Mount St. Joseph Academy President Sister Kathleen Brabson, (formerly Sr. Thomas Audrey), 71, a nun in the order of the Sisters of Saint Joseph for 53 years, died on Jan. 23 from lung cancer at St. Joseph Villa in Flourtown.
The daughter of the late Francis Thomas and Audrey (nee Burke) Sister Brabson was born on Feb. 7, 1947 in New York, but grew up in Pennsylvania after her family moved. She attended Seven Dolors Grade School in Wyndmoor and Cecilian Academy in Mt. Airy.
At the time of her passing, she was president of Mount St. Joseph Academy in Flourtown and a former teacher with more than 35 years of experience. Students at Mount St. Joseph Academy knew Sister Brabson not only as the president of the school, but also as the “School’s Master Fidget Spinner” who loved playing basketball and dancing to Motown music.
Principal of Mount St. Joseph Academy Dr. Judith Caviston said that although Sister Brabson didn’t get to talk to the students every day, she connected with them and tried to foster a love of learning and leadership in the students.
“She would challenge students she met to see who could win at fidget spinning, and unfortunately, she always won,” said Caviston, a colleague and close friend.
Caviston said that Sister Brabson leaves behind a legacy devoted to the Sisters of St. Joseph’s mission of serving God. She recalled how Sister Brabson would meet the new class of Mounties or colleagues in the chapel and ask them to look at the sea of stars that cover the chapel ceiling. According to Sister Brabson, the stars represented each Sister of St. Joseph, each student that went before them and the legacy they left for them to follow.
Under Sister Brabson’s tenure as president, she oversaw the high school’s year-long 150-year celebration, the installation of a new science wing and the construction of a state-of-the-art, multipurpose turf field. Prior to becoming Mount’s president in 2005, she served as dean of students for 11 years while simultaneously teaching theology to juniors.
She also taught at St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington, Delaware and Delone Catholic High School in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools and a member of the Board of Trustees of the John Carroll High School in Bel Air, Maryland.
Sister Brabson was a graduate of Chestnut Hill College and Villanova University. She is the sister of Patricia Brabson, Audrey Durkin (Dennis), Angela Lyons (Edward) and the late John F. Brabson. She is also survived by sister-in-law, Jeanne Holt Brabson, nieces and nephews and members of her congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sister’s name may be made to Saint Joseph Villa, 110 W. Wissahickon Ave., Flourtown, PA 19031; or Mount Saint Joseph Academy, c/o Sister Kathleen Brabson Scholarship Fund.
Tom “Woody” Woodruff of Oreland, Chestnut Hill’s “Patriot Poet” who recited his own patriotic poems at every neighborhood Fourth of July celebration, died on Saturday Feb. 2. He was 84.
Woodruff was born on Nov. 6, 1934 in Mt. Airy. He was a long-time resident of Chestnut Hill and later Oreland. He grew up playing and watching sports with his dad, helping him coach neighborhood teams with the Father’s Club (now Chestnut Hill Youth Sports Club), and attending Eagles games at Franklin Field.
At age 13, Woodruff and his parents took a trip out west to visit friends in Wyoming. He was mesmerized by the many landscapes of the United States he passed on his trip, and his love for the open range and blue sky was born. For the next three years back east in Mt. Airy, he was consumed with thoughts of life out west.
He later convinced his parents to let him fulfill those cowboy dreams and he hitchhiked to Wyoming to be a ranch hand at The A Bar A Ranch for two years.
Woodruff met JoAnne Costanza, the sister of his friend Eddie, at a poker game in his house in Chestnut Hill. After the game, Woodruff jokingly told Costanza he won a date with her during a hand of cards. They eventually got engaged, and JoAnne worked and planned the wedding while Woodruff served in the Army in Germany.
There, Woodruff finished his education and got to see the world. Woodruff often thanked Uncle Sam for the life lessons he learned while serving our country, for the sense of patriotism deeply instilled and for the opportunity to shake the hand of Winston Churchill.
JoAnne and Tom married in Our Mother of Consolation church in 1957, and had four children. They have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Woodruff went to work at Prudential Life Insurance Company, where he stayed until retirement. After retirement, he spent time working at the now defunct Chestnut Hill Newsstand at Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike.
Woodruff remained active in his sons’ sports teams, coaching and officiating at the Father’s Club (CHYSC) and serving as president of the Wyndmoor Bantams football club.
Woodruff also enjoyed taking his children to the Eagles games, using season tickets at the Vet. He also found a way to share his appreciation for the cowboy way of life, becoming a regular fixture at the annual Cowtown Rodeo in Plymouth Meeting. He also had a love for horses and was fortunate to be involved with them throughout his life.
Always an avid writer, Tom often submitted his musings to local papers. His commentary was regularly published in the Chestnut Hill Local. After retirement, he took it a step further and the Patriot Poet was born. Tom became a sought-after orator, delivering original speeches at local schools, historical reenactments and parades. Tom’s passion was to use his colorful and multifaceted life experiences to help educate others on the important events and honorable men and women who shaped our nation.
As the Patriot Poet often said, “Family and our great nation are everything!”
Woodruff was preceded in death by his parents Thomas Russell Woodruff, Sr. and Jean Woodruff (nee Cairns), and his daughter-inlaw Donna Woodruff (nee Toomey). He is remembered with love and laughter by his wife JoAnne (nee Costanza), daughter Gail Johnson (Gerald), son Raymond Woodruff (Laura), son Steven Woodruff (Annie Hermann), daughter Denise McLoughlin (E. Douglas); grandchildren Brooke Rive (William), Carly Johnson, Jake Woodruff, Kevin Doerner, Justin Doerner and Tavish McLoughlin; great-grandchildren Cameron Rive and Juliette Rive.
Family and friends may call on Wednesday, Feb. 13, from 6 – 8 p.m. at Jacob F . Ruth Funeral Directors in Chestnut Hill. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Woodruff’s name to Mobile Minis, a charitable organization that connects children in need with mini horses, at mobileminis.net
Paul David Sehnert, 63, director of real estate development at the University of Pennsylvania, died May 19 of cancer at his home in Erdenheim.
Sehnert was also an adjunct lecturer and instructor at Penn Design in real estate design and development, and, from 2009-2012, a lecturer in investment and finance in the university’s Department of City Planning.
An integral part of the Penn community, he contributed his expertise in architecture and real estate finance in dozens of projects developed by the university, including the innovative Pennovation project. His legacy at Penn was his tireless contribution to Pennovation with its unique design and focused mission as a technology incubator. He also was widely known and respected as a leading thinker in design and finance within the real estate business.
Born in Midland, Texas, and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Ohio, he graduated with honors in architecture from the University of Cincinnati and began his career in the urban design departments of the City of Cincinnati and the City of Denver. He received a fellowship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned master’s degrees in architecture and real estate development.
Before coming to Penn in 2000, he worked at Halcyon Partners, and later at Ernst & Young as senior manager based in Hartford, Connecticut.
Sehnert was an active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill and was a member of the church Vestry. He also served as chairman of the Community Design Collaborative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Philadelphia neighborhoods through architecture.
