Jeanne D. Kennedy, 90, formerly of Landenberg, deid peacefully on Aug. 3, surrounded by her loving family. Jeanne leaves behind her five daughters, Edith ‘Micki’ Weidlein (Philip), Virginia Kennedy, Donna Norris (Lee), Debra Crom (Robert), Peggy Krygier (Kenneth), former daughter-in-law, Judith Fellman, and Skipper’s longtime companion, Kathleen O’Brien.
She is also survived by her grandchildren, Cheryl Stewart, Thomas Hogate, Philisa Weidlein-Crist, Krista Taylor, Nichole Kennedy, Brittany Petrucci, John La Forte, Joseph Owens, Julia Nutter, Chase Pickeral, Chad Crom, Stephani Blake, Spencer Crom, Elijah ‘Taylor’ Crom, 26 great grandchildren and three great great-grandchildren, along with a vast number of nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her parents, Raymond West and Edith Fowler West formerly of Port Deposit, Md.; her loving husband, Spencer B. Kennedy Jr., her infant daughter, Sharon Lee Kennedy, her son, Spencer B. Kennedy III, “Skipper”, infant great grand-daughter, Chelsea Marie Owens; two brothers, Warren and Taylor and three sisters, Grace, Charlotte and Joyce, (Peg)
Jeanne spent her life dedicated to her family and supporting her husband in his naval career. She was a model military wife for 40 years and a true American patriot. Although she did work outside the home throughout the years, she always said her greatest achievement was raising her children. She and Spencer enjoyed vacationing with family. Hawaii and cruising were among their favorite vacations.
Family reunions, vacations at the beach and monthly dinner outings with her daughters and granddaughters are all treasured memories she leaves us with.
Jeanne loved life with a passion unmatched. ‘Depressed’ or ‘bored’ were not words in her vocabulary. She was so very proud of her family. She took every occasion she could to let each and everyone know how special they were. Her loving and kind ways touched everyone she came in contact with. She will be terribly missed.
You are invited to visit with Jeanne’s family and friends from 9:30-11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10, at Kemblesville United Methodist Church, Route 896 and Peacedale Road. Kemblesville, PA 19347. Her funeral service will follow at 11. Interment will be in the adjoining cemetery. Family and friends are invited to a luncheon to celebrate the life of Jeanne at the church hall immediately following funeral services. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the National WWII Museum 945 Magazine Street New Orleans, LA 70130. Arrangements are by the Cleveland & Grieco Funeral Home Inc. (610-268-2166) of Avondale. Online condolences may be made by visiting, www.greicocares.com
Eleanor G. Molnar, 96, affectionately known as “Baba,”,“Mom” and “Berra,” of Downingtown, died Thursday, Aug. 4, at Saint Martha Manor. Eleanor was the wife of John Molnar who died in 2006. They shared 51 years of marriage.
Born in Kennett Square, she was the daughter of the late John and Anna Reardon Gallery.
Eleanor was a graduate of West Chester State Teachers College class of 1942. She was active in many college sports. Post-graduation, Eleanor went on to become a physical education teacher, a profession she dearly loved. While teaching, she remained active in athletics as a field hockey referee and coach and volunteered many summers for the Red Cross Learn to Swim program.
Baba enjoyed sewing, reading and baking cookies daily. She was an avid Phillies fan and was able to attend the 2008 and 2009 World Series. Baba had a great passion for animals, especially cats.
She is survived by one son, Mike Molnar and wife Shirley, of Downingtown; two daughters, Beth Odum and husband Russ of Centennial, Colo.; Mary Anne Nickel and husband Bobby of Key West, Fla.; five grandchildren, Ricky L. Clay, Jr., Emily Molnar, Michael Molnar and wife Katelyn, Kara Odum and Mathew Odum and two great grandchildren, Sincere and Kamron Clay.
She was predeceased by one brother, Jack Gallery and one sister, Grace Hallada.
You are invited to visit with her family from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10, at Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home, 250 West State Street in Kennett Square. The funeral mass will follow at 10 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 212 Meredith Street in Kennett Square. Burial will be in St. Patrick Cemetery, Route 82, Kennett Square.
In Lieu of flower, contributions may be made to the Neighborhood Health Hospice (Home Service), 795 E. Marshall Street, Suite 204, West Chester, PA. 19380
Alexander James Fidanza, 32, of West Jefferson, N.C., formerly of Avondale, died at his residence on Saturday, July 30.
He was the son of Steven L. and Penny Eachus Fidanza.
Alexander was a welder at AEV in West Jefferson, N.C.
He enjoyed fishing, playing the guitar, music, building things out of metal and being with his family and friends.
