Fanny Cox Worrall Dale, 85, died February 7, 2013 in Boston. She was born in Philadelphia and attended Springside School. Fanny was a great listener and a giving and genuinely caring person. She was passionate about the environment, conservation and preservation and was an avid birder. She also enjoyed gardening,reading, jumbo vanilla ice cream sodas and sushi. She was a much loved Mom, Grandma, sister and friend and will be deeply missed by Pegge and Zev Ashenberg; Polly and Sassy Dale; Debbie Dale and Mike O’Keefe and Marsha, Stef and Michelle and their families; by her brother Doug Worrall; her sister Audrey Park; and many dear friends. Memorial donations may be made in her name to; The York Land Trust, PO Box 1241, York Harbor, ME 03911,The Elephant Sanctuary, PO Box 393, Hohenwald, TN 38462, World Wildlife Fund, PO Box 97180, Washington DC 20090-7180.

J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home, Kittery, Maine

by Walter Fox

Hugh J. McNally, 81, the proprietor of his family’s tavern in Chestnut Hill for three decades who played an active role in the community, died Sept 11 of heart failure at his home in Chestnut Hill.

Mr. McNally took over McNally’s Tavern, at 8634 Germantown Ave., from his father in 1964 and retired in 1994, passing on ownership of the business to his daughters Ann and Meg. During his tenure as owner, he completely renovated the tavern – making it a community gathering spot – and took the lead in the Philadelphia area by converting it in 1998 into a non-smoking establishment.

But he will probably be best remembered by his customers for his invention of the “Schmitter,” a sandwich he created by combining steak and salami with cheese tomatoes and fried onions for a customer who only drank Schmidt’s beer. The sandwich quickly became a house trademark, and can be purchased today at McNally’s concessions at Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field, where it is known as a “major league sandwich.”

Mr. McNally’s concerns, however, went well beyond his business. In the 1970s he served as a board member and president of the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation, and was actively involved with tree-planting efforts on the Avenue. In 1993 he accepted the Meritorious Service Award of the Chestnut Hill Community Association presented to his family for “substantially improving the quality of living in the community.”

In passing on the tavern to his daughters, Mr. McNally paid tribute to family history. The business was started in 1921 as McNally’s Light Lunch by his grandmother, Rose McNally, who realized there was no place for motormen and ticket-takers on the Route 23 trolley line to get coffee and a sandwich near the Chestnut Hill terminus of the line – then one of the longest trolley routes in the country.

Shortly after Prohibition was repealed in 1933, McNally’s became a tavern, although not without strong opposition from some family members.

Mr. McNally, a graduate of Holy Cross Parish School in Mt. Airy and Northeast Catholic High School, joined the Marines during the Korean War. After returning home in 1954, he was asked by his father, Hugh P. McNally, to fill in as a bartender at the family tavern, beginning a four-decade association with the business. Two years later, he was married to the former Peggy Lawless, whom he had met as a high school student.

During his retirement, Mr. McNally and his wife enjoyed spending time at their summer home in Ship Bottom, N.J., and at a family cottage in County Donegal, Ireland.

Mrs. McNally described her husband as a sensitive and generous man who had a lifetime love of books and reading.

“He had been indifferent to books until a high school teacher gave him “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London,” she said. “From then on he was addicted.”

In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. McNally is survived by sons Hugh, John and Colin; a brother, Andrew; a sister, Sister Mary Sarah, R.S.M., and 10 grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at Our Mother of Consolation Church, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Relatives and friends may call at the church starting at 9 a.m. A memorial Mass at St. Francis Church on Long Beach Island will be scheduled. Memorial donations may be made to St. Joseph Villa, 110 W. Wissahickon Ave., Flourtown, PA 19031.

Audrey D. Van Riper (September 15, 2013). Beloved wife of the late Walter “Russ”. Loving mother to Cheryl (Bruce) Allen, and Deborah V.R. (Al) Harper. Grandmother to Jonathan, Patrick, Audrey, Janice, and great grandmother to Sammy. Sister of David and Donald Dearie. Relatives and friends are invited to Audrey’s memorial service Saturday October 5th 2pm Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church. Internment Private. In lieu of flowers contributions in Audrey’s name may be made to Meals on Wheels 8765 Stenton Ave. Wyndmoor, PA 19038.

