Halsey Dickinson Genung

June 23, 1926 - March 17, 2023

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Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, "A Life Celebration Home"

38 State Highway 31

Flemington, NJ 08822

908-782-3311 |

Friday 3/24, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

service

Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, "A Life Celebration Home"

38 State Highway 31

Flemington, NJ 08822

908-782-3311 |

Friday 3/24, 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

cemetery

New Providence Presbyterian Church Cemetery

1307 Springfield Avenue

New Providence, NJ 07974

9087823311 |

Friday 3/24, 1:30 pm - 1:45 pm

Halsey Dickinson Genung, age 96 years, of Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, NJ, died peacefully on Friday, March 17, 2023, at Hunterdon Care Center after a brief illness.

Born on June 23, 1926, in Summit, NJ, son of the late Halsey and Harriet Maude Dickinson Genung, he was raised in New Providence, NJ.

Halsey left High School in 1944 and entered the United States Army. Halsey faithfully served his county earning the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Philippines Independence Ribbon, and the World War II Victory medal. He was honorably discharged on December 5, 1946 and returned to New Providence NJ. Halsey completed two years of High School in one year and graduated from Summit High School in 1947.

Having worked on farms since he was a child, after the war Halsey went right back into farming where he continued to develop and hone his farming skills. Moving to his Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, NJ, farm in 1964, he would become well-known in the community as a hard-working, dedicated farmer who looked out for his neighbors and friends. He worked for Squib until the early 1980’s.

Then Halsey started the job he really loved, working on the Howell Historical Farm in Lambertville NJ, passing down historical farm methods to a new generation. During this job, he spent his spare time restoring antique farming equipment to “like-new” shape. Part of his legacy is the knowledge he passed to a new generation of farmers who will continue to expand Halsey’s positive impact.

His family was his world, and his nephew fondly recalls spending many summers on the farm learning life lessons and practical skills for living. Honest, kind, faithful and humble, Halsey was a role model for many future generations.

With a strong faith and long membership with the New Providence United Methodist Church, Halsey knew the meaning of these words from Genesis 27:28 better than anyone: May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness – an abundance of grain and new wine. Thank you Halsey, for all you did on this Earth, and enjoy the rewards you have truly earned in heaven.

Surviving are his sister, Wilna G. Keats; his nephew, Wilfred J. Keats; his nephew, Halsey Dickinson Keats, (Commander, USN Ret) and his wife, Jennifer; his great nephews, Dylan Keats, Nathanael Keats, Blair Keats, Halsey J. Keats, and Javier Keats; several extended family members; and many dear friends.

Halsey will lie in repose on Friday, March 24, 2023, from 11:00 a.m. to Noon in the Chapel of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ.

Life celebration services officiated by Rev. Victor Franco, pastor of New Providence United Methodist Church, will follow the gathering beginning at Noon and to which all are welcome.

Burial in the family plot will follow at New Providence Presbyterian Cemetery, located on the Church grounds of the Presbyterian Church at 1307 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ 07974, and again, all are welcome.

You are encouraged to visit Halsey’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of his life.

Memorial contributions in his honor and memory may be made to the New Providence United Methodist Church, 1441 Springfield Avenue, New Providence, NJ 07974-1450, or online by clicking HERE.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”

Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, "A Life Celebration Home"

38 State Highway 31

Flemington, NJ 08822

908-782-3311 | Map

Friday 3/24, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, "A Life Celebration Home"

38 State Highway 31

Flemington, NJ 08822

908-782-3311 | Map

Friday 3/24, 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm

New Providence Presbyterian Church Cemetery

1307 Springfield Avenue

New Providence, NJ 07974

9087823311 | Map

Friday 3/24, 1:30 pm - 1:45 pm

Halsey Dickinson Genung, age 96 years, of Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, NJ, died peacefully on Friday, March 17, 2023, at Hunterdon Care Center after a brief illness. Born on June 23, 1926, in Summit, NJ, son of the late Halsey and Harriet Maude Dickinson Genung, he was raised in New Providence, NJ. Halsey left HighContinue Reading