In addition to his parents, he is survived by one daughter, Lia M. Fidanza of Oxford; one sister, Angela J. Fidanza of Avondale; two brothers, Joe B. Eachus of West Jefferson, N.C. and Steven L, Fidanza, II, serving in the US Army in Missouri and his paternal grandmother, Yolanda Fidanza of Avondale.
You are invited to visit with his family and friends from 9:30 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9, at St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother Church, 8910 Gap Newport Pike (Route 41),in Avondale. His funeral mass will follow at 11. Burial will be private.
It's not lonely at the top for Trooper Clint Wagner, a member of the state police Special Emergency Response Team. He's joined by a group of excited children during Sunny Day Camp.
On Saturday, Aug. 6, the state police specialized in spreading sunshine that did not depend on the whims of Mother Nature.
Cpl. Michael P. Becker describes the life of a state police helicopter pilot to an enthusiastic audience.
The Pennsylvania State Police Camp Cadet of Chester County debuted its Sunny Day Camp to rave reviews at Penn Township Park in West Grove. The free, daylong event, designed for children and adults with special needs, ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and featured a host of hands-on activities.
Some participants, who ranged in age from 4 to 56, delighted in putting on body armor while others preferred nuzzling a horse, watching a K-9 team sniff out illegal activity, climbing into a helicopter, or wielding a battering ram.
Avondale Trooper Samantha Minnucci, who conceived and implemented Sunny Day Camp, gets a hug from her brother Gabriel, who provided her inspiration.
Capt. Maurice A. Tomlinson, commanding officer of Troop J in Lancaster, said that when Trooper Samantha Minnucci approached him with the idea, it didn’t languish. “It was approved in seconds,” he said, adding that everyone who heard about it offered enthusiasm and support.
Greg Cary, president of the Chester County Camp Cadet board, agreed. “It was all Samantha,” he said. “Not only did she come up with the idea, but she also implemented it.”
Watching the smiles on the faces of the campers and the care-givers proved that Minnucci produced a winning concept, Tomlinson said. “It’s great to see,” he added.
The day began with a strong law-enforcement presence: a flotilla of emergency vehicles, including local police and fire companies. Then the more than 75 campers, accompanied by friends and relatives, rotated through five stations: a state police K-9 unit, a Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), the Montgomery County Bomb Squad, a state police Mounted Unit, and a state police helicopter.
Christoff Abraham, 20, of Coatesville, shows off his SERT gear to his parents as Cpl. Brian Atkinson watches approvingly.
Twenty-year-old Christoff Abraham of Coatesville was particularly excited about by the SERT gear, which Cpl. Brian Atkinson helped him try out.
“This is right up his alley,” said his mother, Martha Cooper. She explained that her son has been involved in Coatesville’s ROTC program and volunteers once a week at the Coatesville V.A.
Bryce Rubin, 18, of Lincoln University, was drawn to the horse ridden by Cpl. Michael Funk. As Bryce petted the appreciative steed, his mother, Michele Rubin, deemed the event a huge success. She said her younger son had gone to Camp Cadet so Bryce was excited about the opportunity even before it happened.
Bryce Rubin, 18, of Lincoln University, makes a new friend, who’s ridden by Cpl. Michael Funk.
“It’s been fabulous,” she said. “He’s asked questions – some awful and some wonderful – at every station. They’ve done a great job.”
Minnucci said she got the inspiration for the camp from her youngest brother, Gabriel. She explained that when she became camp director of Camp Cadet of Chester County in 2014, Gabriel served as her top assistant. Camp Cadet, a weeklong overnight program, started in 1971 as a way to enable boys and girls to experience a variety of law-enforcement activities, while promoting positive interaction with the professionals who serve their communities.
All eyes are on the sky as Cpl. Michael P. Becker does a fly-over at Sunny Day Camp.
“Once camp was over, he [Gabriel] asked numerous questions about how it went and how he was so excited to one day be able to do Camp Cadet,” Minnucci said, describing her brother as someone who “lights up any room when he walks into it.”
Minnucci said she knew that both the age limit and her brother’s special needs precluded his participation in Camp Cadet, but she began to ponder other options. Her musings led to Sunny Day Camp, held in conjunction with the Special Olympics of Chester County.
Capt. Maurice A. Tomlinson (from left) is joined by Maj. William P. White, director of the state police Bureau of Training and Education; Trooper Samantha Minnucci; her brother Gabriel Minnucci; and Greg Cary, Chester County Camp Cadet board president.
In addition to the interactive law-enforcement activities, Sunny Day Camp featured a barbecue lunch, games, and a graduation ceremony with certificates. Then it was party time, complete with a deejay and water ice.