Craft of Erdenheim

Nancy Hare Koltes, born June 29, 1922, died peacefully on September 6, 2013 surrounded by her loving children and family members. Born at home in Trevose, PA, she attended school in Somerton where she met her future husband, John, in first grade. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1944 and married in Trevose in 1946. Mrs. Koltes and her husband travelled extensively, including annual trips to St. Petersburg Beach, Florida, beginning in 1947, a 1955 six month residence in Great Britain, Europe and the Nordic Countries, several around the world tours, a trip to China shortly after it was open to travel (she complained of having no candy), and more recently family trips to St Tropez and Barbados with her children and grandchildren. Mrs. Koltes was an active volunteer in Chestnut Hill Hospital’s Main Street Fair, and its thrift shop, Monkey Business. She took cooking lessons from Julia Child, was active in a Wednesday Bridge club and was a highly accomplished knitter who produced sweaters from wool shorn from sheep at the family farm in Philadelphia. She was a member of the “Locust Club”. This group of friends first met as young professionals in their neighborhood in North Hills, PA and remained friends for more than 60 years traveling together and descending on favorite spots like a swarm of locusts. Mrs. Koltes also was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Nancy Koltes was married for 64 years to John Albert Koltes, MD, who predeceased her in 2011. She is survived by their four children Nancy Gilbert Koltes, Karen Hare Koltes (John Tschirky), John Albert Koltes, III (Patricia), Steven Frederick Koltes (Corinne), seven grandchildren and her sister-in-law, Eleanor Barwis (William). Mrs. Koltes was predeceased in 2009 by her son-in-law, Ward Murphy, and in 1991 by her sister, Jean Hare Platt. On Friday, October 11, 2013 at 11am a Memorial Service will be held at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill, PA followed by a luncheon reception at the Church. Interment will be private at the William Penn Cemetery in Somerton, PA. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Audubon Society.

Robert J. Macbeth, 95, a former data-processing director at the Veterans Administration in Philadelphia, died Sept. 16 at Stapeley in Germantown.

A longtime resident of Germantown and Mt. Airy, Mr. Macbeth retired in 1981 after three decades of service to the VA.

Born in Charleston, S.C., he graduated first in his class from Avery High School for Coloreds and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from what is now Hampton University.

During World War II he served in the Engineer Aviation Depot Company of the Army Corps of Engineers, and was discharged with the rank of master sergeant. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in connection with military operations.

Mr. Macbeth was active in his community and church, spending more than 20 years on the vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, where he also had been treasurer. He also was active in the Philadelphia Club of Frontiers International, where he had served as treasurer.

He is survived by a daughter, Marion; a brother, and two grandchildren. A son, Robert Jr., preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held Sept. 21 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, with burial in the churchyard. Memorial donations may be made to the Philadelphia Club of Frontiers International, 7715 Crittenden St., Philadelphia, PA 19119. - WF

by Walter Fox

Dr. Ruth Patrick, 105, a freshwater ecologist whose pioneering research on water pollution set the stage for the modern environmental movement, died Sept. 23 at The Hill at Whitemarsh in Lafayette Hill.

A longtime resident of Chestnut Hill, Dr. Patrick was a world authority on freshwater ecosystems. She developed key methods to monitor water pollution and to understand its effects on aquatic organisms of all kinds.

A recipient of the National Medal of Science, she is credited, along with author Rachel Carson, as being largely responsible for drawing widespread attention to the health of the environment.

Dr. Patrick, whose career at at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia spanned nearly eight decades, assembled the definitive collection of diatoms, single-celled plants that she identified as key indicators of environmental quality. The collection is a major resource at the academy.

Dr. Patrick developed an “ecosystem approach” to assessing the health of a water body that has become the current standard in river monitoring. It involves not only examining the chemistry of the water itself, but also evaluating the number, kinds and health of the plants, insects, fish and other organisms living in the water.

Even at 100 years old, she still was a familiar site at the academy, where she maintained an office to work on her book series on rivers. On her 100th birthday she was celebrated with a gala at the academy and received tributes from around the world, including from former Vice President Al Gore.

Born in Topeka, Kan., Dr. Patrick spent most of her childhood in Kansas City, Mo. Thanks to her father, Frank Patrick, a lawyer with a passion for the natural world, she enjoyed an unconventional upbringing for a girl at that time. Her father would lead young Ruth – then about 5 years old – and her sister on Sunday strolls through nearby woods, where they collected bits of nature and put them in a can they carried at the end of a stick.

