Top photo: Merry Christmas from Leader’s Sunoco. Jim Leader, far left, hosts his 30th Christmas Eve open house at the gas station on Route 1 at Creek Road in Chadds Ford village.
• The Kennett Area Senior Center’s Walnut Street Café Community Breakfast will be offered on Monday, Jan. 4 from 7 to 9 a.m. Please join us for a fabulous meal including a variety of choices including: scrambled eggs, home fries, sausage, bacon, sausage gravy and biscuits, and omelets made to order. All breakfasts include juice, fruit, coffee, tea and milk. The price is $5.75 for members and $6.75 for non-members.
• The MLK CommUNITY of Greater Kennett will hold its 15th annual MLK Jr. CommUNITY Breakfast on Monday, Jan. 18. This year’s program includes inspirational readings, music led by Leon Spencer and the CommUNITY Choir, a display of relevant books, and keynote speaker, Elder Jerry F. Poe, on the theme “We Hold These Truths.” The breakfast will be held at the Red Clay Room in Kennett Square, beginning at 8 a.m. Tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance, either online at www.mlkcommunity.org or by calling 610-444-4357. Proceeds from the Breakfast support initiatives of the MLK Advocates and MLK CommUNITY scholarships to Camp Cadet and local high school graduates.
• A swearing-in ceremony for elected officials in Chester County is scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 3, at 2 p.m. at the Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall, Philips Memorial Building, West Chester University. Taking the oath of office will be Commissioners Terence Farrell, Michelle Kichline and Kathi Cozzone, District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan, Sheriff Carolyn Bunny Welsh, Prothonotary Matt Holliday, Register of Wills Terri Clark, Recorder of Deeds Rick Loughery and Magisterial District Judges Gregory Hines and Marian Thayer Vito.
• The Kennett Symphony of Chester County will sponsor its annual Instrumental Competition for Young Artists on Saturday, April 23 at 1 pm at the Kendal at Longwood Auditorium in Kennett Square. The competition is limited to 16 gifted young musicians in grades 9 to 12, each of whom will perform a classical composition or movement of a larger work for solo instrument and orchestra. The auditions are open to the public and are free of charge. A panel of professional musicians will judge the competition. Three prizes will be awarded. First prize provides a $500 cash award and the opportunity for a solo performance with the Kennett Symphony, second prize is $300, and third prize is $100. For further information, contact the Kennett Symphony office at 610-444-6363.
Local artists recall gifts that inspired them as children
When we search for that perfect gift for our children, do you ever wonder what gift they will remember the most? Whether it is the gift of an experience or something purchased, a gift can be the catalyst to discovering a life’s passion. I asked some local successful artists what gift they received when they were young that inspired them creatively, and what gift they would like to receive now.
Renown furniture maker Doug Mooberry recalls his most inspirational gift, “My first grade teacher gave me a bag full of different color construction paper and lots of extra art supplies she had around the classroom. 45 years later I was able to thank her and tell her that I was still making use of my creative
energies that she had helped. She lives at Kendal. It is the little pushes that you never know where they will lead…”
Doug’s incredible furniture showroom and studio are located in the small town of Unionville. Make an appointment or stop in to walk through the gallery of fine furniture. The experience is a one on one encounter with timeless craftsmanship.
Jeff Schaller, internationally famous for his encaustic paintings of beautiful women, said that the gift he desired most as a child was an airbrush.. “Growing up, I always attended car shows with my dad. I would spend countless hours watching Big Ed Daddy Roth pinstripe a car or a vendor wield an airbrush with such precision and grace. At the age of 12, I wanted Santa to bring me one of those tools of air accuracy. It was like a hand held graffiti pistol but legal and better yet if you used it on a t-shirt so you could get money for it.
Remember, this was the early 80’s so there was no photoshop, so if you wanted to highlight a photo you had to use an airbrush to do all those fancy angular fades in the neon colors popular at the time. I wanted in! Christmas morning I ran to the tree to spy any box that was smaller than a shirt box and wide enough to house my airbrush…nothing. I tore through my presents ungratefully and came upon the last wrapped box that my mom had handed me. It was definitely a shirt box. At the age of 12 you have this keen sense to decipher between clothes and fun stuff. I reluctantly grabbed it and startedto unwrap it, clearing the tissue paper aside, there it was, disguised as clothing – my AIRBRUSH! …
Many jean jackets have been adorned with that magical instrument, and many t-shirts were painted to help pay my way through college. Recently I took it back out to add as under-painting in my encaustic work.”
Local architect, Wayne Simpson, remembered receiving a set of wooden blocks in his childhood. “I was given wooden blocks as a child after I threw a fit in Kindergarten because it wasn’t my turn to play with the blocks!” On his wish list for this year is, “I am getting excited about all the new software allowing digital sketching right on your handheld device…”. Examples of Wayne’s beautiful, unique houses can be seen throughout the East Coast.
Painter David Katz would really love “Quality brushes that actually last and work as promised”, and he says that the best gift of childhood advice was when his Kindergarten teacher told his mother, “Put a pencil or paint brush in David’s hand.”
Artist and Delaware Valley Art League President Jeanne Gunther remembers being inspired by a gift of praise, “I received a gift of praise from my teacher regarding my drawing/painting skills when I was just in the fourth grade (my class was working on a “Under the Sea” mural at the time). Mr. Orlando’s kind words made me feel very special – which in turn inspired me to continue to make art every chance I had. Of course at that age my medium of choice was Crayola Crayons!”
