By DEBRA RECH For The Press, 609-463-6719
SEA ISLE CITY - What started as a temporary job as public relations director for Sea Isle City turned into a 17-year career for Irene Jameson, best known for her role as the city’s Polar Bear Queen. Jameson will retire as of Dec. 31 at age 83.The walls of Jameson’s office are filled with awards attesting to her ability to serve the community and the town she loves, remain active as a senior and do it all with a laugh. Anyone who knows Jameson also knows she is rarely seen without a smile on her face.Jameson was a teacher of English in Philadelphia from 1956 to 1972 and an information specialist for the Philadelphia School District from 1972 to 1976 before moving to Sea Isle City. On her resume Jameson writes that she and her late husband, John, shared 51 years of “love and laughter, especially laughter.”
Some of Jameson’s awards include the Golden Hot Dog Award in 2001 for taking part in Ocean City’s annual Doo Dah Parade, an award from Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio in 1995 for her job at promoting the city, the Delaware Valley Surf Angler’s Club for allowing their event to be held in Sea Isle in 1994, even the Young at Heart Award from Medicare.
Jameson’s most recent award brings her full circle. “My first award was from the city’s Knights of Columbus as Senior of the Year and I just got that award again,” Jameson said with a smile. “What a better way to end a career I kind of just fell into but have loved just about every minute of it.” Jameson also won the Golden Whelk Award for excellence in tourism in 1991 and many others. She has a collage of photos from her 13 years as the city’s Polar Bear Queen, an event she started with 15 participants that now has about 700 with 10,000 spectators each February. One year, Jameson jumped in with AARP written on the bottom of her swimsuit, at another she was a 1920s flapper. For many years Jameson has arrived at the event to much to do sitting on a throne of ice, and she isn’t shy about baring her body in a bikini.“One year a woman yelled to me that I looked like Britney Spears, so I started wearing a fake belly button ring,” Jameson laughed. “I actually used a hot glue gun to make it stick!”
Jameson also began many other events to promote tourism in the city including Thursday night dance parties in the summer that draw huge crowds on the Promenade, Tuesdays For Tots (programs for small children), the Sara the Turtle Festival and more. She also added the Junior Miss Sea Isle City Pageant, Friday dance parties to Skimmer Weekend held in the fall and initiated the city’s Heart Walk (held the Saturday after the big walk in Ocean City but still benefiting the American Heart Association) as well as the Charlotte Moretti Race for the Cure, which benefits the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Society. The race is named for Jameson’s dear friend, who passed away in 2006.
“I also added the costume contest to the Polar Bear Plunge and the family tent area, the post-Halloween party to follow the awards ceremony each year,” Jameson said. “I’m also involved with the North End Association, the AARP and Beachcomber Program. I intend to stay active in those three organizations and the Top Ten Book Club, but I finally realized I have to scale back. I have bad knees; arthritis and I think it’s time to slow down a bit.”
Jameson looks forward to retirement.
“I want to do some traveling and I’ll still go to the dance parties, I just won’t be up there telling jokes,” Jameson said. “My son, Robert, has been at me for doing the Polar Bear Plunge for years so he’s happy I’m retiring. But it was so much fun and I did enjoy it. But let’s face it, at 83, I really shouldn’t be jumping into the freezing ocean. One year I couldn’t stop shaking afterwards.”
Jameson plans to visit Florida, where her daughter Jorene Jameson lives, and Greece. Her biggest plan is to write a novel based on characters she knows from Sea Isle.
“If it gets published, though, I’ll have to move,” Jameson said with a laugh. “The first thing I’m going to do is write my own obituary. I know that sounds morbid but I want to be the one who writes it. I plan to be cremated like my husband was and both of our ashes will be taken out to the ocean off Sea Isle to be thrown in the water. I’m also going to do a photo album about the Polar Bear Plunge for the city’s museum.”
Jameson has been training the woman who will replace her, Kathy Custer, and the city is on the lookout for a new Polar Bear Queen, although a “code of conduct” is now required.
“The city just did that and I said I never had a code of conduct,” Jameson said. “In fact, I’ve been known to do a kind of strip tease at concerts. Not all the way though. I do have a sense of morals. I loved being part of Sea Isle City, but I also think I’ll love just living here and being retired.”
To e-mail Debra Rech at The Press:
DRech@pressofac.com
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