Dr. Patrick’s father gave her a microscope of her own when she was 7 years old. Such interest in nurturing a young girl’s pursuit of science was unusual for the time, and she credited these experiences with launching her lifelong passion for the environment. One of the many values her father instilled in her, Dr. Patrick often said, was: “Leave the world a better place for having passed through it.”

Dr. Patrick attended Sunset Hill School, now Pembroke Hill School, in Kansas City, Mo. Despite her mother’s desire that she simply learn social graces and marry well, she went on to study biology. She received a B.S. from Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in botany, both from the University of Virginia. In 2008, Coker College named her its “Alumna of the Century.”

Dr. Patrick’s long association with the Academy of Natural Sciences began in 1933 when she came to Philadelphia as a graduate student to study diatoms. In 1937, she became an unpaid assistant curator of microscopy. In 1945, she was finally put on the payroll, and two years later she established the Department of Limnology, later called the Patrick Center for Environmental Research.

She was the first researcher to notice that different species of diatoms live in different environments and, therefore, are key indicators of water quality.

According to conservation biologist Thomas Lovejoy, she demonstrated that biological diversity could be used to measure environmental impact.

”I call that the Patrick Principle and consider it the basis for all environmental science and management,” he said.

Dr. Patrick later expanded her research to include general ecology and biodiversity in rivers, studying hundreds of streams, rivers and lakes in North and South America. She invented the Catherwood diatometer, which allows scientists to collect diatoms growing in a water body.

In the 1950s, the Atomic Energy Commission asked her to assess the ecological status of Georgia’s Savannah River near the DuPont Company’s nuclear power plant. In 1975, she became the first woman and the first environmentalist to serve on the DuPont board of directors. She held positions on many boards, including those of the Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. and the World Wildlife Fund.

Dr. Patrick was an advisor to President Lyndon Johnson on water pollution and to President Ronald Reagan on acid rain. In the 1960s, she worked with Congress to help draft legislation that resulted in the Clean Water Act, the primary federal law governing water pollution. For the next 30 years she was called to Capitol Hill for frequent appearances as an environmental expert.

From 1973 to 1976, she served as the first female chair of the Academy of Natural Sciences board of trustees and later held the academy’s Francis Boyer Chair of Limnology. She formed the academy’s Environmental Associates, a group of corporate executives concerned about the environmental effects of industrial activities.

She taught limnology and botany at the University of Pennsylvania for more than 35 years and wrote more than 200 scientific papers and a number of books on the environment, including the five-book series, “The Rivers of the United States.”

In 1970, Dr. Patrick was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1974 was elected to the American Philosophical Society. She received the John and Alice Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1975 and was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton in 1996.

She received lifetime achievement awards from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and the National Council for Science. Other awards included the Pennsylvania Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, the Eminent Ecologist Award from the Ecological Society of America, the Gold Medal from the Royal Zoological Society of Belgium, and the Benjamin Franklin Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the American Philosophical Society..

She received 25 honorary degrees, including ones from Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1996 was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Science and Technology. In 2009, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Dr. Patrick was married to the late Charles Hodge IV and the late Lewis H. Van Dusen, Jr. She is survived by one son, Charles Hodge V of Kansas City, Kan., and several stepchildren and grandchildren.

A memorial service is being planned.

Robert S. Ross, Jr., 69, a former resident of Chestnut Hill, died of heart failure on September 30, 2013 at his home in Washington, DC. Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania on March 27, 1944, Robin was the son of Janet and Robert S. Ross. He received his early education at Episcopal Academy before graduating from St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He majored in Art History at Princeton University where he was President of the Ivy Club and a starting halfback on the Varsity soccer team. Robin served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard as a member of the historic First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry and received his law degree from Temple University. In June, 1966, immediately after college graduation, Robin married Louise Potter and he started his legal career in her native New York where their two children were born. During their 48 year marriage the Rosses resided in New York, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, where they settled in 1988. In recent years, Robin and Louise shared their commitment to active working lives with a deep dedication to their family and growing grandchildren. In the summer of 1964, Robin worked in the Pennsylvania delegation at the Republican Convention in San Francisco and was bitten by a life-long “bug” for politics, which he pursued with great accomplishment. In 1979, he joined Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh’s cabinet and in 1988 he was appointed Chief of Staff to Attorney General Thornburgh in the George H. W. Bush Administration. During the ensuing years, Robin’s broad experience and sound judgment became the basis for a successful legal and government relations practice in Pennsylvania and the nation’s capital. If family and politics were his life’s true passions, long distance running was another sphere of significant achievement. Building on his natural physical talents and his determined personality, Robin embodied the dogged endurance athlete. His training was legendary and he completed over thirty marathons, including a dozen in Boston, the most prestigious of all road races. Each year Robin and Louise would also visit friends in Jackson, Wyoming to ski, hike and fish in the breathtaking scenery of the Teton Valley. Robin’s defining personal characteristic was his profound loyalty – to Louise, his family, his friends, his country, his political allies and the many institutions with which he was associated during his lifetime, including a variety of his favorite sports teams. Robin was predeceased by his parents and is survived by Louise, his daughter Jennifer Ross McNulty of Washington DC, his son Robert S. Ross, III of Long Island, two brothers and five grandchildren. Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Capital Clubhouse, Inc., 4603 Kenmore Drive NW, Washington DC 20007.