Assemblage sculptor Brian Marshall, best known for his Adopt-a-Bots, has “vintage spicetins” and “aluminum measuring spoons” on his holiday wish list. Brian says that “legos” were his hands-down favorite, “Legos would be the toy that started my creativity when I was a kid.” Brian is a Middle School teacher at Charles F Patton Middle School and has a strong following for his one-of a kind robot creations; which can be found at The Merchant of Menace re-imaginers gallery in the historic village of Marshallton, in West Chester.
Painter David Oleski would like a gift of “A Mac Pro with a 12 core processor and 40 gigs of RAM, because only then will I know true happiness.” David recalls a wonderful gift from his father, “My father sat me down with a straightedge and taught me all about one-point perspective. Ever since then I’ve been a master of everything I see. I think I was 7 or 8 at the time.” David regularly shows in exhibitions all over the country, heads up the new Downingtown Fine Art Festival, and will be a featured studio on the Chester County Studio Tour this Spring.
Sculptor Jill Beech would love to have a new wooden mallet. Currently she is working on creating large sculptural “pods” made from steel frame and pulverized Kozo root. I would like “a really good mallet for pounding/hammering Kozo – my current sledge hammer is rather heavy and the wooden “hammer” is not the best- though both ensure a great arm workout!! (or maybe just degeneration of the joints)” she adds. Looking back on childhood gifts, Jill remarks, “nothing specific stands out except seeminglyalways having pencils and paper available for drawing… children’s books with wonderful illustrations and time for imagining and drawing/doodling.” Jill recently finished her extremely popular studio open house, and has work at Mala Galleria in Kennett Square.
Ceramic artist Rhoda Kahler said that the “gift I would love to receive this Christmas, would be new elements for my kiln…..my kiln is firing so incredibly slow that I know the elements are shot. I would love if they would magically appear on Christmas morning!” The most important gift for her as a child was a ball of yarn, “I realized that if I had a ball of yarn I could knit or crochet all my Barbie doll clothes and create everything for my doll houses (at the early age of eight)… I knitted and crocheted all their clothes too…..legwarmers, skirts, hats, chaps, rugs for the floor of the dollhouse (which was actually just a bookcase) and I took the books off and created it into a dollhouse… with hanging curtains, room dividers, chandeliers… All knitted and crocheted and some sewn…” Rhoda’s fine ceramic work is currently showing at the Red Raven Art Company in Lancaster, the upcoming “Contrast” show at The Art Trust in West Chester, and in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion Invitational Exhibition.
Echoing the desire of a few other 3-D artists that I know of, wood sculptor John Rush would most like to receive a forge. He writes, “The art supply that I would like to receive now would be a forge. I started working in metal three years ago and I want to twist metal as I do wood. Think sculpture Stan Smokler” I love metal and wood!….My ah hah moment hands down was in 1984 at The Wharton Eshrick Museum. It was when I understood I could actually manipulate wood into any shape I could imagine.
Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Associated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square.
So far this year, more than 16,600 motorists have benefitted from PennDOT’s State Farm Safety Patrol, according to a PennDOT.
PennDOT’s State Farm Safety Patrol assists motorists in need.
The patrol, for which nearly 11 percent of the cost is offset by a public-private partnership (P3) sponsorship with State Farm insurance, is a roving safety patrol offering free motorist assistance on select expressways in the Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh regions. The patrol assists motorists with towing, jump-starts, flat tire repair, and more on all or portions of heavily traveled roads during the business week, a PennDOT press release said.
“These patrols offer a valuable service for drivers in need, while also helping to reduce congestion and potential safety hazards,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said in the release. “Our partnership with State Farm allows us to continue this service while reducing costs.”
The sponsorship with State Farm Insurance helps PennDOT offset the roughly $4 million annual cost to operate the service. In 2014, the patrols assisted 22,281 motorists, the release said.
PennDOT statistics for 2015 show that 11,375 drivers received assists through September while 13,943 assists occurred in 2014. The regional roadways that feature the service include Interstates 76, 476 and 676, as well as Routes 1, 30, 202, 422, 63 and 309.
Motorists who benefitted from the patrol are invited to share their stories on social media using the hashtag #AssistPatrol or complete a survey at www.AssistPatrol.com.
Santa had a little help getting some Christmas gifts to Peggy DeShields and her four grandsons of Oxford. That help came in the form of Tpr. Samantha Minnucci and other troopers from Troop J, Avondale barracks, of the Pennsylvania State Police.
According to Minnucci, the troopers, along with Walmart and Camp Cadet — the troop’s summer camp program for kids whose families couldn’t otherwise afford to give their kids a camp experience — chipped in a total of $1,500.
She said Walmart donated $1,000, while Camp Cadet kicked in $200 and troopers at the barracks raised another $300. The money went to buy gifts for five needy families, among them were the DeShields.
“I appreciate the troop’s help,” Peggy DeShields said.
Minnucci said it was her pleasure.
“We want you to know we care,” Minnucci said.
Another trooper had some contact with the family and told Minnucci their story. It was her decision on which families were to get the gifts.
The gifts were mostly necessities, clothes and toiletries for the older grandsons, and crayons and some wipes for the 2-year-old.
“We hope that the presents will not only provide the children with essential items, (clothes, hats and gloves and body wash) but also show them that the police care about them. We don’t forget them after we get that 911 phone call or after the week-long summer camp. Those relationships remain with us. We are here to support and the serve the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Minnucci said.
There was a point of irony in DeShields’ family being chosen. Peggy DeShields, 69, just received her GED a few years ago, then went on to get an associate’s degree and is now working on getting a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
She said she wants to get her master’s degree and then go to work as an investigator.
(Photo: Tpr. Samantha Minnucci with Peggy DeShields and her four grandsons after Minnucci played Santa’s helper.)
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
