Darryl Behnke is joined by his mother, Debbie Behnke, and her husband, Charles Hassler, during Darryl’s 42nd birthday in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Debbie Behnke)
Debbie Behnke’s doctor told her something shocking about her newborn son, Darryl, the day she brought him home from the hospital in 1980.
“He said that you’ll be lucky to have him for five years. So, I brought him home and loved him,” Behnke recalled.
Darryl, though, defied the grim predictions. Despite having the crippling disorders spina bifida and hydrocephalus, he lived for 42 years while using a wheelchair for his mobility.
He became well-known in Sea Isle City — mainly for his friendly personality and also through the relationships he built while working for the town’s beach tag department for more than 10 years starting around 1997.
“Darryl’s attitude was always positive,” Behnke said. “He was always a caring and loving person. Darryl had the personality to warm up a very cold room.”
Behnke spoke about her son’s extraordinary life Tuesday while appearing at a City Council meeting to ask Sea Isle officials to consider naming the corner of 40th Street and Landis Avenue as “Darryl’s Way” in his honor.
Council President J.B. Feeley assured Behnke that the governing body would discuss her idea with Mayor Leonard Desiderio and get back to her.
Over the years, Sea Isle has named a number of streets in honor or in memory of local residents or other people who had strong ties to the community.
In 2022, the corner of 89th Street and Landis Avenue was renamed in honor of David Tapper, a former Navy Seal killed in combat in 2003 while serving in Afghanistan.
Tapper and his family spent summers in Sea Isle at their vacation home on 89th Street.
David Tapper is not the first military hero who has a street dedicated in his memory in Sea Isle. A portion of 46th Street is named in honor of Cpl. Michael Crescenz, a Sea Isle summer resident who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during the Vietnam War.
Behnke explained that she hopes the city will name the corner of 40th Street and Landis Avenue as “Darryl’s Way” because that’s where her son enjoyed socializing with friends at the iconic Ocean Drive bar, better known to locals as the “OD.”
“He felt like he was part of the community in Sea Isle. He didn’t drink alcohol, but he would be at the bar and drink his Coke,” she said.
She noted that the owners of the OD would warmly welcome Darryl to the bar.
Debbie Behnke appears before City Council to ask for the corner of 40th Street and Landis Avenue to be renamed 'Darryl’s Way' in honor of her late son.Darryl passed away on April 30, 2023, five months shy of his 43rd birthday. Behnke said her son used a wheelchair his entire life while living with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
Spina bifida is a condition that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly, while hydrocephalus is a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of fluid on the brain.
Darryl distinguished himself while dealing with the challenges of his serious medical condition. He graduated from Woodstown High School when the family lived in Alloway Township, Salem County.
Behnke said Darryl was the first New Jersey Boy Scout in a wheelchair to become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve after completing a community-oriented project.
For Darryl’s Eagle Scout project, he helped out the fire department in Alloway Township by cataloging the local homes that had driveways long enough for the big fire trucks to access the homes in case there was a fire, Behnke said.
Reflecting his community service, Darryl was also influential in helping to provide disabled residents with transportation through Darryl’s Wheels Foundation, according to his obituary.
“With Darryl’s influence coupled with his mother’s activism in N.J., he helped to reform numerous state laws and new medical standards for the disabled community,” his obituary said.
After living in Salem County, Behnke and her son came to Sea Isle. Behnke became a full-time Sea Isle resident in 1996 and has a home on 38th Street.
Darryl was given a city job by Mayor Desiderio around 1997 or 1998 selling beach tags during the summer tourism season. He later switched to another job in the beach tag department that included bringing money to the beach tag inspectors so they would have enough change during their sales, Behnke said.
She was unsure of how long Darryl worked for the beach tag department, but thought it was between 10 and 15 years.
She recalled that he would ride in his wheelchair on the Promenade between 34th and 44th streets to bring change to the beach tag inspectors.
“He was nothing more than a very good looking, very tanned boy in a wheelchair,” she said, smiling.
Darryl Behnke and relatives pose for a family photo. (Photo courtesy of Debbie Behnke)Debbie Behnke, 64, is a real estate agent in Sea Isle. She formerly served as social services director for Salem County and has been an advocate for the disabled community.
As a mother of a disabled son, she was influential in the building of the Freedom Village project, a 60-unit, ADA-accessible apartment complex in Salem County.
Behnke said it was her “mission” as a mom to oversee the building of Freedom Village.
Now, she has another mission of sorts – to have the corner of 40th and Landis named as “Darryl’s Way” in honor of her late son.
“It’s amazing how many lives my son touched. He was only supposed to live to be 5,” she said.