Dr. J. Stephen Kurtz, formerly of Mt. Airy, an obstetrician and gynecologist who had practiced in the northwest Philadelphia area for more than five decades, died Sept. 30 of dementia at his home in Ambler.

Dr. Kurtz, who had delivered more than 6,000 babies during his career, was one of the first obstetricians in Philadelphia to use the Leboyer method of natural childbirth, which required that the infant be born into a dark, warm and quiet environment and be placed on its mother for gentle stroking.

He had been affiliated with Germantown, Abington, Roxborough Memorial and Chestnut Hill hospitals, and had maintained offices in Germantown, Plymouth Meeting, Flourtown and Wyndmoor at different times.

Born in Reading, he was a graduate of Reading High School, Franklin and Marshall College and Temple University Medical School. He served in the Navy from 1946 to 1948.

Dr. Kurtz was an Eagle Scout and president of Sigma Pi Fraternity at Franklin and Marshall College. He was a member of the Phi Chi Medical Fraternity, the American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

An accomplished violinist, he played frequently with other musicians for his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife, the former Jane Grace; daughters Katrina Kurtz Shuptar of Philadelphia, Gretchen Kurtz Mertz of Fleetwood, and Laura Jane Kurtz Buckalew of Narberth, and two grandsons. Dr. Kurtz’s first wife, Bessie Polk Kurtz; a sister, Jean Kurtz Esser, and a brother, Horace Frame Kurtz, preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held Oct. 5 at the Emil J. Ciavarelli Family Funeral Home in Ambler. Memorial donations may be sent to Dr. Joseph Bavaria, Cardio Aortic Program, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St., Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104. - WF

Frances Lucy Accetta, 75, a widely known Chestnut Hill banking executive, died Oct. 3 of a stroke at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

A longtime Chestnut Hill resident, Mrs. Accetta had retired in 2001 as vice president, commercial lender and regional manager at National Penn Bank.

She had just begun work in September as a marketing consultant at Valley Green Bank, where she had previously been a customer service representative from 2006 to 2012.

Mrs. Accetta began her banking career at Chestnut Hill National Bank, where she was the first person hired by the bank, then situated in a trailer on the parking lot of SEPTA’s West Chestnut Hill train station. She rose quickly as the bank was acquired by National Penn Bank.

Algot F. Thorell Jr., chairman of the board of Valley Green Bank and a founder of the Chestnut Hill National Bank, described Mrs. Accetta as “a banker with a heart.”

“She was a decisive, knowledgeable executive who brought to her banking work a caring and concern for the lives of her banking clients and employees,” Thorell said, adding that she had been a mentor to many bankers who had subsequently gone on to successful careers in banking.

As a banking executive, she was a founding member of the Chestnut Hill Chapter of Rotary International.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, she was a graduate of Hallahan High School. She had worked as a teacher’s aide at Our Mother of Consolation Church in Chestnut Hill, while her children were young, and was a longtime member of the church choir.

A devoted mother and grandmother, she spent considerable time commuting to California and, later, Texas, to assist her daughter, Jill, with the care of her three children, one of whom suffered from a rare illness that required frequent blood transfusions and, ultimately, a successful bone marrow transplant.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Accetta is survived by a sister, Norma, and four grandchildren. Her husband, Jack, and a daughter, Susan preceded her in death.

A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 9 at Our Mother of Consolation Church. Memorial donations may be made to the Chestnut Hill Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 4332, Philadelphia, PA 19118. – WF

John E. Kennedy Jr., 79, formerly of Chestnut Hill, a project engineer, died Sept. 30 of multiple myeloma at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Until his retirement, Mr. Kennedy was a senior project manager for Perks Reuter Associates. Working with engineer Harry M. Perks, he supervised construction projects for the Philadelphia Zoo and the School District of Philadelphia. Mr. Perks died Sept. 29.