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In 1990 I had the good fortune of working directly with Halsey at Howell Living History Farm, where Halsey taught me how to farm with a team of horses. At that time, I was poised to start out on my own farming career and wanted to see if I had what it would take to farm with horses. So, I volunteered my time helping Halsey in exchange for his instruction. We spread many a load of stable manure together, which also involved manual loading by pitchfork into the manure spreader, I might add. This obviously was instruction by doing. What impressed me most about Halsey and was evident on my first day was his effortless recall of the most minute detail of the mechanics of the farming tradition he had learned over 50 years earlier: the choreographed precision of how to harness the horse, for example. Or what would commonly be considered a mundane task like loading a walking plow onto a farm wagon for return to the shed. It was always done exactly a certain way. I remember once hastily loading the plow onto the wagon in a free spirited way and was reprimanded by Halsey for doing so. I was working with another farm employee at the time named Nelson and in a kind of generational culture clash we asked him why the plow had to be loaded his preferred way. He responded "I don't know why, that is just how it was done." His answer only fortified my respect for the man and his instruction because I knew without question I was getting the real deal with Halsey. His attention to detail was more than just an act of distanced remembering or 'acting' at historical farming. I don't know how else to explain it except to say that it "lived" in him. I always had 100% confidence that what he was showing me was exactly what he had learned from his father. At a living history farm, this is exactly as it should be. This is as good as it gets. Thank you Pete for giving me the opportunity to work with Halsey, he was a treasure now gone. James Kinsel, farmer Honey Brook Organic Farm

If you knew Halsey, you know he didn't think there was anything extraordinary about the contributions he made to Howell Farm. His job was to farm the place with horses, and he was a master of it. He did it because loved it, and because he knew how. He had grown up helping his father do what he called teaming -- using horses to do everything from plowing people's gardens, to delivering sand and coal to greenhouses, to making and selling hay from their own fields. They used teams to help with farming and logging operations in the Great Swamp, where according to Halsey they could have made a living pulling trucks out of places where they had no business going. In New Providence where they had their farm, they plowed sidewalks with a V-plow made with hardware forged by Halsey's uncle, a blacksmith and farrier whose shop is still there...ironically, now as nail salon. They had a delivery route that required leaving home at 2 a.m. to buy vegetables at a market 12 miles away, returning before dawn to do chores before starting the route. Halsey remembered how proud he was the day his father handed him the lines before dozing off on the way through the hills. He drove through the darkness not knowing that he wasn't really driving at all, but getting a lesson from a very good pair of horses. His grandfather had teamed as well, and was one of several farmers hired to dig the basement of the neighboring town's YMCA, where he used a plow and a slip scoop to remove the layers of soil where the foundations would go. Halsey brought the scoop to Howell Farm once, after a hurricane left flood debris in the lane. He pulled it with Blaze & Frank -- the team he depended on for anything, and everything, for nearly 20 years. He wouldn't say much when I'd tell him how instrumental he was in helping the farm survive the process of becoming a public park, or building its future as a place where people could find what the donor, Inez Howell, hoped they would. I'm pretty sure he believed, as she did, that in the history we preserve there are ways of working, and living, that can make a better world. Howell Farm couldn't -- and wouldn't -- be a good place to find them, had it not been for Halsey. He was born a hundred years too late according to his mother -- something he liked to talk and laugh about, when there was time for such things. Like when were waiting to water hot horses, or making the long drive home from a supply trip to Lancaster or a farm with a horse we might buy. Few 'historic farmers' get to do what we had a chance to do: learn firsthand what must often be gleaned from the pages of history books, or collections of photographs, or from how-to videos that live in the clouds. We were blessed indeed, to have worked with Halsey, a good and trustworthy farmer, fine horseman, and keeper of history, and of faith. Speed the plow, wonderful friend. Thank you for turning those furrows with us, and rest assured that through your teaching, we and many others will turn more.

Our condolences to Halsey's family. We both worked with him at Howell Farm and learned a lot about working with the horses there. We have a lot of great memories, especially Edd, who helped him with the field work. Since we've been in Tennessee, Edd would call him about every two or three weeks, and he'll miss those chats.

Our condolences to the Genung Family, on the passing of Halsey. We are saddened. by his passing but thankful for his long, active life. We appreciate that the house where Halsey and sister Wilna, spent part of their lives, here in New Providence; continues to be shared with the public; as the Salt Box Museum, through the New Providence Historical Society. May Haley Rest in Peace. Rick Anderson, N.P. Hist. Soc.

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.