Nine Neptune Graduates Named To Hall of Fame
Posted by Webmaster on 05/19/06

As Printed in The Coaster

Nine former Neptune High School students were named to the Neptune Hall of Fame at a dinner and induction ceremony at the Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune.

Here are the nine inductees and a brief bio of each:

Marvin Daye is a 1980 graduate of Neptune High School. During his senior year, Daye was a drum major for the Scarlet Fliers. He attended Talladega College in Alabama and subsequently enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

After serving in the military, Daye returned to New Jersey and began a television career, which has included working for Comcast Cablevision and helping to launch the CN8 network.

He has also worked for Court TV, was the news producer for “The John Walsh Show”, and as a segment producer for ABC News. He was nominated for a 2005 News and Documentary Emmy.

Daye has started his own production company called E2 Entertainment.

Theodore R. Beekman, who grew up in the Ocean Grove section of Neptune, graduated from Neptune High School in 1965. During his high school years, he played football, baseball, and basketball.

He was also active in student government, National Honors Society, the school newspaper and various club programs.

Beekman attended Colgate University, where he majored in biology and played baseball and football.

He began his teaching career at Neptune in 1969, where he instructed junior high school science for a dozen years. In 1980 he was given the assignment of developing an Environmental Education program for elementary students.

Beekman is still developing and fine tuning the program, which offers a comprehensive study for 5th and 6th grade students as well as advanced instruction for a select group of students, grades 8-12.

Besides teaching for 37 years, he has also coached various levels of football, baseball, softaball, and basketball.

Bart J. Cook is a 1975 graduate of Neptune High School. He overcame childhood pararlysis to excel in academics and athletics, leading Neptune to their first district 24 title in wrestling in 1975.

Cook attended Wilkes University, where he qualified to wrestle in three Divivsion I National Championships and graduated with a BA in economics.

He has served as the Executive Director of the West Side Community Center in Asbury Park, where he developed the county’s first Municipal Drug Alliance, numerous recreational programs, and founded the county’s first infant daycare center.

He is a graduate of the Rutgers University School of Law and opened his own law firm. Cook has served as a Public Defender for the Township of Neptune, Conflict Counsel for Asbury Park, and as corporate council for numerous boards.

Sally A. Milloway graduated from Neptune High School in 1987 and went on to major in Elementary Education and graduated from Cabrini College in Radnor, PA in 1991.

She began her teaching career at the Ridge Avenue School where she taught kindergarten for four years before becoming a fifth grade teaher.

Milloway served as a comer facilitator, as she was responsible for prividing development for Neptune’s elementary, middle and high school teachers.

She became the first principal of the townships Early Childhood Center and in July of 2005 accepted a transfer to become principal of the Gables Elementary School.

Milloway lives in Neptune with her husband Brad and two children, Emily and Gregory.

Gail L. Oliver graduated from Neptune High School in 1970 and attended Douglass College (Rutgers University), where she majored in speech pathology.

In 1996 she began to question why the neighborhood where she lived in Neptune had not be revitalized after the violence of 1970 that occured there.

This led Oliver and other West Lake Avenue residents to come together and form the Midtown Neighborhood Empowerment Council (MNEC) and elected Oliver as president.

In 2003 the organization became a non-profit entity under the name Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation (MURC). Oliver was re-elected president in 2005 and has helped MURC to become a laison to the community.

In 2005 she retired from AT&T Labs Research and Development after 31 years of dedicated service. She attends Second Baptist Church in Long Branch and performs with its Praise Dance Ministry.

Bertha L. Williams-Pullen now serves as the Assistant Superintendant of the schools she attended while growing up in Neptune.

Williams-Pullen is a graduate of Neptune High School and received a BA in elementary education from Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. She taught sixth grade at the Ridge Avenue School and third grade at the Green Grove School.

After receiving her masters degree in school counseling from Kean College, she became a guidance counselor at Neptune High School.

She recieved a second masters degree from Kean in educational leadership and became principal of the Gables School. After two years as principal of Gables, Williams-Pullen became the first woman to be named Assistant Superintendenat of Schools in Neptune.

She is an active member of Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank. She is married to William Pullen and has two children, Austin and Kean.

Eugene M. Stewart is a 1988 graduate of Neptune High School.

Stewart has worked for the Neptune Township Police Department for the last 11 years. After serving as the School Resource Officer at Neptune Middle School, he became a detective in the Youth Services Bureau.

Recently, he was promoted to Sergeant in the patrol division. In 2005, Stewart and fellow hall of fame inductee Luke Tirell founded the Midtown Advocacy Partnership (MAP).

A primary focus for Stewart recently has been gangs, as he has attended regional training sessions and has been a leader on gang awareness within the department.

He lives in Neptune with his wife Brandy and their three children.

Luke Tirrell is a 1989 graduate of Neptune High School. During his years in high school, Tirrell was on the student council played varsity baseball and tennis, wrote for the literary magazine and newspaper, and was involved with many over activities.

Now Tirrell teaches fifth grade at Midtown Community School in Neptune and is Midtown’s Comer Facilitator, Project EXCEL Coordinator and PTO Treasurer.

Along with Eugene Stewart, Tirrell founded the Midtown Advocacy Partnership (MAP) in 2005. He is also President of Neptune Library’s Board of Trustees and is a member of Neptune’s Municipal Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

Tirrell and his wife Marlena live in Neptune and attend God’s Holiness and Righteousness Church.

Patrick K. Keefe is a graduate of Neptune High School, after which he attended Fordham University.

He married his childhood sweetheart Renee and the two began raising a family. Keefe pursued a career in professional sales, before completing graduate studies at Farleigh Dickinson University, Jersey City State College, and Georgian Court College, which culminated in a School Business Administrator Certificate.