Earlier he had worked for Fry Consultants Inc., a division of the Day & Zimmerman engineering firm in Philadelphia, where he managed the firm’s local engineering projects. He also had worked a market development manager at E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.

Born in State College, Pa., he was a graduate of State College High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in business administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He served as president of the Darden Alumni Board from 1986 to 1990.

Mr. Kennedy was a longtime member of the Racquet Club of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Cricket Club. He had lived in Chestnut Hill for more than 30 years before moving to Florida more than a decade ago.

He is survived by his wife of 40 years, Nancy K. Kennedy; daughters Suzanne Gallup and Jennifer Dell’Erba; stepsons Russ Allen and Greg Allen; a stepdaughter, Kimberly Allen; a brother; four grandchildren, and six step-grandchildren. He is also survived by his former wife, Jean Scovel Kennedy.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at Tenth Presbyterian Church, 1700 Spruce St., in Philadelphia. A reception will follow at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia, 215 S. 16th St. Burial is private. – WF

Henry Frazer Parry, 99, formerly of Chestnut Hill, a physician who was the founding director of what is now Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, died Oct. 4 at Foulkeways Retirement Community in Gwynedd.

Dr. Parry was a founder in 1958 of Magee Memorial Hospital, the first specialty rehabilitation hospital in the Philadelphia area. He later served as director of rehabilitation at All Saints Rehabilitation Hospital at Stenton and Evergreen avenues in Chestnut Hill.

Dr. Parry was a graduate of Germantown Academy and Haverford College. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and completed his residency at Pennsylvania Hospital.

Athletic and adventurous, he stayed alert and active throughout his life and enjoyed sports, especially tennis, squash, golf and bicycling. He maintained a regular walking routine through the wooded pathways at Foulkeways until a few weeks before his death.

He is survived by his wife, the former Kathleen Anderson; a daughter, Martha Parry; a stepson, Steven Shaffer, and a step-granddaughter. Dr. Parry’s first wife, the former Mary Kelly of New York City, died in 1984.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at the Church of the Messiah, 1001 DeKalb Pike, Lower Gwynedd. Memorial donations may be made to The Landscape Fund for Woodland Restoration, Foulkeways, 1120 Meetinghouse Rd, Gwynedd, PA 19436. – WF

The Honorable Ann Duncan Haffner, 96, formerly of Princess Anne, MD and Alexandria, VA, died on October 29, 2013 at the Philadelphia home of her daughter. Born in lola, Kansas in 1917, she was the daughter of Clifford Morrill Duncan and Margaret Pearl Webb. She grew up in Kansas City, KS and Glendale, CA, where she attended art school before her 1940 marriage to Bernhard Kinsey Haffner, a mining engineer. She made homes for a growing family in remote mining towns, in a European capital, and in historic houses in New York, Virginia and Maryland. She traveled widely in Europe and Asia during her husband’s four year assignment as a Marshall Plan consultant after World War II. After her return to the United States, she established a business in New York City in the fashion industry and designed lingerie and clothing for children. She later worked in advertising in Washington, DC. When she became politically active upon settling in Alexandria in 1964, she was a vital force in the Alexandria Republican City Committee, and worked tirelessly for the campaigns of Republican candidates for local and national offices. She served as an alternate delegate to the 1972 Republican Convention in Miami. In 1978, she joined Martha Rountree, co-founder of Meet the Press, at the Leadership Foundation, and served as President of Leadership Action, a nonprofit group that lobbied in support of issues related to family values. Ann was passionate about historic preservation, and served several terms on Alexandria’s Board of Architectural Review after becoming alarmed at the effects of development on Alexandria’s historic landscape. Her work in preservation was recognized by President Ronald Reagan, who appointed her to the National Museum Services Board in 1982. Her proudest preservation achievement was the restoration of Beverly Farm, a 1795 plantation house in Somerset County, MD where she spent her last 25 years. Ann was an artist, and her life was her canvas. She surrounded herself with beauty in both humble and grand homes. She entertained artfully, gathering people together who had in common only that she liked them. When her entertaining days ended, she remained the perennial life of the party; her witty stories attracted young and old to her chair during house tours and parties, but it was her interest in those gathered around her that kept them there. Ann was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Barney, a son, Julius B. Haffner, and a grandson, Scott A. Renard. She is survived by her son, John D. Haffner of Eden, MD, daughters Julie A. Twining, of Eufaula, AL and Jeanette Turnbull, of Philadelphia, grandchildren Laurie Giovanniello and Gus Turnbull, and four great grandchildren. The family plans a private memorial service and interment. If so inclined, a donation to your local humane society would be a fitting memorial.

