Juan Santoyo, 56, of West Grove, died Monday, Jan. 2, at the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was the husband of Ada N. Ubinas DeJesus, with who he shared more than 20 years of marriage.
Juan Santoyo
Born in Mexico City, Mexico, he came to the United States more than 30 years ago, and he became a U.S. citizen.
Juan was the owner/operator of J&A Landscaping and Construction for 30 years.
He enjoyed building houses, all phases of the construction industry, soccer, and entertaining his friends.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by four step-children, Michael DeJesus of Germantown, MD, Carl DeJesus ( Shiela) of Germantown, Md., Michele DeJesus (David Morris) of Oakton, Va., and Ada Jean DeJesus of Venice, Fla., 10 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
You are invited to visit with his family and friends from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Foulk Funeral Home of West Grove, 200 Rose Hill Road, West Grove, PA. His Memorial service will follow at 3. Burial will be private.
To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, please visit www.kuzoandfoulkfh.com
Sarah B. Wolff, 98, of Kendal at Longwood in Kennett Square, died Monday, Jan. 2. She was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 22, 1924, to Walter J. and Christine Spofford Beadle.
Sarah B. Wolff
She graduated from Germantown Friends School before moving to Wilmington and then graduating from Vassar College.
While raising her family she did volunteer work as a member of the Junior League of Wilmington and served on the boards of Travelers Aid and Family Service of Northern Delaware. In addition, she sang in the chorus for many productions of the Wilmington Opera Society (now OperaDelaware).
She was a member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames in the State of Delaware and a former member of the Greenville Country Club. She was one of the original members of St. Albans Episcopal Church, where she sang in the choir for many years before joining the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Kennett Square.
Sally was predeceased by her husband Frederick A. Wolff in 1994, sister Elizabeth Beadle Herrmann, brother Spofford J. Beadle, and great-grandchild Aryana Wolff. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Thomas B. and Audrey Wolff of Red Wing, Minn., and her daughter Catherine E. Wolff of Syracuse, N.Y. She is also survived by three grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
The family is grateful for the loving care provided by the staff at Kendal, especially in the last week of her life.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. in the auditorium at Kendal at Longwood, 1109 E Baltimore Pike, Kennett Square, PA.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Kendal Reserve Fund, PO Box 100, Kennett Square, PA 19348.
To view her online tribute and to share a memory with her family, please visit www.kuzoandfoulkfh.com
Arrangements by the Kuzo Funeral Home, Kennett Square.
Maurice “Bunny” R. Pickel, 74, of Landenberg, died peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 3. He was the husband of Mary Ann Jasienski Pickel, with whom he shared 45 years of marriage.
Maurice R. Pickel
Born in Wilmington, on Sept. 27, 1948, he was the son of the late Maurice R Pickel and the late Christine Johnson.
Bunny was a graduate of Avon Grove High School and went on to work for Nucar Pontiac for over 30 years in the parts department. When he retired, he would go on to work for Pickel Landscape Management for several years.
He was involved in the Boy Scouts, a member of Wickerton Hunt Club, and Assumption BVM.
Bunny enjoyed many hobbies including wood carving (duck decoys in particular), hunting, and his inherited love of cooking. His motto was: a recipe is merely a guideline.
Bunny was a devoted husband who loved taking day trips with his wife.
He was a loving father who supported his children and their dreams.
He was a proud grandfather who loved playing with his grandsons and making them laugh with his duck quacks.
Bunny was a loyal friend. He was lucky to know some of his closest friends for the majority of his life.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, his son, Michael Pickel and his wife, Elizabeth Pickel; his daughter, Maureen Pickel; grandchildren, Alexander and Parks Pickel; sisters, Roseanne Ortega and her husband, Gerald Ortega; Elaine Johnson and her wife, Donna Cheetham, as well as nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his brother Michael L. Pickel.
His graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12, at St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Route 82, Kennett Square. You may also visit with his family from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at the Foulk Funeral Home of West Grove, 200 Rose Hill Road, West Grove. A memorial service will follow at 2:30.
In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made to the West Grove Fire Co. Ambulance, P.O. Box 242, West Grove, PA 19390
To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, please visitwww.kuzoandfoulkfh.com
Andrew Wyeth, Swifts – First Version, 1991, watercolor on paper
Opening at the Brandywine Museum of Art on February 4, 2023, Andrew Wyeth: Home Places presents nearly 50 paintings and drawings of local buildings that inspired Wyeth time and again over seven decades of his career. The artworks in this exhibition are drawn exclusively from the nearly 7,000-object Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, now managed by the Brandywine. Many of these pieces have never before been exhibited, offering a first glimpse at a remarkable treasure trove that will shed new light on the collaborative creative process of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth.
