Antoinette “Toni” Pesce, 82, of Kennett Square, died Monday, May 16, at the Christiana Hospital. She was the wife of E. Victor Pesce, who died in 2014, and with whom she shared 54 years of marriage.
Antoinette “Toni” Pesce
Born in West Chester, she was the daughter of the late Louis Marson Sr. and the late Mildred Giroso Marson.
Toni was part owner of AT-MAR Glass in Kennett Square, retiring in 2006.
She was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Kennett Square.
Toni enjoyed cooking, making wine, reading, the beach, and being with her family and friends.
She is survived by two sons, Victor J. Pesce and his wife Karen of Lincoln University, and Steven L. Pesce and his wife Kathleen of Kennett Square; one brother, Louis Marson Jr. of Kennett Square; two sisters, Mary Lou Madron of Kennett Square and Joanne Marson of Newark; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
You are invited to visit with Toni’s family and friends from 6-8 p.m. on Monday evening, May 23, and again from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 24, at the Kuzo Funeral Home, 250 West State Street, Kennett Square. Her funeral mass will follow at 11 at St . Patrick Church, 212 Meredith Street, Kennett Square. Burial will be in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Route 82, in Kennett Square.
In memory of Toni, a contribution may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 399 Market Street, Suite 102, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
To view her online tribute and to share a memory with her family, please visit www.kuzoandfoulkfh.com
Shannon Wellington, of Shannon Wellington Weddings and Events, says she specializes in designing as well as planning weddings.
Weddings can be an emotional time for a young couple. Lots of decisions need to be made to help make it a special day for all concerned. It’s stressful, and that’s where a wedding planner comes in.
And a wedding planner did come into the Barn Shops in Chadds Ford Township. Shannon Wellington Weddings and Events moved into the building where Barbara Moore Fine Art used to be.
Wellington, a Concord Township resident, said she’s been involved in the business for 20 years, the last 12 running her own shop. Her specialty, she said, is planning and designing home weddings.
“What sets us apart from other wedding planners out there is that we also design weddings. That something that has only happened in the past decade or so,” she said.
She explained that designing weddings came about mostly because of social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram since “so much visual information being thrown at brides and grooms. So, now they want a certain aesthetic, a certain look. It’s more of a production these days,” she said.
And it’s that aesthetic and look that Wellington produces for her clients by acting as a liaison between all the vendors and the client. She works with a variety of vendors, florists, photographers, musicians, and the like and proceeds to make that inspired vision a reality.
“Not only are we planning it and doing all the logistics and dealing with all the vendors and transportation and all of that, but now we care what it looks like,” she said.
As a rule, her fees range from $4,000 to $18,000, depending on what’s required. That lower-end figure comes into play when the bride and groom have already done most of the work in hiring the vendors but bring in Wellington to coordinate things during the last month before the event. The $18,000 is for full planning, while partial planning costs $12,000.
For more information and to contact Shannon Wellington, go to www.shannonwellington.com on the web, @shannonwellingtonweddings on Instagram, or phone 610-324-3091.
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.
• Now through Aug. 31, the Brandywine River Museum of Art is showing Dawoud Bey’s Night Coming Tenderly Black. The exhibition features a selection of 10 photographs from Bey’s critically acclaimed series from 2017 that imagines the flight of enslaved African American fugitives in the mid-nineteenth century traveling along the last part of an Underground Railroad network. On view in the Brandywine’s Strawbridge Family Gallery, the exhibition will have particular resonance for the Brandywine region, given the many local sites that were active stations of the Underground Railroad network.
• The zoning hearing for Hank’s Place scheduled for May 18 has been continued. The new date is Wednesday, June 15 at 7 p.m.
Photography history and women’s history come together on Wednesday, May 25 at the Chester County History Center
• The Chester County History Center explores the life and career of daguerreotypist Farah Garrett Hewes. A daguerreotype is an early form of photography dating back to the mid-1800s in which images were produced on a metal plate. This virtual presentation explores the reasons Hewes chose this line of work and illustrates her experiences as being one of the very few women in the field. Dirty Work for a Woman runs from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25. Go here to register for this free event.
• To celebrate its reopening, the Kennett Area Senior Center (“KASC”) will host a multi-generational open house on Saturday, May 21. KASC officially reopened on April 11. The open house celebration includes a piano concert by Wayne Carr, a Rock & Roll Revival by The Act Players, a visit from Ingrid the therapy dog, and balloon artistry for kids of all ages. Mezzaluna Wood Fired Pizza, Michoacana, and Sweet Cakes Supplies round out the food offerings for purchase. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Overflow parking is available across the street at the Red Clay Room.