Alexander Vincent Guerrina, age 96, died peacefully on Monday, October 28, 2013 at his home. He was born on October 21, 1917 in Philadelphia, PA to Alessandro and Isabella (Baratta) Guerrina, the second youngest of 9 children. Alex always had a zest for life and worked hard in the family business as a stone mason. He married the love of his life Lillian (Bosworth) on April 27, 1940 and had two children. They spent a happy life together in Flourtown, PA enjoying the company of family and friends alike. Alex could often be found with a microphone in hand singing a round of “Volare” or “Danny Boy” to the delight of the crowd. Alex was a hard worker who was an inspiration to those around him. He is survived by his children Lillian Isabella (Charles) Haig and Alexander Joseph Guerrina (Patricia Gerstel); five grandchildren Nancy (John) Wisniewski, Cheryl (Ken) Marquette, Alexander (Casey) Guerrina, Dana Guerrina, and Nicholas Guerrina; and seven great grandchildren Colin, Ethan, Jackson, Colton, Darby, Parker and Harrison. A funeral mass was held on November 2, 2013 at St. Genevieve’s Catholic Church in Flourtown, PA. Interment was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Craft Funeral Home, Inc.

Ronald Tompkins, 80, formerly of Flourtown, a onetime PennDOT supervisor who was a leading figure in the Philadelphia area soccer community, died Oct. 25 at Phoenixville Hospital.

Mr. Tompkins left PennDOT in 1983 as a supervisor of roads and bridges, but he was best known locally for his dedication to the game of soccer. In 1969 he was a founding member of the Eastern Pennsylvania Soccer Association (EPSA), an organization that today includes 220 adult and under-19 teams and 4,400 players.

In 1971 he founded the Enfield Soccer Club in Upper Dublin, which fielded youth as well as men’s and women’s teams. Its successor, the Upper Dublin Soccer Club – which paid tribute to Mr. Tompkins at a Philadelphia Union game last season – today has more than 2,000 youth members.

Mr. Tompkins took teams to Canada 19 times, and to England and Wales four times – sometimes at his own expense.

Jim Bollinger, EPSA president, recalled that Mr. Tompkins had “subsidized the trips for many of his players from families of little means as if they were his own kids.”

“The players and coaches became his family,” Bollinger said.

Mr. Tompkins also had been a scoutmaster in Oreland from from 1959 to 1969 and took his Boy Scout troop to Canada in 1963 for a summer encampment.

Born in Wyndmoor and raised in Germantown, he was a graduate of Germantown High School. He described his childhood and teen years in Germantown in a series of essays that he later published in 1993 as “Reflections From the Known World: Growing Up in Germantown.”

A skilled artist, his subjects included architecture, soccer, portraiture and more. He made T-shirts of his favorite works, and in 1986 designed a crest for the City of Philadelphia that hung in the Mayor’s Cabinet Room during the Rendell administration.

At 74, Mr. Tompkins moved to Phoenixville, where began performing a stand-up routine in local coffee shops styled after the late Henny Youngman.

Eli Wenger, owner of the Steel City Coffee Shop, recalled Mr. Tompkins ability to connect to a younger crowd.

“He was funny,” Wenger said. “He spoke on the same level with the kids and didn’t talk down to them.

A member of the Episcopal Church for more than 60 years, Mr. Tompkins was an authority on the church’s history and liturgy. He was a member of the Anglican Church of the Transfiguration in Phoenixville and, earlier, of St. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia.

A few months before his 77th birthday, Mr. Tompkins suffered a stoke that left him partially paralyzed, unable to walk or draw. He spent the last three-and-a-half years in the Manor Care Nursing Home in King of Prussia, but would return to Phoenixville each week to visit with friends – even hosting a once-a-month storytelling night at Steel City called the “Don Ron Tompkins Story Slam.”

A memorial service for Mr. Tompkins will be announced at a later date. His remains will be interred on the grounds of Washington’s Chapel in Valley Forge – WF

Shirley Mutch Bansen, 86, formerly of Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill, a teacher at Green Street Friends School for two decades, died Nov. 10 at Abington Hospital’s Lansdale Branch.

