in full. The hard-earned Koenecke house was originally built as a single family home. With the Ingersoll family already having an established funeral business in town, Johnson’s Funeral Parlor didn’t last very long. Although Carol purchased it from them in 1943, he didn’t move his wife and young son Brook (b. 1936) into the home right away. Some work needed to be done first. He needed to replace the frosted windows with regular glass and convert the boiler system from coal to oil. Since money was tight during wartime years, Brook remembers they lived at his Nan’s boarding house on Spencer Ave. To help with family finances, the newly purchased Central Ave. home was rented to a Naval Com
Brook & Candy Koeneke, 2022
THE KOENEKE FAMILY
Brook with his parents at the beach in the summer of 1936
mander who was stationed at the Naval base in Cape May. Time passed, happy days soon returned and life was very good for the Koeneke’s and America.
Following years of hard work, Carol retired as Chairman of the Board of Marine Bank. He found much enjoyment being on the water with his brother Otto and friends. He was also an avid duck hunter in his younger years. Brook recalls his father’s 3-to4 day hunting trips, which were common in those days.
On these duck hunting trips, a small group of friends would pack food and gear, including a small pot belly stove for heat and for cooking on, and tow their duck boxes up the Fortescue River and anchor in the marshes and creeks.
Back at home, son Brook graduated from Wildwood High School in 1954 and earned entry into the US Coastguard Academy. He forsook his schooling with the Academy, however, and earned acceptance into Franklin & Marshall. After years working in the accounting field, Brook started his own contracting business. He later sold it and brought his wife Candy back to his hometown of North Wildwood where they operated several businesses before buying a 45’ pontoon party fishing boat to run trips on in the back bays. Brook loved captaining the Duke O’ Fluke for 22 years until his retirement a few years ago.
Like father like son, success isn’t defined by achievements or how many material possessions one has, but rather how we live a life of purpose, fulfillment and meaning. As the Koeneke’s demonstrated, it’s the hard work that makes it happen.
In 2020, we were once again called to endure a pandemic...this time, for many, meant staying in the comforts of our homes in the lap of luxury... on our sofas, with our smart phones and the whole world at our fingertips.
Perspective is an amazing thing. And so is hard work!
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