Matt Bauman is the new township manager for Chadds Ford Township. He’s a Desert Storm veteran and has more than 18 years working for local governments in Radnor and Tredyffrin townships, as well as with the Delaware County Planning Department.
It’s not quite as exciting as a line from an old western, “There’s a new sheriff in town,” but there is a new manager for Chadds Ford Township. And maybe as that stereotypic sheriff might say, he said “I want to make a difference.”
He’s Matt Baumann, a veteran of Desert Storm, a St. Louis, Mo. native, and someone with more than 18 years of local government experience.
The Board of Supervisors hired Baumann to replace Maryann Furlong who had already announced her intention to retire. Baumann came on board on May 2. Furlong will stay with the township working on special projects until September.
“There’s a sense of place here that’s unique,” Baumann said in a recent interview. “And the beauty here always struck me once you get off Route 202 and that whole commercial craziness. But it’s a beautiful township and the thing that clicked with me when I first came here, besides the smaller building and the smallish staff, was the conversation I had with the Board of Supervisors. We had a great conversation about the township, and I learned we have similar goals and objectives. We really clicked on the same ideas and philosophy,” he said.
That philosophy and vision include maintaining the commercial base on Route 202, while also preserving open space where possible and maintaining the historic feel of the village area, “preserving the past as much as possible.”
“I want to emphasize the importance of preserving open space to the extent possible because of the economic value to existing homes. People like open space and that has value to our residents and their property.,” he said.
He comes across as a person comfortable with his past and the decisions he’s made, especially going back to school after he got out of the military.
“I was kind of a late bloomer in college. My dad ran a meat shop, so I spent the latter part of my teens and into my 20s working for him,” he said. But then he met the woman who would become his wife, so he went to night school and got his undergrad degree in liberal arts.
After moving into the region, Baumann enrolled in a program in urban planning at Temple University, which led to his getting a degree in urban planning.
He got a job working in the transportation section of the Delaware County Planning Department. After a year there, he went to work in Radnor Township as a planner. He said there was an initial learning curve in dealing with the public, but the role started to click.
“I was green in that area [dealing directly with the public] but I knew right away what I wanted to do for a living and that was to make a difference, locally, listening to the residents, the business owners, and work with the various [township] commissions,” he said.
A few years into his time at Radnor, he became the director of Community Development with a staff of about half a dozen, he said. He left in 2011 and moved into a similar director’s position in Tredyffrin Township, then was promoted to assistant manager in 2013.
Baumann came on board less than three weeks ago and he’s still getting acclimated to the township, including the physical layout and the people. But he likes what he’s experienced so far.
And as he did in Radnor, Baumann wants to work with businesses and developers, helping them negotiate the requirements of fundamental township documents, such as the comprehensive plan and zoning code. It’s a bit of a juggling act.
“I see a lot of zoning change petitions. I see a lot of amendments being proposed in the commercial corridor. You have to ask yourself why are all these petitions coming in, and what is not in place that needs to be in place. Every developer has his own goals, but we have to balance that with traffic, with sewer, all those things,” he said.
One of his primary goals is to see the zoning amendment, the one the board has been working on since 2015, go through.
“That’s very important to this board. And the Planning Commission has been working on it. Our consultants have been working very hard on it. That’s a goal of mine and of the board. We share that goal.”
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.
Dr. Mehmet Oz addresses members of the Chadds Ford Republican Party during a campaign event at Brandywine Prime Monday night. Oz said he felt confident about getting the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.
A problem with the codes on paper ballots is delaying the vote count for U.S. Senate in Lancaster County. More than 20,000 votes need to be reprocessed to determine whether Dr. Mehmet Oz or Dave McCormick gets the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Currently, there’s a 1,500-vote difference — that’s one-tenth of 1 percent— between the two, and the race is reportedly too close to call. Those ballots may need to be recounted by hand, according to KYW News Radio. Whoever wins that race will go up against current Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
Oz was in Chadds Ford Monday evening. He told supporters he felt confident in getting the GOP nomination.
“I’m very optimistic about tomorrow,” he said. “The polls are close. They shouldn’t be close but the movement, the momentum is in our favor.”
When questioned further about that optimism, he said, “Beside the polls, the wind is behind us, Things are getting easier to do. That’s probably because our message is one that Pennsylvania is listening to…I also feel that most Pennsylvanians appreciate the importance of having a conservative in the Senate who reflects their values.”
