Living the Dream

The Fazio Family’s Road to ‘Forever’ in Sea Isle City   

The Fazio family on Settlement Day 2014.

Left to Right: Beetsie and Richard Fazio flank daughter Corine and her husband Brian Ward at their 2017 wedding at St. Joseph Church. Cait and Corine Fazio on the beach in Sea Isle.

Last November, Sea Isle City resident Beetsie Fazio won the Sea Isle Times wreath in the 2024 Holiday Wreath Auction & Contest. She walked away with not only a beautiful holiday wreath, but also an opportunity to share her family’s “Sea Isle Story” in this issue. It turns out hers is very much a love story – of family and Sea Isle City.

“Our story starts with the shore,” Beetsie Fazio says about the winding path that led her family to Sea Isle City. “I’m originally from West Chester, Pa., but my family has always loved the beach. It started with my grandfather, who was a lifeguard in Wildwood. My mom’s family rented there every summer, and I spent my early years on Pine Street in Wildwood.”

Beetsie’s next shore stop was a little further north, when the family had a house in Stone Harbor during her childhood, and then a little further north again when her Aunt Jean and Uncle Bill built a small A-frame on 31st Street in Avalon, where Beetsie went for many years.

In fact, that was where she met her husband, Richard. “We were set up to go on a date,” she shares. “It was my birthday weekend and he said he was going to be down the shore, so I said, ‘Here’s my address if you want to stop by.’ This was back in the day before cell phones, so he just knocked on the door. That’s how we had our first date in Avalon. Of course, we grew a love for the beach.”

As time went on, Beetsie and Richard got married and had two daughters, Corine and Caitlin, whom they raised in West Chester, with ample time spent at the shore in the summers.

Corine and Caitlin were still young when Beetsie found herself once again venturing north up the New Jersey coastline … this time to Sea Isle City. “When my Aunt Jean sold her house in Avalon, we had a friend who had a house on 85th Street in Sea Isle,” she explains. “We stayed there, and we fell in love with it, and eventually started looking at houses. In 2004, we bought a house on 78th Street. So, it was by luck that my friend brought us here. We hopped over that bridge to Sea Isle and haven’t regretted it since.”

After a few years at their 78th Street house, Beetsie and Richard sold it due to the hectic pace of work and family life in West Chester. But the Fazio family never stopped coming to Sea Isle, renting every summer. “Our love for this place never faded,” Beetsie says.

So, in 2014, the Fazios bought another home in Sea Isle, this time on 64th Street, that became a beloved gathering space for family and friends. So much so that when Richard retired from his job with the Downingtown School District in 2019, they chose to make Sea Isle their permanent home base. “We decided – this is where we want to be,” Beetsie shares. “And we started looking for our forever home.”

Caitlin Fazio heading up the beach path with her nephew Jamie.

Beetsie and Richard Fazio's grandson Riley enjoying the playground in Sea Isle City.

In October 2020, Beetsie and Richard settled on their “dream home” on 62nd Street. Beetsie retired from her job as the manager of a private anesthesia practice in 2022 and now the couple are full-time residents of Sea Isle City.

“We love it. Even in the winter!” Beetsie says. “People ask us, ‘How do you stand it in the winter?’ But you know what? I look forward to it. It’s windy – that’s true. But it’s cold in West Chester, too. What makes Sea Isle different is the people. There’s a friendliness here, a real sense of community.”

And Beetsie and Richard Fazio have wasted no time immersing themselves in that community. They’re both very active members of the Yacht Club of Sea Isle City, where Richard is the current Vice Commodore and will become Commodore next fall. Beetsie also enjoys a walking club through Sea Isle City Recreation, among many other activities.

“We’ve become so involved,” Beetsie says, “it just feels like home.”

In Sea Isle City, she enjoys those hometown vibes every day, everywhere, year-round. “You walk into Wawa or CVS, and they know your name,” says Beetsie. “We love Sea Isle so much. It’s the welcomeness, the down-to-earth people. I don’t know how else to describe it other than being so comfortable here.”

Sea Isle has also been a place for making and savoring memories for the Fazios. “Corine got engaged right on 64th Street beach, where her husband Brian proposed,” Beetsie says. “And they got married at St. Joseph Church.”

Today, the next generation of the family is learning to love Sea Isle, too, as Corine and Brian’s two young sons also love spending time here.

“Riley is 4, and Jamie is 2,” Beetsie says. “They love the beach. They love coming down here. Riley’s going to do the lifeguard mascot program this summer. We’re also involved in the Junior Olympics because of the Yacht Club. So last year, Riley was able to do the Junior Olympics and it's a lot of fun. Such a community feel.”

In addition to Corine’s family, Beetsie and Richard’s daughter Caitlin also gets to enjoy plenty of time in Sea Isle thanks to her work as a nurse practitioner with a territory that spans from Cape May to Manahawkin. “We’re so glad she stayed close!” Beetsie says.

With family on hand and friends all over town, Beetsie has many cherished Sea Isle memories, and she recalls long nights on the porch as some of her favorites.

“Sitting on the porch with family and friends late at night and talking, or listening to music, or just reminiscing and hanging out … you just don’t take the time to do that in your normal life. But down here, when you cross over that bridge, you just take a deep breath,” Beetsie says. “All those weekends and nights we would just sit there and relax. It’s really beautiful. And my mom was around for a lot of those nights, and that’s really special.”

And now the Fazios continue to make new memories in Sea Isle, where the Yacht Club is a favorite spot where they enjoy “dinners, events, and lifelong friendships.”

While they still travel back and forth to West Chester for appointments or to visit family and friends, Beetsie and Richard Fazio, who had their very first date at the shore, now have both feet firmly, gratefully planted in Sea Isle.

“It is a dream, and it always has been something we’ve wanted to do,” Beetsie says. “We are lucky enough to be here in Sea Isle. We’re very fortunate. We don’t take that for granted.”