He is survived by his sons, Joshua Paul, of Seattle, Washington, and Benjamin David of Philadelphia; a sister, Barb Lange, of Albion, Michigan; brothers Steve Sehnert, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and John Sehnert, of Dallas, Texas. Sehnert’s wife, the former Susan Dean, died in 1999.
A service of remembrance will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 1, in the sanctuary of Saint Paul’s Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., with a reception following in the Parish Hall. Memorial donations may be made to the charity of the donor’s choosing. Interment will be in St. Paul’s Columbarium.
Longtime Mt. Airy resident and former Local film Critic J. Cooper Robb died of laryngeal cancer on June 22. He died at his home in Newton, Pennsylvania. with his husband, Karl Carter, by his side.
Robb was born in Philadelphia and raised in both Devon and Mt. Airy. He graduated from Germantown Friends School before pursuing a theater degree from Temple University. In 2003, he received a master’s degree in theater from Villanova.
Robb was a freelance writer who specialized in reviews of lesser known theater companies. He was a prominent reviewer for Philadelphia Weekly, publishing reviews from 1999 to 2013. He published reviews in both the Local and Backstage Magazine. He also covered tennis for the Local.
In addition to freelance writing, Robb worked as an adjunct professor of theater, poetry and communications at Bucks County Community College, Rider University and Thomas Edison State University.
Robb is survived by his husband, his parents, Edwin G. Robb and Lee Cooper van de Velde, stepparents, Christopher Robert van de Velde and Minnie Lloyd Robb, two brothers and extended family.
A memorial service for Robb will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Arden Theatre, 40 N. Second St., Philadelphia, 19106. The burial will be private. Donations can be made in Robb’s name to the Arden Theatre Company’s Artistic Fund at the same address.
Eugene P. Hughes, Sr., 94, of Plymouth Meeting, a surgeon who practiced for many years at Chestnut Hill and Roxborough Memorial hospitals, died Oct.7, at the Artman Home in Ambler after a brief illness.
Until his retirement in 1992, Hughes practiced general surgery at both hospitals and was chief of surgery at Roxborough Memorial Hospital. He was affiliated with the surgical teaching faculty of Jefferson Medical College as an assistant clinical professor on its surgical teaching staff from 1972 to 1991.
He was a founding member of Northwest Surgical Associates and a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, the Philadelphia College of Physicians, Pennsylvania Society for Thoracic Surgery, American College of Surgeons, and the American Medical Association. He is fondly remembered by the many members of the Chestnut Hill, Roxborough and surrounding suburban communities he cared for at his office on West Chestnut Hill Avenue during his years of practice.
A lifelong resident of Plymouth Meeting and Chestnut Hill, he was a graduate of Our Mother of Consolation Parish School and La Salle College High School. He attended St. Joseph’s College and graduated from Franklin and Marshall College. He served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 and during the Korean War. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College and served his general surgery residency at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Hospital. He practiced family medicine in Plymouth Meeting in the 1950’s and was certified as a general surgeon in 1960.
He was a member of the La Salle College High School Hall of Fame and a former president of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. He was an accomplished golfer, avid outdoorsman, and a longtime and honorary member of the Lac Pythonga Fish and Game Club in Western Quebec. He instilled in his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren a love of the outdoors and an appreciation of the value of education, hard work and family.
Hughes’ wife, Jane Murphy Hughes, died in 2010. He is survived by sons, Edward, Eugene, Robert, Timothy, Thomas, Christopher, Brian and Donald. He is also survived by 17 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his younger brothers Joseph and Thomas and sisters Jane O’Shaughnessy, Catherine Raisch, Patricia Miljenovic and Mary Morris.
A memorial service at 10 a.m., followed by a life celebration until 2 p.m, will be held Friday, Oct. 18, at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, 815 Thomas Road in Lafayette Hill. Internment will be private.
Memorial contributions should be sent to the Hughes Family Scholarship Fund at La Salle College High School, 8605 Cheltenham Ave., Wyndmoor, PA 19038, or to Our Mother of Consolation Parish School at 17 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118. – WF
Gene and Phyllis Gosfield opened Under the Blue Moon in May of 1976 and closed it in September, 1997, after it had become the most popular and beloved restaurant in Chestnut Hill.
Phyllis Gosfield, one-half of the legendary owners of the iconic Chestnut Hill restaurant, Under the Blue Moon, died Sunday, Feb. 2, of natural causes at age 90 at Keystone Hospice, where she had been just a short time. Prior to that she lived in an assisted living facility in Chester County for five years.
From 1976 to 1997 Phyllis (nee Starobin) and her husband, Gene, owned and operated Under the Blue Moon at 8042 Germantown Ave., where customers would go as much for the entertainment (supplied mostly by Gene) as for the food, which was also outstanding. Gene died of cancer in June of 2007 at age 83.
“We were lucky to have such wonderful parents,” said Josh Gosfield, 66, a non-fiction writer and artist who lives in New York, in a Local interview. (The Go fields had three other children who are all musicians.) “Phyllis led a really great life, and she was ready to go. My parents taught me that it is never too late to go after what will make you happy. Gene said life is about love and work, work and love. That’s all there is.”
According to long-time Chestnut Hill restaurateur Paul Roller, “Phylis was one of the great ones. She and Gene gave us great times, great food, great energy and great politics. There were no bounds to Phyllis’ cooking and to Gene’s humor. There was a lot of love that they projected in that restaurant for the food and for their customers.”
Most people who open their first restaurant are relatively young people who already have experience working in other restaurants. And even they have as much chance of lasting for more than 20 years as I do of becoming Philly’s next mayor. But on May 13, 1976, Gene Gosfield, who was 52, and his wife Phyllis, who was 47, neither of whom had ever worked in a restaurant, opened a small BYOB at 8042 Germantown Ave., which was previously occupied by a toy store called It’s a Small World.
Gene and Phyllis had both worked for Phyllis’ family-owned aluminum window manufacturing business in the lower Northeast, but it was sold to a Fortune 500 company in the early 1970s. Despite their age and the fact that they had to support four children, Phyllis, who always liked to cook and entertain guests at home, persuaded Gene to accompany her in enrolling in the very first class of the just-opened Restaurant School of Philadelphia.
After much struggle and sacrifice, the Gosfields graduated and found the Chestnut Hill storefront. Gene once told me that their original name for the restaurant was Blue Moon Cafe, but when they discovered there was already a place by that name in South Philadelphia, one of their daughters suggested Under the Blue Moon. If you called the restaurant and got their phone machine, you would have to endure Gene’s off-key singing of Rodgers and Hart’s 1934 ballad, “Blue Moon.”
The small cafe was so successful that two years later, the Gosfields took over the next door corner property, which made the restaurant about three times bigger, and they added a liquor license. And one year after opening the cafe, the Gosfields hired as their new chef Don Prentis, who graduated from the Restaurant School one year after they did. (Phyllis helped with the cooking also.) Prentis stayed with them for 20 years until the end, an almost unheard of tenure in the restaurant business. Most other employees at the end had been there more than 10 years.