Locally, there was one minor problem in Concord Township when Delaware County sent a scanner with the wrong drive to that township’s 6th precinct. The county sent a scanner set up for Collingdale, but the mistake was corrected early. (See that story here.)
Despite the delay in the U.S. Senate race, other election results are clear. Democrat Cathy Spahr will challenge incumbent Republican state Rep. Craig Williams in November for the 160th Legislative District seat.
In the 158th Legislative District, incumbent Democrat Christina Sappey will face a challenge from Republican Leon Spencer, a former mayor of Kennett Square. In the 156thdistrict, Republican Heidi Van DerWaat will square off against Chris Pielli.
U.S. representative races also went down with no trouble. Dave Galluch won the Republican Party nomination for the 5th Congressional District seat and he will go up against incumbent Democrat Mar Gay Scanlon, while Republican Guy Ciarrocchi will challenge incumbent Democrat Chrissy Houlihan for the 6th CD.
In the gubernatorial race, current state Attorney General Josh Shapiro will face Republican Doug Mastriano. For lieutenant governor, the November election will see Democrat Austin Davis face off against Clarice Shillinger.
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.
•State police are investigating a case of a stolen wedding ring. The ring was believed stolen sometime between April 19 and 26 from the bedroom of a 63-year-old Glen Mills woman.
•Troopers from the Media barracks will be conducting a Sobriety Checkpoint during the Memorial Day weekend beginning May 28. A press release said the checkpoint is scheduled to be along Route 322, the Conchester Highway, in Concord Township.
•Police said they arrested Nicole Parsons,29, of Claymont, on theft charges after she allegedly stole checks from Osteria Ama restaurant in Old Ridge Village on March 17. The report also said she charged restaurant customers’ credit cards without authorization.
•Jason Wolfson, 43, of Glen Mills, was arrested for DUI on May 3, according to a police report. The report said troopers initiated a traffic stop in the parking lot of the Naamans Creek Road Wawa because of suspended registration. Police also said they determined Wolfson was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
•An unknown suspected reportedly stole more than $413 worth of merchandise from the Vitamin Shoppe on Route 202 in Chadds Ford on May 11. Police are investigating. The suspect is described as a white male of average build, wearing a hat and a black face mask. He fled in what might have been a white Honda CR-V, according to the report.
Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board directors voted on a proposed final budget for the next school year during their May 17 meeting. The final vote to approve the budget is scheduled for June 20.
The budget, if approved as is, calls for appropriations of $95.4 million with property tax rates of 30.73 mills in Chester County – an increase of 2.57 percent — and 15.98 mils in Delaware County —an increase of 3.36 percent. The different rates reflect a difference in how the counties assess property values. (A mil is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)
Director of Finance Joe Deady said that the numbers could change before the June 20 vote.
Directors also approved spending $477,307 on a variety of facilities. New hands-free faucets and flushometers will be installed at Patton Middle School. Also at Patton, the second-floor hallway will be resurfaced. Hillendale’s exterior masonry will be cleaned and sealed, and the district will get a new robotic floor scrubbing machine. The district will also pay $46,765 toward the Chester County Intermediate Unit asphalt bid.
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.
Some early morning voters in the 6th Voting Precinct in Concord Township were turned away from the polls because the wrong machine was sent to the precinct at the township building.
Precinct Judge of Elections Steve Critchlow said the voting machine delivered was for the 6th Precinct in Collingdale. While initial voters were told to come back later, Critchlow said, Voters’ Services advised him to have people fill out the paper ballots and then put them in a box to be scanned later.
Paul Marra, from the Delaware County Department of Elections said the Concord machine was sent out with the wrong “V-Drive.” That drive is specific for the scanner at the designated precinct. Why and how it happened had not yet been determined. However, he said a technician was sent out with a new scanner for Concord’s 6th Precinct.
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.
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.
All UCF schools and offices will dismiss early today, Monday, May 16, according to an email from Superintendent of Schools John Sanville. The forecast is showing a severe storm — including hail, potential tornadoes, and 60 mph winds — hitting our area this afternoon. So, we’re going to err on the side of caution. It is always difficult to make a school closing decision based on a forecast alone, however with the timing of the storm, if we were to wait we could potentially send our students and bus drivers out in the worst of conditions, Sanville said.
Middle and high school students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m.; elementary schools will let out at 1:30. All afterschool activities have been canceled.
He added in the email that tonight’s school board meeting will be virtual only because of the forecast.
The Kennett school district has also announced early dismissals.
