Thomas Lawson Hawkins was born in 1923 in Springfield, Massachusetts and moved to Glen Rock with his parents, William and Rebecca, when he was a young child. The family lived in several homes over the years, residing on Hamilton Avenue and Broad Street before settling on Dean Street around 1941. Hawkins was very bright and athletic and had a gift for vocal music. He attended Central School, Glen Rock's new Junior High School on Harristown Road, and Ridgewood High School (as

It is easy to overlook this modest memorial: a ship’s bell, on a granite boulder, in Veterans Park along Main Street. One’s eyes are naturally drawn most immediately to the beautiful, serene 9-11 Memorial located nearby. But the little bell has a story to tell as well, and the plaque affixed to the boulder barely touches on the adventures involved. The plaque reads: “This bell symbolic of freedom is the gift of the Navy Department to the Borough of Glen Rock December 1954/