Nowadays we expect restaurants to change their menus two to four times a year and frequently tweak the menus with additions and specials. Maintaining the same menu items is considered a sign of stodginess and conservatism today, but it did not bother the Blue Moon’s loyal customers. “We just cannot drop items like Marco Polo salad, sesame pecan chicken and Donald’s Duck (named for the chef),” Phyllis once told me. “If we tried to take any of them off the menu, we would never hear the end of it from our customers.” Gene also told me that the restaurant’s sesame pecan chicken was “Phyllis’ contribution to Western civilization.”
Gene obviously got into the restaurant business as much to entertain customers as for the food. Every night he would saunter from table to table, schmoozing with diners like a retired Borscht Belt comedian or Henny Youngman wannabe, peppering customers with one-liners such as “Did you hear about the woman who ran over her husband? Her lawyers tried to plea bargain it down to life in traffic school.” Gene referred to Under the Blue Moon as “a country club with instant membership.”
“Our secret was Gene,” Phyllis once told a reporter. “He was out front. He just had this ambition; it was like the Holy Grail to him. People had to be fed, and they had to have a good time. I tried the front for a while. I saw people just sail in, full of demands. I found it difficult. Gene would say, ‘They come in cranky. We gotta make them happy.'”
Gene’s father had left Ukraine to avoid being forced to serve in the Russian army. The family name was Piatagortzov, but they changed it to Gosfield when they moved to England and lived on Gosfield Street in London. After moving to the U.S., Gene served as a bombardier during World War II, flying 33 bombing raids out of Italy. On one occasion he was permitted to pass up a mission so that new recruits could receive real-life action. On that mission the plane was blown up, and the pilot was killed.
After the war, Gene moved to New York, where he met Phyllis, who was a terrific blues singer. They were married in 1949 and then moved to the Philadelphia area, living for several years in Wyndmoor and then in Fort Washington until Phyllis moved into assisted living.
When the Gosfields closed the restaurant in 1997, much to the dismay and chagrin of their loyal customers, they explained that they were burned out from the 24/7/365 restaurant life. Gene was 73, and Phyllis was 68. “I’ve always been a cook, sew, garden kind of person,” said Phyllis. “We’re still young, but that’s why we’re leaving. We want to have some time to ourselves while we are still young.” (The Go fields’ had two sons, Reuben and Josh, and two daughters, Avery and Annie. None is in the restaurant business.)
At the time of the closing in 1997, the restaurant was sold to Richard Snowden, of Bowman Properties. Attempts were made by would-be restaurateurs to open a restaurant in the Blue Moon property, but nothing ever was finalized. The first floor that housed Under the Blue Moon has now been vacant for 23 years.
Funeral services were held for Phyllis Friday, Feb. 7, 11:30 a.m., at Goldstein’s Funeral Homes, 6410 N. Broad St. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
Frances Maguire, a longtime Wyndmoor resident,
philanthropist and artist, died at her home on Wednesday Feb. 12 from
cardiopulmonary failure. She was 84.
The mother of nine
and her husband, James L. Maguire, were generous donors to education and arts
and were patrons of both the Woodmere Art Museum and Chestnut Hill College,
among many other institutions in the region.
Known to friends and family as “Frannie,” Maguire was born
in Philadelphia and grew up in Northwest Philadelphia. She graduated from
Merion Mercy High School and Gwynedd Mercy College, where she later returned
for a nursing degree.
While still a senior at Gwynedd Mercy, Maguire married her
husband James on Thanksgiving, 1957. The couple would settle into their
Wyndmoor home in 1969, where they lived for 50 years.
James Maguire was the founder of a national insurance
company known as Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. That business merged
with Tokio Marine Group in 2008 for $5 billion. The money left the Maguires
very wealthy, a wealth they were not shy to share with programs for art
education, catholic schools and other charities. This was no doubt driven by
the couple’s devout Catholicism and Frances Maguire’s genuine compassion for
others.
“My mother was love personified,” said her daughter, Frances
Glomb. “She lived her life by loving and by doing for others. The love she had
was so remarkable because every person she encountered always felt her warmth
and genuine love for them.”
The couple’s donation of $50 million to St. Joseph’s
University in 2017 is the largest in the school’s history. The Maguires funded
scholarships at Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, Gwynedd Mercy Academy’s School
of Nursing, Drexel University and Chestnut Hill College. These gifts were more
than simple monetary donations. Many leaders at the schools and museums that
received gifts from the Maguires recall Frances’ personal attention to the
programs they supported.
“Over the years as we played tennis and golf together, I
came to know a woman filled with amazing grace; talent; love of family,
friends, and life,” said Gwynedd Mercy President Emerita Kathleen Owens. “Her
interests and commitments were vast and intertwined, whether the arts,
education, athletics, homelessness, faith, and so much more—she embodied a
spirit of selflessness and inclusion that allowed so many of us to know a woman
who is a model for all to emulate.”
“Frannie Maguire, a gifted artist, lived her life as if it
were a work of art,” said Chestnut Hill College President, Carol Jean Vale.
“Creative, imaginative, humorous, she was one of the kindest, sweetest,
gentlest, most generous women I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Her
life enriched our world.”
Maguire was also devoted to Germantown’s Face to Face, a
local charity that provides food and other services to the poor and homeless.
The Maguires founded the annual Turkey Trot 27 years ago to provide financial
support for the organization.
“I can honestly say that all of the generosity that Jim,
Frannie and the Maguire Foundation have bestowed upon Face to Face truly feel
like gifts of love, given with great care,” said Face to Face’s Executive
Director, Mary Kay Meeks-Hanks. “Their humility and simplicity speak volumes
about the people of integrity they are. Frannie lived her life with the heart
of a mother. Her focus was always on the person she was with and made each feel
special and valued. I am so grateful I had the privilege of knowing her.”
Model at PAFA by Frances Maguire. From “Powerful and Uniquely Interesting: The Art of Franny Maguire.”
What was truly special to Maguire, however, was art. It was
a pursuit she took on later in life, having enrolled in classes at Pennsylvania
Academy of the Arts and taking classes while her husband traveled for business.
She flourished as an artist, as both a painter and as a sculptor. She had in
recent years become a fixture at Woodmere Art Museum and participated in many
of its studio classes. The museum has two of her works in its collection and
had included her in a recent show.
“Her creative approach was shaped by her deep admiration for
the work of Philadelphia artist Arthur B. Carles, who lived nearby on East
Evergreen Avenue,” said Museum Director, William Valerio. “In this respect, she
is part of a lineage in the arts of Philadelphia that includes Carles’ own
students – Jane Piper
and Quita Brodhead – and the artists of a next and current generation, notably
Bill Scott, Jan Baltzell, Kassem Amoudi and Liz Osborne, who were all Frannie’s
teachers.”
Valerio said Maguire was more than a fixture at the museum.
She was a friend to many at the museum and a big part of the family of the
small staff and artists at the Hill institution.
“A person of inner radiance and faith, Frannie saw art as an
expression of the human spirit,” he said. “There was no greater pleasure than
to stand in front of a painting or sculpture with her and discuss how she saw a
journey take shape through line and color, forms and subjects.”