On view through July 13, 2023, Home Places shares the story of a remarkable immersive and intensive artistic practice that ranged across the full array of media Andrew Wyeth practiced. Over the course of a long and diverse career of many chapters, Wyeth repeatedly depicted a small group of historic houses in the vicinity of his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. In these weathered buildings others might have overlooked or even scorned in the face of gentrification and commercial development of the region, Wyeth found layers of emotion and association. These structures—both venerable and vulnerable in a changing Brandywine Valley—served as a means of pursuing his abiding attention to that which lies beneath the surface of things. Through living in this landscape his whole life, he engaged in an artistic practice of uncommon focus over an extended timescale, coming to know deeply the evocative buildings in a radius of just a few square miles and rendering them in an astonishing variety of compositions, handlings and approaches. As Wyeth said, “You can be in a place for years and years and not see something, and then when it dawns, all sorts of nuggets of richness start popping all over the place. You’ve gotten below the obvious.”
Andrew Wyeth, Widow’s Walk Study, 1990, watercolor and pencil on paper.
Among the previously unexhibited works on view are the charming early oil The Miller’s Son, painted when Wyeth was just 17 years old, and the stunning watercolor Noah’s Ark Study made at age 87—both depicting the same property, Brinton’s Mill. That the Wyeths came to own and restore this property for use as their primary residence is among the many contributions of Betsy James Wyeth, whose distinct role in stewarding historic properties in Pennsylvania and Maine, which informed her husband’s painting practice, is a key context of this exhibition.
This is the first exhibition at the Brandywine curated by William L. Coleman, Ph.D., the Museum’s inaugural Wyeth Foundation Curator and Director of the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Study Center. “Home Places makes use of the astonishing holdings of the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection to get beyond the received wisdom about this iconic artistic life,” said Coleman “The rarely or never before seen works on view collectively show an artist of rigorous focus on a highly individual creative path: thinking with buildings and drawing out the stories that houses can tell through an iterative process.”
In his new role at the Brandywine, Coleman is responsible for stewarding the Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection, which is housed in the Wyeth Study Center’s two facilities: one located at the Brandywine in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and the other on the Farnsworth Art Museum’s campus in Rockland, Maine—the two geographic regions where Wyeth lived and painted. Part of a new partnership between the Wyeth Foundation for American Art and Brandywine, Coleman was brought on board to oversee the study of this remarkable collection and to lead scholarship on one of America’s most iconic artists. Just one of the exciting activities under this partnership will be the completion of the artist’s catalogue raisonné–a multi-year project.
About the Brandywine Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century Mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine River. The Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, PA. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 and up; free for children 5 and younger and Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art members. Current hours of operation can be found at www.brandywine.org/hours. Guided tours of the Andrew Wyeth Studio, N. C. Wyeth House & Studio, and the Kuerner Farm—all National Historic Landmarks—are available seasonally (for an additional fee); advance reservations are recommended. For more information, call 610.388.2700 or visit brandywine.org/museum. The Museum is one of the two programs of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
•For those interested in creating a wildlife-friendly garden and some libation, check out Longwood at the Creamery in Kennett Square on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. Learn how to make your landscape inviting for songbirds and butterflies to other wildlife alongside Longwood Fellow Ryan Gott. Explore the reasons, benefits, and basic principles of wildlife-minded landscaping, as well as region-specific resources to help you continue on your wildlife gardening journey … and to keep wildlife in your landscape. Enjoy a delicious small bite and signature cocktail to round out the fun. The cost is $29. Register here.
Brandywine Battlefield Park’s Revolutionary Speaker Series resumes on Saturday, Jan. 21.
•The Brandywine Battlefield Park’s Revolutionary Speaker Series resumes Saturday, Jan. 21 from noon to 2 p.m. The discussion is focused on artifacts found at the Red Bank Battlefield Fort Mercer in National Park in New Jersey. The site of Fort Mercer and the Red Bank Battlefield Park is now known as the only site where Continental forces beat back the British army and Hessian troops during the Philadelphia Campaign in 1777. After the presentation, guests can visit the Brandywine Battlefield Park’s exhibit gallery and enjoy some light refreshments. Tickets are $20 per person and are available here.
•In partnership with Girard College and Global Citizen’s Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service, The Philadelphia Orchestra will present its 33rd annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Tribute Concert, led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, on Monday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. at the Girard College Chapel. Tickets are free and available at www.philorch.org/mlk2023.
