Essays on Sussex County and New Jersey Postal History

LEN PECK – CENTENARIAN!“We ate a lot of wood grubs back then. And we were later told they had the highestnutritional value. We ate what the natives ate — grasshoppers, beetles, spiders,” Pecksaid during an interview in his apartment at a retirement community in Newton.He supported Franklin Roosevelt’s bid for the presidency in 1933, but Peckvigorously fought plans to establish Social Security by writing a host of letters tonewspapers voicing his opposition. Looking back, Peck said, Social Security wasn’tsuch a bad idea after all. “Now it’s the biggest asset I have. It shows you how you canbe wrong,” he said, laughing.And of course, he remembers when he first began hiking at the Water Gap — in1928, when he was 18.“I used to go up there to catch rattlesnakes. A friend of mine had a black snake in acage, and we would put the rattlesnake in there,” Peck said. “The black snake wouldalways kill the rattlesnake.”Today, he walks with a cane, putting those rugged trails out of reach. He no longerdrives a car, either. But several times a month, he catches a ride with a friend to hisbeloved park, where he does a bit of landscaping and checks in on the old buildings.“I know more about the Jersey operations of the park than anybody there now,”Peck said. "All the old-timers are gone now."He is a wonderful resource and a wonderful man. He lives now at Bristol Glen inNewton, New Jersey. But if you think he has let his interest in philately pass him by, youare wrong. He continues to search out old Sussex covers still missing in his collection.[Our thanks to Joe Moszczynski andThe Star Ledger for such a nicearticle, with some very interestingpictures by Jerry McCrea.]Jerry McCrea/The Star LedgerLen Peck with an award plaque presented to him forhis many years of service to the NRA.NJPH 112Vol. 38/No. 2May 2010 Whole No. 178 VI