In addition to her tremendous commitment to arts, education
and other charities, Maguire was a dedicated mother to eight children. A ninth,
Edward, her third child, died as an infant.
“More than anything, Mom loved family and any reason to
get together to celebrate life was what she lived for,” said her son James Jr.
“If it involved family, you name it, and she wanted to celebrate it! Life is a
gift, and family is a treasure.”
Maguire was an avid gardener, tennis player, cyclist, bridge
player, an accomplished violinist and a fan of the Philadelphia Orchestra,
which she regularly attended with her husband and good friends, local residents
Jim and Carol Fitzgerald.
She is survived by her husband, her children James Jr.,
Frances Glomb, Chris, Susan, Timothy, Megan Maguire Nicoletti, Colleen and
Tara, 24 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and two sisters, Margie Smith
and Mary Way. Funeral services were held on Feb. 15 at Our Mother of
Consolation in Chestnut Hill.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Woodmere Art
Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave.
Russell Conwell Goudy Sr., 89, the former owner of the
William A. Kilian Hardware Co. in Chestnut Hill, died March 15 at his home in
Gwynedd.
As the proprietor of Kilian’s, Mr. Goudy was widely known in
the community for helping customers to find what they were looking for among
the tens of thousands of items in the store, always with a smile and often with
a good story.
Kilians’s, the oldest hardware store in Philadelphia and an
institution in Chestnut Hill, was founded by Willliam A. Kilian in 1913. Kilian’s
widow, Minnie Goudy Kilian, left the store to her brother John
Nelson in 1945 and subsequently to Mr. Goudy and his late brother Nelson in the
1950’s. Mr. Goudy later transferred ownership to his son Russell Goudy Jr. Until recently, three generations of
the family worked together in the store.
Mr. Goudy, who was named for his uncle
Russell C. Goudy and Russell H. Conwell, founder of Temple University, was born
in Olney and moved to Chestnut Hill when he was 8 years old. He attended John
Story Jenks Elementary School and later rode his bike to Springfield High
School where he played football and was president of his senior class.
From 1948-1960 he served in the Navy
Reserve in Willow Grove as a Navy Aviation Mechanic, 2nd Class.
He married the former Rebecca Shallcross
Scull more than 59 years ago in Ocean City, New Jersey, where they had met one
summer. They enjoyed working together and traveling to a second home in Rock
Hall, Maryland.
Mr. Goudy spoke fondly of his summers
at Temple Camp in Collegeville, first as a camper and later as a counselor. In
later years he could be seen driving his beloved antique cars, which he
restored, winning many trophies in car shows.
In addition to his wife and son Russell
Jr., Mr Goudy is survived by a son Keith and five grandchildren. He was
preceded in death by a son Rob, and by his brother Nelson.
A celebration of Mr. Goudy’s life is
planned for the future. Memorial donations may be made to Cold Point Baptist
Church, 5063 Militia Hill Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. – WF
Sally Shorr, 106, a longtime resident of the Hill House
apartments in Chestnut Hill, died March 21 at the Abramson Jewish Center.
Mrs. Shorr had lived at Hill House for 19 years, coming to
Chestnut Hill in 1998 from Chula Vista, California, with her husband, Louis
Shorr, to be close to a son and grandchildren. Mr. Shorr died in 2002, but Mrs.
Shorr remained at Hill House until 2017 when she moved to the Abramson Center.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Mrs. Shorr came to New York with her
family as a 3-year-old and was raised in the Bronx and Lakewood, New Jersey,
where her family had a chicken farm. She married Louis Shorr, a chemical
engineer with the Domino Sugar company, in 1950 and lived for a time in
Levittown, Pennsylvania, and in Jamaica, Queens.
While in New York, Mrs. Shorr, who had struggled with being
overweight, became one of the first clients of the Weight Watchers
organization. She accomplished her goal of losing 125 pounds and wearing a size
3 dress to her son’s Bar Mitzvah and became an entertaining and sympathetic lecturer
for Weight Watchers in the New York area.
Living in Chula Vista after her husband’s retirement, Mrs.
Shorr was an active member of the Temple Beth Shalom Sisterhood, organizing
trips and cooking during fundraising events at the Temple.
At the Abramson Center, she was known to staff as the
“fastest person they saw with a walker and knew to get out of her way.”
She is survived by sons Neill Altman and Saul Shorr; a
step-daughter, Stephanie Rose; and three grandchildren. – WF
Ena Veronica Lindner Swain, 88, of Germantown, an author,
activist and community historian, died March 27 at Chestnut Hill Hospital.
Mrs. Swain’s book, “The Evolution of Abolitionism in
Germantown and Its Environs,” was published in 2018 and described the birth of
the abolition movement in Germantown from the Colonial period through the Civil
War.
Mrs. Swain said her book, the product of 50 year’s research,
“tells a unique and compelling story.”
“I have never seen any document equating William Penn’s
‘Holy Experiment‘ with abolitionism,” she said. “This manuscript tells how
multicultural societies, in one small geographically discrete, richly-diverse
settlement, banded together to foment the spark that was the catalyst for the
entire anti-slavery movement.”
As a community historian, Mrs. Swain researched the history
of Germantown and its environs with particular emphasis on the African-American
presence in the Colonial period, the Revolutionary War, the nascent antislavery
movement and formal abolitionist activity in the region. She also conducted
walking tours, lectured and published papers on the topic.
Mrs. Swain was the third of four children born to Stanley
Barrett Lindner and his wife, Adeline, who had emigrated from Jamaica with
Marcus Garvey as part of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Raised in
South Philadelphia, she attended Landreth Elementary School, Barrett Junior
High School, and graduated from South Philadelphia High School for Girls.
She was the first African-American bookkeeper and accountant
for the W.C. Schmidt & Sons Inc. brewery and also operated her own public
accounting firm. She left the brewery when her children were born and became
active in the greater Germantown community. She served on the Mallery Recreation
Center Advisory Council, where she protested the limited recreational
opportunities available to children in Germantown. In a meeting with the late
Mayor Frank Rizzo she demanded a new gym be built at Mallery that could be used
year-round, and the gym was built in the 1970s.
She also was a board member, historian, and chair of the
education committee of the Johnson House Historical Society.
Mrs. Swain is survived by sons Dr. William A. Swain Jr. and
Brian Anthony Swain; daughters Dr. Valarie Ena Swain-Cade McCoullum and Gail
Swain Harrison; a sister, Gloria Jordan; 12 grandchildren; 10
great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death
by her husband of 66 years, William Arch Swain Sr.; and brothers James Lindner
and Stanley B. Lindner.
A celebration of Mrs. Swain’s life will be held later this
year. – WF
Quita Horan (second from left) plants a tree in Pastorius Park. She was a founder of Friends of Pastorius Park and a life-long supporter of the park and many other institutions in Chestnut Hill.
By David R. Contosta
Throughout her life, Quita Woodward Horan acted quietly and persistently to preserve the natural and built environments of Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood, where she was born and lived throughout her life. She died on April 5, at age 86, following a long illness. She was the daughter of Philadelphia civic activist Charles Woodward and Elizabeth Prioleau Gadsden Woodward, originally of Charleston, South Carolina.
