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THE BERNARDS-RIDGE CONNECTION
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www. TeamWelsh .com 36 DUMONT RD. FAR HILLS, NJ Call: 908.234.0109 COME TAKE A TEST DRIVE TODAY! RENEGADE ALL NEW 2015 JEEP About 40 years ago I was offered a job transfer from Detroit to Atlanta. I jumped at the chance. When I arrived “down South” my parents suggested I look up Lou B, the son of their friends, in Cincinnati, where I, as well as Lou, grew up. We are about the same age but were raised on opposite sides of town and had never met. Feeling almost like a blind date, I ignored the suggestion, as Lou did. Four years later I decided to move from my apartment to a small condominium about a mile away. During a round of introductions at the first homeowners meeting, as it was almost my turn, the guy sitting next to me announced that he was Lou B. And so we finally met. Lou B built his business in Atlanta, eventually retiring to a planned devel- opment about 50 miles east of Atlanta, called Reynolds Plantation. The com- munity is large with six golf courses, single residences, condominiums and a resort hotel. Back to New Jersey… Shortly after moving to Warren in the early 90’s, my wife, Abby, and I were introduced to Robin and Ben Fand. Over the years we became friendly. In the fall of last year, Robin invited us to join her, Ben and their friends, Deb and Norm, for dinner on a Saturday night. Robin and Ben had introduced us to Deb and Norm a few years ago when they were in the process of retiring and moving to Reynolds Plantation. There was a lot of conversation about Atlanta, as I had lived there for many years and one of Robin and Ben’s children attended school there. We also learned that Norm’s son had relo- cated to Atlanta to become a fran- chisee for a firm that provides power tools to construction companies and other related trades. During the course of the dinner con- versation, I asked Deb and Norm, “I know this is a long shot, but do you know Lou B who lives at Reynolds?” They remarked that they only knew Lou in passing as they saw him on stage per- forming in a show put on by a troupe assembled from community residents. After returning home from dinner, I sent Lou an email telling him that I heard he was starting a second career as an actor. He replied that he was expecting to do big things as the next show would be at a nearby YMCA. He also asked me who recognized him and I replied. His next email told of the completed connection. On that Sunday Lou B and his wife drove to Atlanta to spend the after- noon with some of his wife’s family members. At some point, Lou told the story of his fan base extending to New Jersey and then found out that the nephew of Lou’s wife is the best friend of Norm’s son. THE PUBLISHER HELPED COMPLETE THIS CONNECTION By: Dan Rosenberg www.theconnectionsnj.com