Mrs. Bansen taught lower grades at the school until her retirement in 1992. Earlier she had taught eighth-grade English at Germantown Friends School.

For the past five years, she and her husband, Richard, lived at Foulkeways, a retirement community in Gwynedd.

Born in Germantown, Mrs. Bansen was a graduate of Germantown Friends School and Mount Holyoke College.

During her lifetime, she had served on many committees of the Greene Street Friends Meeting and the Philadelphia Yearly Meting of Friends, and on the board of Stapeley in Germantown.

She was a devoted Gilbert and Sullivan fan, was active in amateur theater and sang in the Foulkeways Singers. She was an avid gardener.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by a son, Peter Bansen, of Truckee, Calif; daughters Cindy Bansen Travis, of Prescott, Ariz., and Sarah Bansen, of Watertown, Mass., and six grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

Johns Hopkins Jr., 82, a financial analyst and an advocate for social justice, died Nov. 8 at his home in Chestnut Hill.

Mr. Hopkins retired in 1988 after serving as a financial analyst with the Philadelphia Electric Co. for 28 years.

He also was a founding member and trustee of the Phoebus Fund, a family foundation set up in 1986 to promote social justice and change. Most recently the foundation has been focused on The Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative, addressing fundamental problems and inequities within the criminal justice system through grant making.

Mr. Hopkins was a namesake and collateral descendant of Johns Hopkins, of Baltimore, Md., founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital and University.

A lover of nature and the outdoors, he served from 1990 to 2009 as a trustee and treasurer for the Bird Sanctuary in Prout’s Neck, Maine, where he had spent summers since he was a boy. As a trustee, he oversaw the care of the 15-acre sanctuary in the center of Prout’s Neck, including maintenance of the boardwalks and trails. He was an active member of the Prout’s Neck Audubon Society and the Nonesuch Oar and Paddle Club.

Known to his friends as “Doc,” Mr. Hopkins was born in Wynnewood. He attended Episcopal Academy and graduated from Phillips Exeter School, where he was on the wrestling and track teams. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he played football.

He served as a lieutenant in the Marines from 1953 to 1957 in Hawaii and Japan.

A longtime member of St. Martin’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill, he was head of the Liturgist Committee and head of lectors. He trained lay people to read the lessons and regularly attended Bible study groups.

For the last eight years, he was an active member of the Stephen Ministry, a group that accompanies people in crisis through difficult times. In 1985 he traveled to Nicaragua as part of a diocesan Committee on Peacemaking, composed of laypersons, clergy and officials, to attend a ceremony that included President Daniel Ortega and members of the Nicaraguan government.

Earlier he taught Sunday School and started the Children’s Chapel at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill.

He was a member of Friends of the Wissahickon and supported projects to preserve the Wissahickon watershed.

Mr. Hopkins is survived by his wife, the former Mary Randall; nine children; 14 grandchildren, and a sister, Polly Biddle.

Memorial donations may be made to the Outreach Fund at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, Philadelphia 19118, or to The Sanctuary Fund, Prout’s Neck Association, 499 Black Point Rd., Scarborough, ME 04074. – WF

Gary Miller, 61, of Wyndmoor, a teacher and an artist in wood whose large installations can be seen at several area venues, died Oct. 5 in a two-vehicle collision near his home.

For the past seven years, Mr. Miller taught sculpture and photography at Germantown Friends School. He also was an artist-in-residence at the Greenwoods School and the Woodmere Art Museum, where he taught summer art classes and led community art projects for children.

Born in Corpus Christi, Tex., he was raised around the country and the world as the son of a Navy officer. He received his B.F.A. from Mercer University, and took a special interest in working with wood to create sculptures, furniture and spoons.

He went on to play a key role in the developing art scene in Savannah, Ga., in the 1980s and discovered his second passion, teaching. Here he organized many programs and exhibits for children at the Telfair Museum.

He later worked as an exhibits designer at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in New York, where he lived with his wife, JoAnn. Moving to the Philadelphia area in 1994, Mr. Miller continued his career, creating diverse works that ranged from small woodcarvings to large installation pieces, including “Big Nothing” at Woodmere Art Museum (2000), “Poppies” at the Morris Arboretum (2008) and “Rake’s Progress” at the Schuylkill Nature Center (2009).