Quita inherited her somewhat
unusual name, a Spanish diminutive meaning “little one” — at least for an
English-speaking family — from an aunt as well as from an even earlier relative
with the same name, whose naval officer father may have heard it in a port
where Spanish was spoken.
Among Quita’s impressive legacies was
her dedication, as president of the Woodward House Corporation, to preserving
the unique, planned development on the West Side of Chestnut Hill. The
development was begun by her great-grandfather Henry Howard Houston, an officer
of the Pennsylvania Railroad and multifaceted Victorian era entrepreneur; and
continued by her grandparents, George and Gertrude Houston Woodward. Originally
known as Wissahickon Heights because of its setting above the scenic
Wissahickon Gorge of Fairmount Park, the development later became known as St.
Martin’s after the nearby church of the same name. Somewhat unusual for such
developments at the time, Houston and then the Woodwards rented the residential
properties, a practice that continues for some of the houses to the present day.
As it evolved, Wissahickon Heights/St. Martin’s took on many characteristics of the late 19th-century English Garden City movement, complete with a greenbelt represented by the wooded Wissahickon Valley bordering the development to the west, and a commuter rail line that linked the community to Center City Philadelphia some 10 miles away. Houses that the Woodwards commissioned during the first three decades of the 20th century were largely in English and French vernacular styles and included a Cotswold Village and a French Village, as well as impressive landscapes designed by the Olmstead Brothers.
Quita was the driving force in
founding the Friends of Pastorius Park, which restored and has continued to
enhance this green space in Chestnut Hill, where concerts take place every
summer. In addition, she supported and generously funded the open space and
architectural preservation programs of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy. She
extended her commitment to open space preservation by placing a conservation
easement with the National Lands Trust on the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s golf
course in Chestnut Hill, which she owned with her brother George—on land
directly abutting Wissahickon Park.
Longtime residents of the local
community may remember the “The Lunchbox,” a restaurant that Quita opened in
the mid-1950s as a very popular contribution to the revival of Chestnut Hill’s
commercial district along Germantown Avenue.
Quita attended Miss Zara’s School
and the Springside School, both in Chestnut Hill, and afterwards the Ashley
Hall Preparatory School in Charleston, the Westover School in Middlebury,
Connecticut, and Briercliffe College in Bethpage, New York. Later she enjoyed
classes in the Continuing Education Division at Chestnut Hill College.
A close friend reflected on the
time she was introduced to Quita: “I first met
her over 30 years ago when I was a young and naive Social VP of the Chestnut
Hill Community Association. She was so kind, funny and a gentle force for
getting things done, a true role model and a most lovely person. … Chestnut
Hill will miss an inspiring, generous citizen.”
Quita is survived by her brother
George Woodward, son Charles “Chuck” Woodward, daughter-in-law Anna Cooke
Woodward, and granddaughter Hayes.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Friends of Pastorius Park. A private burial will take place.
David Contosta is a professor of
history at Chestnut Hill College. He has authored many books about Chestnut
Hill and its history, including “A Philadelphia Family: The Houstons and the
Woodwards of Chestnut Hill.”
Jane
Becker, a longtime Chestnut Hill resident, educator, and advocate for youth
died at Foulkeways at Gwynedd on Saturday, April 11. She was 88.
Born
in Germantown, Mrs. Becker and her husband, Dick Becker, moved to Chestnut Hill
in 1954. Mrs. Becker had a distinguished career as an elementary school teacher
in the Philadelphia Public Schools, much of it at the John Story Jenks School
in Chestnut Hill. A reading specialist, she received her bachelor’s degree from
West Chester University and her master’s degree from Arcadia University.
Mrs.
Becker was a lifelong advocate for youth, particularly in the Chestnut Hill
area. After her retirement, Mrs. Becker wanted to continue working with young
people. In 1996, she and Mr. Becker were instrumental in reestablishing Teens
Inc. as a gathering place for local teens as well as a resource for leadership,
community service, and tutoring.
In 2004, she came up with the idea of hosting “A Taste of
Chestnut Hill” as a fundraiser for Teens Inc. featuring foods from area
restaurants, bakeries, and farmers’ markets.
In
recognition of their work with Teens Inc. and their contributions to Chestnut
Hill, Mr. and Mrs. Becker were awarded the Chestnut Hill Award by the Chestnut
Hill Community Association. Teens Inc. has also established The Richard and Jane Becker
Alumnus Service Award, which is given to an outstanding alum who has continued
to serve with Teens, Inc. and work tirelessly to help elevate its operation
into their post Teens Inc. years.
She
is survived by her children, Richard Becker and Ann Marie Gross and
grandchildren Alex Becker, Jake Gross, and Lillianna Gross. Funeral services
will be held at Our Mother of Consolation Church once the pandemic has
subsided.
Ethel (Babbie) Benson Nalle
Wetherill died Tuesday, April 14, at the Mather House at the Hill at
Whitemarsh, Lafayette Hill, of complications from advanced COPD. She was 95.
Born at home on Bethlehem
Pike in Chestnut Hill, on January 6, 1925, she was the daughter of Edwin N.
Benson Jr. and Ethel Weightman Benson. Her paternal grandfather, Major Edwin
North Benson, presided over the Electoral College that elected James Garfield as
president in 1880. Although she was not his financial heir, her maternal
great-grandfather was William Weightman, once Philadelphia’s wealthiest industrialist,
a founder of the malaria-curing quinine producer, Powers & Weightman, which
through later mergers became Merck & Company.
Benson was educated at Miss
Zara’s School and Springside School. She enrolled at Vermont’s Bennington
College where she discovered her dance teacher was Martha Graham and her
faculty advisor was poet Theodore Roethke. “I couldn’t dance well enough for
Martha. I didn’t understand Mr. Roethke, and he couldn’t understand me,” she
later said.
Prior to marriage, Benson
found herself romanced by patricians, politicians and a film producer. On a
1940s ski trip with a friend, she drew the attention of Italian fashion
designer Emilio Pucci, who photographed her modeling his ski apparel and
prototype bikinis.
Politically, she mostly voted
Democratic, yet immersed herself in a grass roots campaign for Republican
Wendell Willkie’s 1940 presidential run.
A sportswoman, she rode
horses as a child in the Wissahickon Valley and in Flourtown.
She was avid, lifelong
baseball fan and at a young age opportunistically purchased shares in the
Philadelphia Phillies, which later swapped her equity for cash, and a prized
lifetime stadium pass.
But Benson’s greatest sports
accomplishments were in golf. As a player, she won the Sunnybrook Golf
Championship 13 times. On the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy website, a
Sunnybrook representative calls her “one of the finest players in the
Philadelphia region. In fact, she has
been the club champion here over six decades, and we are mighty proud of her…”
In a grueling 36-hole links
battle against Annette Coar Gessler (Kane) in 1953, broadcast over local radio,
Benson won the 54th Annual Women’s Philadelphia Golf Championship at age 26. After
her win, Wilson Sporting Goods offered to sponsor her as a professional. She also covered a number of tournaments as a
reporter for Gold World.
