Longtime Kinnelon Volunteer and Historian Honored

Lucy Meyer wrote the book on Kinnelon. Literally.

While she was not present at Thursday night's borough council meeting, Mayor Bob Collins read a proclamation that honored her for more than 38 years of volunteer work to the borough.

"She just did an incredible job in representing our past and documenting for future generations," Collins said before reading the proclamation.

Meyer was appointed as the director of the Environmental Commission and initiated a resource inventory that included information about historic homes in the borough, a ground water study and several maps. The inventory, which was published in 1973, was used as a study guide by Rutgers University and presented to the Library of Congress.

In 1976, Meyer wrote the book Kinnelon: A History, Where the Future is Enriched by the Past. She also became the borough historian in 1981.

She and her late husband, Karl, volunteered together with the North Jersey Highlands Historical Society and lectured on early settlers' use of plants for the Ringwood Manor Advisory Committee which they also served on together.

"In the 1980's, Lucy founded and chaired the Committee to Preserve the which included a comprehensive 'Resource Inventory' of this large, pristine area of native plants, forests and wetlands, containing spectacular remnants of the Ice Age and a Native American site, listed in the anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, and initiated preservation efforts for the park, which was ultimately acquired and became a county park" the proclamation said.

The committee won an award presented by President Ronald Reagan, Collins said.

After reading the proclamation into the record, Collins said he thought it only appropriate that the borough recognize Meyer as she is "one of our more memorable residents."