Ocean Gate Honors Jay Marles' Memory With A Park

by Patricia A. Miller

Ocean Gate residents will join together at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning to remember a man they wish was still here.

That’s the time the Jay Marles Memorial Park will be dedicated, to the much-loved cop and father of two. The new playground went up on Friday and Saturday, courtesy of Ocean Gate and the nonprofit Where Angels Play.

Jay’s two children will be there, along with his mother, father and stepfather, and a cavalcade of local fire companies, ladder trucks and even a “fly over for our fallen hero Jay Marles,” Mayor Paul J. Kennedy said.

Patrolman Jay Marles died early Thanksgiving morning in 2010.

The affable young senior patrolman was working the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2010. He didn’t hesitate to volunteer for a special DWI patrol after his shift. The hours ran from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Nov. 25 - Thanksgiving morning.

“At approximately 3:08 A.M. on November 25, 2010, after completing the special patrol enforcement detail Jay left Police Headquarters for the last time,” the police department’s website states.

So after his shift ended, Marles, 32, headed up the Garden State Parkway northbound to his Point Pleasant home he shared with his wife and two young children.

But he never made it. A drunken, drug-addled driver behind the wheel of a BMW struck his Jeep from behind at a high rate of speed, sending it into a guardrail. The car overturned and caught fire. Jay did not survive.

Ocean Gate officials already named a street after the popular young patrolman, who was well-known and well-liked by the community.

The borough purchased the playground equipment and Where Angels Play donated other items and provide some strong arms to help build the Jay Marles Memorial Park. The playground went up on the site of the old playground at East Long Branch and Wildwood avenues.

“Where Angels Play Foundation is an awesome and amazing group of people from all over the East coast,” Kennedy said. ”Truly truly amazing!”J

Jay Marles’ photo is still up on the Ocean Gate Police Department’s website, four and a half years after his death. That’s where it will stay.