She temporarily sidelined
competitive golf, however, when her beau, Philadelphia advertising executive
Horace Nalle (1922-1999), returned home from the Korean War. The two became engaged in a boat adrift off
Northeast Harbor, Maine, and were married at St. Paul’s Church in October of 1953.
Over the next two decades, she and
Horace raised five children on the three-acre land on which she was born.
An advocate of inner-city
learning, Benson served on the board of North Philadelphia’s Wharton Center,
which once provided neighborhood social welfare, recreational and community
services. She also helped underprivileged
children learn to read.
When her own children started
leaving for college in the early 1970s, Benson earned a real estate degree and
began selling homes for Eichler & Moffly Realtors, now Berkshire Hathaway
Home Services Fox & Roach. She was also active in Planned Parenthood of
Southeastern Pennsylvania and the American Cancer Society.
She was a devoted parishioner
at nearby St. Paul’s Church, where she was baptized in 1925 and married in
1953. She published that church’s
Women’s Auxiliary “how-to” book, “Knit
One.” Active as a parent at both
Springside and Chestnut Hill Academy, she was also a member of the Northeast
Harbor Golf Club, Northeast Harbor Tennis Club and St. Mary’s-By-The-Sea in
Maine. She regularly attended performances of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1999, she married former
Philadelphia Stock Exchange President and WHYY Chairman Elkins Wetherill
(1919-2011). Together they enjoyed global travel and equestrian activities when
she moved to his farm in Plymouth Meeting. Soon after Mr. Wetherill’s death,
she moved to The Hill at Whitemarsh.
She was predeceased by
brothers Perry, Richard and Peter Benson; two husbands, Horace Disston Nalle,
Elkins Wetherill; and a baby daughter.
Mrs. Wetherill is survived by
her five children by Horace Nalle: television producer Ned Nalle (Karen),
animal health care investor, and advisor Horace D. Nalle (Patricia), Kurfiss
Sotheby’s Sales Associate Ellen Nalle Hass (Jay), Financial Advisor Alexander
B. Nalle (Alison), and writer Lucinda Nalle.
She is also outlived by three stepchildren: Elkins Jr. (Eve), Alexandra
W. Gerry, and Stephen H. Wetherill (Susan). She was devoted to her 14
grandchildren, Sarah, Henry, and Alexander Nalle Jr. of San Francisco; Garrick
Hyde-White, Isabella and Griffin Nalle, and Charlotte Hass of Los Angeles; John
Hass, Peter and Nina Nalle of New York City; James and Benson Nalle, Robert
Hass, and Anna Weed of Chestnut Hill. She leaves behind seven step-grandchildren
and eight step-great grand-children; in addition to nieces Marion Benson Miller
of Chestnut Hill, Ethel Benson Wister of Berwyn, and nephew Perry Benson Jr. of
Philadelphia.
The family indicates it will
hold a celebration of life ceremony when conditions permit.
In lieu of flowers, they
suggest a contribution to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, the Neighborhood
Scholars’ Fund, 500 W. Willow Grove Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118.
Ella King Russell Torrey, 94, a 51-year resident of Chestnut
Hill, a former U.S. delegate to the United Nations and passionate activist,
died at Chestnut Hill Hospital due to complications from the coronavirus on
April 14. She lived at Cathedral Village in Roxborough for 15 years.
Known as Ella, she was born in Philadelphia on August 7,
1925. She was the eldest daughter of Norman F.S. Russell and Ella D. Eisenbrey
Russell. She grew up in Edgewater Park, N.J. and graduated from the Moorestown
Friends School and the Agnes Irwin School.
After graduation, she and her friend decided to go to New
York and try out for the Rockettes. They told her to go home and work on her
wings (a tap dance move done on your toes). Then, they would hire her.
The following week her father took her to visit Bennington
College in Vermont, where Martha Graham taught ballet and modern dance.
In March 1944, the unthinkable happened. Just three weeks
before she began her studies at Bennington College, her 20-year-old brother
Louis, a Marine Air Corps fighter pilot, was shot down trying to rescue a buddy
who had disappeared in the Pacific Ocean.
“This was when Ella decided war was not the answer, and
she wanted to dedicate her life to peace, diplomacy and international
relations,” said her daughter Elizabeth Torrey.
After graduating from Bennington College with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1947, she studied English at The University of Pennsylvania. However, just weeks away from earning her master’s degree, she decided to move to France where she got a job as a fashion editor at the Chicago Tribune bureau in Paris. Shortly after, she became an editor at Al Misri, then Egypt’s largest newspaper.
“She was one step closer to her interest in the United
Nations, which, in Paris at the time, was dealing with the Arab-Israeli
issue,” her daughter Elizabeth said
When she returned home in 1949, she got a job working at the U.S. Mission to the U.N., a branch of the State Department in New York. Later, she was named Public Information Officer for Eleanor Roosevelt, who had been appointed by President Truman as a U.S. Delegate to the United Nations.
As an information officer, she wrote secret and unclassified
reports on all of the Security Council, General Assembly and U.N. Committee
meetings, which were sent to agencies and embassies overseas to help formulate
U.S. policies.
Torrey said Roosevelt had an incredibly good sense of humor.
“The delegates would often say our meetings are too long, and she would often
say in her quiet little way, ‘Well, if you want to have shorter meetings, make
shorter speeches.’”
After Mrs. Roosevelt left the U.N., Torrey worked for U.N.
Rep. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
In 1954, she married Carl “Buzz” Torrey, and they moved to
Cambridge, Mass. After moving to Bethlehem, PA, she became director of local
World Affairs Councils and started model United Nations programs for area high
school students. Her final move with her husband and four children was to
Chestnut Hill in 1969. As the community affairs director of the World Affairs
Council, she helped people understand cultural differences by leading numerous
trips to the Soviet Union, China, and Nepal.
From 1977 -1987, she was the executive director of the International Visitors Council (IVC), now known as Citizen Diplomacy International, a nonprofit organization devoted to cultural exchange and understanding. Under her leadership, she grew IVC to serve more than 4,000 international visitors a year who were seeking business, cultural and government connections in the Philadelphia region.
During her tenure she also launched a successful telephone hotline language bank, staffed by volunteers, which provided translation services in more than 30 languages to the Philadelphia community.
Torrey retired in 1988, but she remained passionate about human rights, foreign affairs, education and the environment. She focused her time on volunteer activities as a board member and activist.
Sarah West, a former Friends of the Wissahickon board member
and resident of Cathedral Village, said it was under Torrey’s leadership, FOW
restored Valley Green Inn. “She always encouraged others to make a
difference,” she said. “She never really retired; she kept
contributing to whatever community she was in. Even in her 90s, she was still
engaging with life.”
Torrey was a founding member of the Philadelphia Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of Global Philadelphia. She was a member of the board of the Chamonix Youth Hostel and a long-time supporter of the Chestnut Hill Library.
In 2015, she received the U.N. Human Rights Hero Award from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. for 50 years of service to global peace and equality. During the ceremonies, Torrey recalled how on “December 10, 1948, at 3 a.m., All the delegates rose to give a standing ovation to a single delegate, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was unanimously passed. Mrs. Roosevelt used to always say, ‘that you find yourself by serving others.’”
