They were teen aged kids when the family moved into a waterfront trailer park in Highlands in 1954; 18 years later, one of them bought it. Today, these three brothers and their sister, all graduates of Henry Hudson Regional School, and their families all live in the magnificent private gated PGA Village community in Port St. Lucie Florida, each in their own homes but all with the close brother and sister relationship they have enjoyed throughout their lives.
And because, like their lives in New Jersey they continue to add richness to a neighborhood, the Somers Siblings are the front page and headline story this month in PGA Village Living, the monthly magazine of the over-55 community known for charm, camaraderie and championship golf.
It was Donald Somers who purchased Paradise Trailer Park along Bayside Drive in Highlands and also was the first of the quartet, with his wife, Susan, to purchase his home in PGA Village.
Brother Roger and his wife Fran came next, the brother who with Don had run the very successful Yellow Cab Company in Red Bank, then added Arrow Limousine Service which Roger still continues to operate today, albeit from their Port St. Lucie community.
It was sister Diane, and her husband, Roert Meibauer who were the third to seek out PGA Village and made their home on the 15th hole of the Wanamaker Golf Course. That’s where Diane takes time from her gardening and church to enjoy watching golfers during tournament season.
It took Dr. Ivan and his wife Nancy one weekend visiting his siblings to entice the couple to purchase their own home in PGA Village.
So now the Somers Siblings can continue the warm close friendship they have always enjoyed and so much more. This includes that Somers Family dinner, the 40-year tradition of gathering all generations of their families together with them once a month for a family dinner and conversation.
Not only are Don, Roger Diane and Ivan all graduates of Henry Hudson Regional School, all between 1959 and 1964, but so is Roger’s wife, Fran Farina, who was in class with Roger where they first met. Fran was born in Newark, but her family also moved to Highlands in the mid-1950s and she went to both elementary and high school here, met Roger and they married two years after graduation.
There was another brother in the Somers family, Bruce, the youngest of the family, who lost his life to Agent Orange exposure in 2011.
Three of the four Somers Brothers also served in the Air Force Don tells the story how one of them had an un-treatable vision problem and was given $500 as his discharge; he accepted it and turned into starting a new life. “There is no other country in the world where a hard-working guy can take that kind of money and run it up the way he did with his brothers,” Don says, proud of the United States. That family company in the para-transit business grew to the fact there were 300 employees in 1985 and ownership of more than 500 vehicles operating in nine different locations in Red Bank, Keyport, Highlands, Long Branch, Asbury Park and Rahway.
Don sold the Paradise Trailer Park in Highlands in 2005, 33 years after first purchasing the property. But he also purchased a small cab company with his partners, bought out his partners and brought in brother Roger, so that by 1968, the duo had purchased the first of 41 buildings that housed Yellow Cab Company, Arrow Limousine, Para-transit Services, Jersey Shore Couriers and Colonial Auto Rental.. That led to his fulfillment of a promise he had made to himself as a kid…one day he would fly to Alaska.
He did it in 1984, taking both his son and two friends by plane. Don continues to remain an avid pilot, while Susan whom he met in his early years in the business world, favors sailing, the couple both enjoy their active life style at PGA Village and remain active in civic life and also enjoy an annual cruise… They have two children, Jeff and Lisa.
Roger had played varsity baseball his four years at Henry Hudson and attended IBM School in Newark before he and Don went into business together.
Frances, who graduated from Hudson with Roger in 1963, and Roger raised their children Eddie and Michelle, highlighting them as the brightest spots in the lives, along with their five grandchildren. Even now, looking back on their memories of happy younger years, they love their present life, coming to PGA Village after seeing Don and Susan so content and wanting to stay close to family. They built a home there in 2003, then eight years later moved to another section where they have enjoyed living for the past 15 years.
Diane, the lone sister among the Somers siblings and her husband Robert, have lived in PGA Village since 2015, after Diane, who had gone to business school after graduation from Hudson, owned and operated her own delivery and messenger service. She and Robert have a broader, blended family, with Diane’s two sons, Bill, who lives in New Hampshire, and Jason, who lives with his wife in the Republic of Georgia, and Robert’s two daughters, Wendy and Amy.
She gets accolades and praise all the time for her gardening, both within and outside their home. But the couple are also involved in their church and Bible study group, and find their own joy, in addition to the extended Somers family, and the long-standing family traditions, in the joy and purpose of their faith community.
Ivan and Nancy were the last of the brothers to call PGA Village home, and moved in after successful careers, Nancy with 42 years as a flight attendant for American Airlines and four years in the White House Office of Public liaison, and Ivan using his dual Ph. D’s in Information Systems and Strategic Planning along with advanced degrees from USC, UCLA and Rutgers working in aerospace, the Department of Defense Intelligence program, as a Presidential Executive in the Executive Office of the President and teaching graduate courses, founding GTP Associates, LLC, a consulting firm and as a veteran of the 8th AF flight ops. Their son, Kevin, lives in California and is a cybersecurity expert for Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks.
All members of the Somers family are quick to admit they have had great lives, happy, wonderful families of their own, and memories that seem unmatched. But they also admit that with their diverse backgrounds, their always keeping in touch with each other and their wide spread experiences, living at PGA Village enables them to get back to their roots and keep their families growing.
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