Westfield Designates Watchung Fork Plot Connell Park

WESTFIELD, NJ - A small patch of land in Watchung Fork has been designated as Connell Park. The announcement was made via proclamation by Mayor Shelley Brindle during the meeting of the Westfield Mayor and Council Tuesday. Brindle said the decision was made to honor longtime residents Grover and Patricia Connell posthumously with this plot of land in the center of the community they loved.

According to Forbes Magazine, Grover Connell was a World War II Navy veteran who took over family's grain- and sugar-trading operations. Over the course of his career, he added heavy-equipment leasing like railcars, forklifts, tractors.

Connell diversified by adding lease financing, investment banking and real estate to his portfolio, eventually developing 170 acres of commercial space along the I-78 corridor. Forbes listed his new worth at one time to be upwards of $900 million.

But according to neighbor and Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, one would never know Connell was such a massive success.

"In a world that seems to be divided by partisanship and bitterness and sometimes by ego the Connells showed none of that," Bramnick said.

Bramnick commented that when the family was asked to come forward for the reading of the proclamation no one stood up. Bramnick said that lack of hubris is a family trait. He said the Connells were always behind the scene showing their love.

"They knew that thew center of your community was their neighbors and their friends," Bramnick said. "They are people who basically love their community and their neighbors and we need more than that."

Grover and Patricia moved to Westfield in 1951 and resided in Westfield for 67 years. Westfield was where the Connells chose to raise their three children, Ted, Terry, and Toni. It was Terry Connell who spoke after Bramnick.

Terry Connell said she had memories of riding bikes around Watchung Fork and of her parents walking the area around the park when they were younger.

"It is a tribute to Westfield and to the neighbors that there isn't anywhere else they wanted to live," Connell said. "This is special to all of us."

(Photo courtesy of Google Images)

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