She is survived by her son L. Russell Torrey, her daughter Elizabeth P. Torrey and six grandsons. She was preceded in death by her sister, Grace R. Wheeler, her brother Norman F.S. Russell, Jr., her daughter Ella King Torrey, her husband Carl “Buzz” Torrey and her oldest son Carl G. Torrey, Jr.
A memorial service will be held at a future date at Cathedral Village. Contributions may be made to the Ella Russell Torrey, 47′ Scholarship Fund, Bennington College, One College Drive, Bennington, VT 95201.
Luke A. Marano, Sr. of Philadelphia, died at Foulkeways in Gwynedd
on April 21. He was 94 years old.
Marano was the first son of Vincent and Antoinette Marano.
He was born and raised in Chestnut Hill. Growing up, he worked at Caruso’s Market,
a multigenerational family business in Chestnut Hill (where Weavers Way
Chestnut Hill is today). It was there that he developed his intense love of
work and entrepreneurial spirit. Ever the dedicated worker, Marano continued to
work until his 93rd birthday
The opportunity to test himself as a businessman came in
1960, when he purchased his family’s troubled Philadelphia Macaroni Company
(PMC). Wise investments in raw materials and a timely government contract gave
life to the business that he loved. Luke’s ability to innovate contributed to
new opportunities with global food companies, resulting in the growth of his
business.
The ability to adapt to change and be creative became the
distinguishing characteristics of his company and kept it thriving. At 73, Luke
began Minot Milling, a specialty flour milling business and part of PMC that he
considered to be the “jewel” in his business crown. In 2014, PMC further
distinguished Luke’s leadership by celebrating 100 years as a family-owned
business.
The National Pasta Association (NPA), an industry group that
Marano worked with to advance the promotion and safeguarding of pasta, was a
focal point in his life. He understood the importance of being a steward and
was dedicated to developing a healthy industry resulting in his election to
Chairman of the NPA. The Association provided him the opportunity to travel the
world and realize the promotion of pasta worldwide. This led to the creation of
the International Pasta Organization and his proudest achievement of being
awarded National Pasta Association “Pasta Man of the Year” in 1992.
In his private life, Marano was married to Yolanda Lombardi
Marano for 54 years and the couple had seven children. As a father, he was
incredibly supportive and wanted the best for his children. He stressed the
importance of integrity and the futility in taking shortcuts. He was direct
with his guidance and generous with forgiveness. After Yolanda’s death, Marano
created a life with his fiancée Claire Dickson in a loving relationship lasting
more than 17 years.
Although Marano suffered from dementia in the last two
years, he was always able to celebrate his family’s success and good fortune
with pride, happiness and gratitude.
He is survived by Dickson, his children: Lucy Sandifer
(Andrew DeCicco), Lisa, Stephanie Stabert (William), Luke (Cynthia), Mark and
Mia. He also is survived by 15 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, his
brother, Joseph Marano. He was predeceased by his wife, Yolanda and his
daughter, Suzanne Urban (William) his sister Mary Reiss and brother Vincent
Marano.
Due to the unprecedented times, a memorial service will be scheduled once social distancing rules allow it. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: Our Mother of Consolation, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave, Philadelphia, PA, 19118. (In memory of Luke A. Marano, Sr.)
Karl H. Spaeth of
Conshohocken died on April 11 of natural causes. He was 91.
Spaeth was born
in Philadelphia on March 12, 1929, the third son of Lena Link and Edmund B.
Spaeth. He grew up in Germantown.
Spaeth was educated
at Germantown Friends School, Haverford College, Oxford University, and Harvard
Law School. Later he studied music at the Plymouth (MA.) Music School, and the
Salzburg Mozarteum.
He started
his career as a lawyer in private practice with a Philadelphia law firm, but
within a few years moved into corporate practice, serving as counsel for foreign
operations at Scott Paper Company, followed by nearly 30 years as vice
president, corporate secretary, and chief legal officer of Quaker Chemical
Corporation.
Spaeth served
for many years as chairman of the section on international and comparative law
of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and as chairman of the Pennsylvania
Chemical Industry Council.
He served on
active duty with the U.S. Navy for five years as a line officer then switched
to the Judge Advocate General’s corps after law school and remained active in
the reserve forces until retiring after more than 21 years of service with the
rank of Commander.
In addition
to his professional career, Spaeth remained active with numerous non-profit
organizations. Serving twice as a church vestryman, chairman of the board of
Chestnut Hill Academy, executive secretary and later chairman of the
Philadelphia Committee on Foreign Relations, an overseer of the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, a director of the Opera
Company of Philadelphia, founding chairman of what now is the Bach Festival of
Philadelphia, a director of the Settlement Music School and chairman of the
Germantown Branch, chairman of the Quaker Chemical Foundation, and as a director
and secretary of the German Society of Pennsylvania, for which he also served
as the chair for the society’s music committee.
Karl was not
only a Renaissance man but a very gifted athlete. In his younger years he was a
state champion fencer, accomplished figure skater and an All American soccer
player, a sport he continued to participate in until he was 50.
He was a
member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, where he also enjoyed
playing tennis, paddle tennis and golf. He loved skiing, sailing and took up rowing
later in life with his wife, Ann, as a member of the University Barge Club.
He is
survived by his three sons, Karl Henry Spaeth Jr, Edmund Alexander Spaeth, Christopher
Philip Spaeth and his brother George Link Spaeth. He has nine grandchildren: Emma,
Hannah, Lauren, Martha, Gunner, Collin, Phoebe, Dirk and Lily.
In lieu of
flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the German Society of
Philadelphia at 611 Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123. Services will be determined at a later
date.
Norton A. Kent, 96, formerly of Chestnut Hill, a city
planner and longtime community volunteer, died April 26 of complications of the
coronavirus at Foulkeways in Gwynedd.
Mr. Kent’s
career as a city planner took him to positions in Minneapolis
and St. Paul, Minnesota,
and Norwalk, Connecticut,
in addition to projects in Philadelphia and Chester County.
Mr. Kent’s
daughter Stacy Kent Wyckoff said the project her father was most proud of was
“being able to persuade the Twin Cities to integrate public housing throughout
the cities rather than isolating the poorer populations there.”
“This was in the early 60s,” she said, “so not a concept
that was widely explored at the time.”
The son of Jewish immigrants from Russia, he learned his father’s
trade as a builder. During World War II, he joined the Army as a response, his
daughter said, to what was happening in Germany. After leaving the service, he
earned an undergraduate degree in architecture and a master’s degree in city
planning from the University
of Pennsylvania, where he
met his future wife.
Mr. Kent
was long active in the community. He served as a 9th Ward Democratic
Committeeperson for many years, was a board member of the Chestnut Hill
Community Association and the Water Tower Recreation Center, and was a
volunteer at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.
An avid reader, he was often reading three to five books at
one time. He enjoyed carpentry, woodworking and painting.
Wyckoff
added: “He loved the mountains. He loved the beach. He loved people and he read
them well. He loved women, He loved vodka. He loved to dance. He loved his
family, passionately.”
