AMay 31 1996
Press of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Friday, May 31, 1996
Heir of mystery compounds property problem in Somers Point
By Bett Norcross McCoy
Somers Point—City officials will foreclose on the late Robert T. Durkin's Gibbs Avenue home unless an heir apparent before the process is complete, according to City Administrator Wes Swain.
“We'd like somebody to come forward,” Swain said, otherwise the state Division of Taxation gets a letter from the city outlining the situation, to get the legal wheels rolling.
Right now the property at 23 Gibbs Ave., is an eyesore, but it isn't a public-health nuisance, Tracey McArdle, director of the Atlantic County Division of Public Health, said Wednesday.
“We conducted an inspection Friday and there were no public-health violations at that time. No odors, no rodents. There were problems related to property maintenance … weeds, grass, junk,” McArdle said. That's the city's responsibility, she said.
Durkin's property became the city's aesthetic and financial problem when he died in a veteran's hospital in Somerset County on August 24, 1994, apparently without a will. Durkin, 75, was on 100 percent disability and was exempt from property taxes.
But city officials didn't know it was their problem until condition came into City Hall nearly a year later.
“Everyone here knew who he was and that he died, but we had no proof,” Swain said. So the city “bulldozed” the weeds, boarded up the opened front door to stop kids from playing inside, and set out to confirm Durkin's death.
Then it was Catch-22 time.
When Tax Assessor Diane Hesley asked the Department of Veterans Affairs for Durkin's death certificate, she was told such things are confidential. Then she hit on the idea to ask if he was still eligible for his benefits. She was told no.
Eventually, the city got the death certificate, and the property was listed as an added assessment on the tax rolls by the end of last year.
Last week, a Gibbs Avenue resident complained at a City Council meeting about an obnoxious odor coming from the over-grown backyard where Durkin had several sheds.
That's when the Health Department was called in to do Friday's inspection—which turned up nothing but the city's resolve to settle the matter.
“We want to do this without needless expense to the taxpayers,” Swain said.
For anyone trying to figure out if they may be Durkin's heir, he was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. And if he's the same man named in 1940s articles in The Press library, he had four brothers—Joseph, George, Frank and William — and two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. In December 1941, his mother, Mrs. D. F. Durkin, lived at 6803 Atlantic Ave., Atlantic City.
Prior to moving to Somers Point in 1976, he'd apparently lived in Pleasantville and Linwood.
If you think you're an heir, call Swain or City Clerk Carol L. Degrassi at 927-9088.
Meanwhile, articles from the 1970s say Durkin was a champion chess player. That was confirmed Tuesday by Jay McKenn, who learned of Durkin's death last summer when he tried to renew their friendship.
McKeen, a Hamilton Township police sergeant, said Durkin was a “chess idol” to several players, including himself. “He was an innovator, eccentric, but an innovator. There's an opening move named after him. The Durkin Attack, Knight to A3.” Durkin's chess buddies lost touch with him as he became more and more reclusive, McKeen said.
Plans are under way for a Robert T. Durkin Memorial Chess Tournament, he said.
