Butch's retirement reminds me of Millburn's Officer Freddie Piper.
Mar 28, 2026 at 2:43pm
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Millburn Avenue, probably up to the 70's was a two way street. Fred, in December, would be seen directing traffic at the intersection of Millburn and Main, wearing a Santa Suit,
Summers, would find him setting up a beach chair and umbrella in the middle of the intersection, from where he would direct traffic.
Yes, Fred also had his characteristic moves to direct traffic. The most famous, getting down on one knee and begging a distracted driver to proceed ahead.
There are many Fred stories among the Millburn old timers and one comes to mind: 1956 presidential election and Fred is assigned crowd control at Millburn HS where V.P. Nixon is scheduled to make a campaign stop.
Someone took a picture of Fred, saying something to Nixon. He turned the photo into Christmas greetings. My parents got one in the mail. The photo had blank cartoon like bubbles and on ours was:
"Yes, Mr. Vice President, the Caffrey family are very fine people. John served in the Navy during the war, Julia goes to church every Sunday, Jack is in the Boy Scouts. They are very fine people."