Sunny Day Camp was funded through donations from individuals and businesses, separate from the donations that go toward Camp Cadet. About 50 troopers and other law enforcement professionals served as counselors and donated their off-duty time, Minnucci said.
Chester County Deputy Sheriff Steve Vitale said he enjoyed watching the gleeful reactions of the campers as they inspected his vehicle. “It’s a good thing for everyone,” he said.
Trooper Jason Laudermilch gives a well-received K-9 demonstration during Sunny Day Camp.
Vitale was joined by fellow deputies Ryan Barr and Mike Carlson and their respective K-9 partners, Murphy and Luke. Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh, who was attending another community outreach event with other deputies, said she is proud to have so many employees committed to giving back.
Cary said he wasn’t surprised by the outpouring of support the event received. “It was the kind of idea that makes you wonder: Why didn’t I think of that?” he said, adding that it represented the first such initiative in the state police system.
It won’t be the last if Tomlinson gets his way. “My goal is that now that we have a template, we’re going to share that template with our troops across the state,” he said. “I’m just sorry that this took us so long. We were missing something and Trooper Minnucci filled that void.”
Asked for his reaction to Sunny Day Camp, Gabriel Minnucci proved that he remains one of his sister’s biggest fans.
“She did a good job,” he said. “I’m proud of her.”
Pastors and Christian leaders are called to speak biblical truth to government and politics, not to compromise on biblical truth for the sake of political expediency. The Bible is clear as to the role of a man ordained by God. The Word of God says:
“And He [God] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
While I agree that pastors and Christian leaders need to be involved in politics, the main goal with any involvement is to speak truth in love to politics, not to compromise on this truth for the sake of political expediency out of fear of the possibility of a “greater evil” winning an election. I am deeply concerned that many evangelical leaders today are forgetting and, therefore, failing at their main responsibility, which is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, building up the body of Christ until we all attain the unity of the faith.
These leaders who are endorsing the Republican candidate for president simply because he is, in their eyes, the lesser of two evils are actually causing more confusion and disunity rather than building up unity among Christians. These leaders like James Dobson, Wayne Grudem and others, despite their years of spiritual maturity and wisdom, have actually been tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by human and political cunning, by craftiness in deceitful political schemes of this current election cycle.
Because of this, a large section of the “Evangelical” community has, instead of growing into Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church, pulled away and followed their own flawed human understanding rather than leaning on God’s wisdom and His Word (The Bible).
Wayne Grudem is a theological giant in my eyes, a man whose works I have read and consulted often. Yet he too has been carried away by the craftiness and deceitful schemes of this election season and its poor choices of candidates. You can read Grudem’s endorsement by googling “Grudem endorsement.” In his endorsement, Grudem says it’s a “morally good choice because the GOP candidate is just flawed.” This after he lists so called “flaws.” These are not flaws these are unrepentant sins according to Grudem’s own definition of sin. Again Dr. Grudem has watered down terms for political expediency.
Even James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, said that the GOP candidate “appears to be tender to things of the spirit. If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act. All I can tell you is that we have only two choices. Hillary scares me to death. And, if Christians stay home because he isn’t a better candidate Hillary will run the world for perhaps eight years. The very thought of that haunts my nights and days. One thing is sure: we need to be in prayer for our nation at this time of crisis.”
As a pastor whose calling is to shepherd and nurture Christians, new and seasoned believers, I see no evidence of this candidate being tender to anything of the Holy Spirit. In all my years as a Christian and as someone in the ministry, I have never met a “baby Christian” who is not on fire for Jesus let alone one who claims to not need forgiveness.
Shame on these evangelical leaders for failing to live up to their God given responsibility of speaking truth in love at all times no matter who is on the ballot. I do not support the Democratic or Republican candidate. I will vote my conscience because “I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” (Acts 24:16)
I am not afraid nor do I lose any sleep over this election because as a Christian I believe “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) So to every person of faith and especially to all evangelical leaders I say claim your power in Christ, continue to love all people, even the candidates you dislike. And for goodness sake exercise some self-control!
And yes, Dr. Dobson, I agree with you on your last point. We must all be in prayer for our nation at this time of crisis.
* The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of Chadds Ford Live. We welcome opposing viewpoints. Readers may comment in the comments section or they may submit a Letter to the Editor to: editor@chaddsfordlive.com
Rev. Marcos O. Almonte is senior pastor at Brandywine Baptist Church, the oldest Baptist Church west of Philadelphia. Pastor Marcos is a graduate of Palmer Theological Seminary with more than 10 years working with families with an expertise in theology, trauma and addictions. Pastor Marcos and his wife Mary have three children, Carmen, Joseph, and Lincoln.