In addition to his daughter Stacy, he is survived by
daughter Martha Kent Martin; and five grandchildren. He was preceded in death
by his wife of 56 years, the former Barbara Bruce; and a brother Oscar.
A celebration of Mr. Kent’s life is planned for the
future. – WF
Sally Gendler, a resident of Chestnut Hill, died on April 22
at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, due to complications Secondary
Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She was 60.
Gendler was born in Hamden, Conn. to Jean and Robert
Adnopoz. She graduated from the Hopkins
Day Prospect School in New Haven, Conn and Dartmouth College, where she was a
member of both the varsity lacrosse team and Sigma Kappa sorority. She graduated
in 1982.
Following college, Gendler began a career in television. She
worked for ABC’s Wide World of Sports as a production assistant, covering
Monday Night Football, college football, the Professional Golf Association Tour
and two Olympics. After her job with ABC, she was hired as a production
assistant by The Television Workshop to work on the PBS children’s show “3-2-1
Contact.”
Gendler left television production, to pursue an ED.M and
M.S. in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan.
Gendler met her husband, Steven, in 1987 while the two were
stranded during an ice storm in New Haven. Steven was on a business trip and
was invited to the home of Sally’s father. After they were married, Steven and
Sally held the reception at Sally’s parents’ home where they had stayed during
the storm. The couple moved to Philadelphia in 1989, and Sally began a career
in early child education, first at United Cerebral Palsy in Chestnut Hill and then
at Children’s Seashore House in New Jersey and later at the Hall Mercer Child
and Parent Center of Pennsylvania Hospital.
Working and raising two daughters didn’t prevent Gendler
from donating a great deal of time to numerous volunteer activities. She served
as the Greene Towne School Board President in 1997 and was a member of the film
selection committee of the Greater Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival. She was
also a volunteer at the Morris Arboretum where she was an education guide and a
co-chair of the arboretum’s 2019 Moonlight & Roses gala.
Gendler was also active in the Garden Club of Philadelphia,
where she played multiple roles and won numerous awards, among them the Dorothy
Sims Keith Award for Shows Participation and Stimulation of Horticulture
Interest, The Heckscher Bowl for Horticulture and the Peggy Dilks Award for
Exhibition. She was a Chair of Competitive Classes at the Philadelphia Flower
Show, in which she loved participating and winning blue ribbons. Sally volunteered for the Pennsylvania
Horticulture Society for many years and also worked there.
Sally was a Judging Candidate for Horticulture; Garden Club
of America. She held a Master Gardeners’ Certificate from Penn State Extension
Philadelphia County. When she could no
longer garden safely, she used her talent to produce a striking series of
botanical illustrations to help escape the rigors of leukemia treatment cycles.
She honed her love of travel and culinary adventure while working at
Robertson’s Travel and through a Post Graduate Certificate in Culinary Arts
from the Arts Institute of Philadelphia.
Before she became ill, Gendler combined her love of early
childhood education with her passion for gardening and horticulture. She created
a program called Cooking from the Garden: Seed to Table that she implemented
with the staff at the Mount Airy Recreation Center aka Mt. Airy Playground. This after school program taught students at
the Center (or Playground) to propagate vegetables and herbs from seed, care
for the crops, and team together to use the weekly sequenced harvests to
prepare a meal with an international flavor for themselves and their families. The
program gained national attention and Gendler was selected by the American
Horticultural Society’s National Children and Youth Garden Symposium to present
the program at its national conference.
Gendler is survived by her husband, Steve Gendler,
daughters, Liza Gendler and Abigail Gendler, brother Stephen Adnopoz, parents
Jean and Robert Adnopoz and nieces Kara, Dana and Hayley Adnopoz. The family will hold a celebration of life
when conditions permit.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Sailing Heals (sailingheals.org); Morris Arboretum (www.morrisarboretum.org); or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS.org)
Christopher Madison Turman
III died of natural causes on April 24, at his home in Chestnut Hill. He was
85.
Turman was the President
and CEO of Morris Wheeler, & Co. Inc., a leading Philadelphia steel
company, which for 175 years was owned and operated by his family—one of
America’s longest continuously family-run businesses. Morris Wheeler
steel supports William Penn’s statue atop city hall, the roof of Independence
Hall, the fence around Christ Church and many other important historic
business, government and cultural landmarks across the Delaware Valley.
He was the son of the late
Dr. Christopher M. Turman Jr., longtime head of obstetrics and gynecology at
both Abington Memorial and Germantown Hospitals and champion amateur golfer and
athlete, Elisabeth Flower Morris Turman.
Born in Philadelphia, Turman grew up and lived at his grandfather
Frederick Wistar Morris, Jr.’s homestead, Valley Farm, at Church Road and
Washington Lane, in Wyncote. His grandmother,
Sophia Starr Morris, died as a result of volunteering with the Red Cross during
the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.
He lived with his wife,
raising a family together, at his current and beloved residence in Chestnut
Hill for nearly 50 years.
Turman attended Germantown
Friends School through the eighth grade. In 1953, he graduated from
Woodbury Forrest School in Virginia and followed his father in attending the University
of Virginia, earning a BA in 1957. He was a member of Delta Phi Fraternity.
As a freshman varsity
college wrestler, Turman suffered a career-ending injury in a pre-season match
against Gallaudet University, the nation’s preeminent university for the Deaf
and Hard of Hearing. In an ironic twist of fate, Turman dedicated 31
years to volunteer service to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community as a
member of the Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (PSD),
the last six, as its chairman and CEO. He was among a group credited with
relocating the campus and significantly expanding its programs and outreach,
thereby impacting a generation of Philadelphia’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing
community
Turman also served on the
boards of Germantown Hospital, the Mid-Atlantic Steel Service Center Institute,
the Allegheny West Foundation and Springside School (now known as Springside
Chestnut Hill Academy). He was active in his later life as a volunteer at the
Philadelphia Free Library’s Chestnut Hill Branch.
Turman was a tireless
fundraiser for charities, raising millions of dollars over his lifetime and
often joked about people seeing him and crossing the street to avoid a
solicitation. An avid reader, he was also an accomplished sailor, a
hunter, lifelong fan of Philadelphia sports and even a Nantucket Lightship
Basket weaver. He could often be found on the streets of Chestnut Hill
walking his white, black and red poodles.
His extensive charitable
work was recognized by both the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles, the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, PSD, Germantown Hospital,
among many others.
Turman is survived by
Molly Cornelius Turman, his wife of 55 years; daughter Elizabeth “Binney”
Turman Granade and her husband Erik Granade, son Tim Turman and his wife Wendy
Deats Turman; son Christopher “Friffer” Turman IV; grandchildren Grace Granade
Riley and husband Tim Riley, Eliza Granade, and Madison Turman; his sister
Elisabeth “Betsy” Ervin and brother-in-law Robert Ervin; and dedicated longtime
caregiver, Florence Parker. James Morris
Turman, his younger brother, predeceased him.
A memorial service will be
held at a later date. In this pandemic time of dire need to drive hunger
from our community, donations in his memory can be made to Philabundance, attn:
Turman Memorial, 3616 S. Galloway St, Philadelphia, PA
19148.
