Biography
I would like to take a moment of your time and
introduce
myself to you. Since this is the Biography section I
am supposed
to list interesting things in my life in a
chronological order.
But I also want to chat with you and tell you what
some of
those milestones have meant to me. So, let me give
you the
list and then we will talk.
My parents moved to New Hope shortly after World
War Two.
It was convenient for them to meet in New Hope. Thus
began
their love for each other and their love of Bucks
County and
New Hope.
New Hope was the natural mid-way point for their
respective
jobs. My Mom worked for the Department of Defense,
United
States Army Air Corps. My Dad was a professor of
History at
the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
In the
true spirit of American entrepreneurs everywhere
they changed
their careers, married, started a family and opened a
restaurant.
I was born on March 15, 1953 in Trenton New Jersey,
I would
love to tell you what Hospital but I was very small
at the
time and I don't remember. I was the third of three
children.
I have an older sister Judy and an older brother
Steve. From
very early ages we realized how smart Mom and Dad
where to
pick Bucks County to raise a family.
I also am the proud father to my two children.
Kiersten
Lee Smith age 10 and Robert V. Gerenser Jr. More on
them later.
I went to Kindergarten at Saint Martin of Tours Day
School
in New Hope.
I attended grade school at Saint John the
Evangelist, just
across the Delaware River in Lambertville, NJ Grades
1-8.
I graduated from New Hope Solebury High school in
1971.
Earned my AA in Business Administration at Bucks
County
Community College 1972 &1973.
I attended two years at Ryder College in
Lawranceville NJ
studying business administration.
I have had continuing education at Penn State
University,
Cook College at Rutgers University, Fire Training
(both student
and instructor) at Texas A&M University, and
Houston Maritime
Training Institute, leading to my official United
States Coast
Guard Captain's License.
As soon as I could join I became a member of the
New Hope
Eagle Fire Company. I was an active volunteer
firefighter
for over 17 years and I am now a past active member
of the
Eagle.
I ran for Judge of Elections when I was eighteen
and served
for two successful terms as Judge. I took great care
in explaining
to voters the complexity of the voting machine and
how to
master it.
I helped to recreate the New Hope Chamber of
Commerce from
the ashes of the Old Chamber of Commerce and the New
Hope
Visitors Association in 1984. I have since served in
some
capacity as a board member on the chamber for over
twelve
years. In 1995, I was selected by the New Hope
Chamber of
Commerce as their Man of the Year. I continue to be a
member
to this day.
In 1997 I conducted a successful campaign to
become a New
Hope Borough Council Member. I ran on a platform to
study
and improve the management practices of the New Hope
Police
Department. Now, with a wonderful new Police Chief
in place
many of my proposals for reform are being
implemented.
BUSINESS LIFE!
It would seem that I have been in business all of
my life.
Having been born into a family business that would
be an accurate
statement. My experience in business stems from my
early association
with the restaurant my Mom and Dad opened back in
1947 (the
only piece of paper we have from that opening is
September
23 so we use that as our anniversary date).
The name of the Restaurant was the Village Snack
Shop. It
was a great Deco Diner style establishment. It
featured my
Mom's wonderful home cooking and my Dad's incredible
home
made ice cream.
The Bucks County Playhouse had been open for about
eight
years at that point. In the afternoons after the
theater's
matinees we would have long lines waiting for my
Dad's now
famous homemade ice cream. It became very obvious to
my family
that it was easier to produce the 10-cent ice cream
cone than
the $1.25 Blue Plate Special. That, and the flood of
1955
(a flood I remember even though I was only two years
old)
lead my family to create "Gerenser's Exotic Ice
Cream"
a business that still thrives today at the same
location for
over fifty years.
I mentioned the flood of 1955. You see our Ice
Cream Store
sits on the banks of the Delaware River. I have had a
love
affair with the Delaware River from my earliest
memories.
I often say I was born on the River and I have
devoted a great
part of my life to understanding it. I also have
spent great
time in learning the history of the River. Those
pastimes
have pushed me in to other directions. One is to be a
United
States Coast Guard Captain who owns and operates
Coryell's
Ferry Historic Boat Rides and the other as a
Historic Re-enactor
who eventually became "George Washington".
WE'RE ONLY ACTING!!
My minor studies in both High school and College
put me
on the stage. Special thanks go out to my High
school English
Teacher and Drama Coach Mrs. Bridget Grant. Mrs.
Grant taught
me skills in communication that I prize. Her ability
to make
us act on stage and to create the correct emotion
from the
careful selection of words is what has made me the
communicator
I am today.
I used my stage training to create the Coryell's
Ferry Militia.
In 1984 the newly reformed New Hope Chamber of
Commerce needed
programs to showcase the history of New Hope. I
suggested
the Williamsburg model. Every one thought that was a
wonderful
idea. So, in good delegation fashion, I was told to
create
the Williamsburg model in New Hope. If only I knew
then that
the Williamsburg model had the help of John D.
Rockefeller's
money. Still I was able to contact a number of
re-enactors
throughout the Delaware Valley in general and
Washington's
Crossing Historic Park in particular. These were
people who
studied the history of the American Revolution and
made that
history come alive for the 1976 Bicentennial. I
learned from
the best of the best. They helped me to create the
Coryell's
Ferry Militia, a loose federation of re-enactors who
strive
to bring to life the History of Coryell's Ferry
(modern day
New Hope and Lambertville).
My association with those re-enactors put me in
the right
place at the right time to try out for the position
of, "General
George Washington". You see, every Christmas,
Washington's
Crossing Historic Park at the intersection of
Highways 532
and 32 in Washington's Crossing Pennsylvania hosts a
re-enactment
of the famous Christmas Crossing. People like St.
John Terrill
started the re-enactment and he got to portray the
General
for 27 years. Famous Philadelphia Councilman and
brother to
Princess Grace of Monaco, Jack Kelly had the honor
for four
years. United States Air Force General Jim Gallagher
brought
Washington to life on Christmas for fourteen years
ending
in 1996.
In order to give more people an opportunity to
some day
portray the great man the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum
Commission who is the governing body for Washington
Crossing
Historic Park decided to hold auditions, a contest
of sorts
a selection process. Now every two years any one who
is a
historic re-enactor, who has crossed the Delaware
River on
Christmas Day as part of the official program, who
has their
own uniform and is willing to work holidays can try
and win
the part.
In order to be considered for selection you must
send in
a letter stating that you are interested in trying
out for
the part. You then must study, study and study some
more.
The selection process puts all qualified contestants
on stage
at the Washington's Crossing Visitors Center in
front of a
live audience. On stage you must demonstrate your
military
bearing, give a military order, recite from memory
Tom Paine's
"American Crisis Number One" and explain the answers
to a dozen different essay questions. One of my
favorite questions
is "Explain the British Mercantile system and how it
related to George Washington in General, Mount
Vernon in particular
and how it ultimately lead to war with Great
Britain."
I won the contest twice, at the first selection
process
in 1997 and again at the second selection process in
1999.
One of the most important duties of my life is to
portray
the great man General George Washington. I go to
great lengths
to use my God given talent as an actor to attempt to
present
him to a modern audience. The most important
audience is the
school children. I regularly go into schools and
present the
American Revolution through the eyes of George
Washington.
There have been many who have portrayed the great
man. If
you were to combine the best of all that we present
we would
only achieve the briefest notion of who General
George Washington
really was. Still it is because he was one of the
original
great Americans that we must continue to try
Thanks,
Bob Gerenser
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