His work has appeared at the Main Line Art Center, Woodmere Art Museum and the Burning Man Art Festival. He served for several years on Woodmere’s board of directors.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Laura; a son, James; sisters Laura M. Crank, Judy Newbern and Lynn Clark. Memorial donations may be made to the Art Department, Germantown Friends School, 31 W. Coulter St., Philadelphia, PA 19144. – WF

Harrison Gill Wehner, Jr., died on Saturday, November 9, 2013 at his home, Chatham Farm, in Bridgetown, Virginia. He was born on August 26, 1935, in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, to Jane Griffith Wehner and Harrison Gill Wehner and was a life-long member of The Union League of Philadelphia. He attended the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and later received three degrees in economics from the University of Michigan: a Bachelor of Arts in 1957, a Masters in 1958, and a PhD. in 1963. He was on the University of Michigan swimming team, including the 1957 NCAA championship team. Harrison also swam for the U.S. Army during his service at Fort Eustis from 1958-1960. Harrison entered business, academics and politics with his characteristic vigor, but he will be most remembered as a steadfast husband of 51 years to Joan, a supportive father of his children Harrison, Ross and Jonathan, and an active member of his community. His passion for living and learning led he and Joan to build (with their own hands) their first family home in Great Falls, Virginia, along with a subsequent log home launched for the American bicentennial in 1976. During that time he and Joan also began one of Virginia’s earliest commercial vineyards in the early 1970’s. He enjoyed playing the piano, flying his beloved Cessna and restoring Ford trucks, including both a Model A and Model T. He was an avid reader (he was in the midst of Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire at his passing). Above all, he and Joan spent more than 30 years painstakingly restoring Chatham Farm. After graduate school, Harrison was hired by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, to serve as Staff Economist for the African Department. His economic work with the IMF, and later as a private consultant, led him to work in troubled areas of the world such as the Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan and Nicaragua. In the 1980s, Harrison became President and CEO of Buvermo Properties, Inc., a European-owned investment company. After leaving Buvermo, Harrison continued his economic consulting and served on a variety of boards, including Palmer National Bank. Aside from business, Harrison threw himself into both academics and politics. He taught economics at the University of Michigan, and also George Mason University, American University, Catholic University, University of Virginia extension studies and Old Dominion University. He and Joan were charter members of the Great Falls Citizens Association, and led numerous efforts to maintain the character of Great Falls including the preservation of Cornwell Farms and the old post office. Later he launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Virginia Senate in 1992 and that same year he served on the campaign finance committee of George H.W. Bush, who attended a fundraiser at the Wehner home during his successful presidential campaign of 1988. Harrison and Joan have lived full time on the Eastern Shore since 2000. He was a business partner with Jon of Chatham Vineyards, which was founded in 1999. Harrison served his community in a variety of ways, including board service for the Eastern Shore Community College Foundation. He was treasurer and served on the board of the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy for a decade. Harrison was a man of action, not words, and he inspired his sons to follow his footsteps in three very different ways: Harrison in global finance, Ross in education and international development; and Jon in the vineyard and winery business. As his wife Joan wrote to Harrison before he embarked on the Eastern Shore’s Walk to Emmaus: “Honor, integrity, dependable, hardworking, compassionate – these are some of the traits you have passed on to the boys.” Harrison is survived by his loving wife, Joan Kittle Wehner; his sister and brother-in-law, Marianne and Bill Mebane; and the families of his three sons, including eight grandchildren. These include Harrison and Karen Wehner, and their children Hadley, Meriel and Sage; Ross Wehner and Renée del Gaudio, along with Sebastian and Francesca; Jonathan and Mills Wehner, with children Jon Henry, William and Lydia. Memorial services will be held at Hungars Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Hungars Episcopal Church (churchyard fund) at 10107 Bayside Road, Machipongo, VA, 23405. Family and friends may sign the guest book at www.hollandfuneralhome.net.

Arrangements were made by the Holland Funeral Home at Nassawadox, Virginia.

Mary Ellen Poleri Campbell, 87, the former owner with her late husband, James, of Campbell’s Place, a popular local tavern at 8337 Germantown Ave., died Nov. 24 at her home in Chestnut Hill.

The Campbells opened the tavern in 1970, and Mrs. Campbell remained the face and backbone of the business until it was sold in 2007.

Over those 37 years, Mrs. Campbell became much more than a local proprietor: She was a friend, employer, confidant, gin rummy partner, sounding board and shoulder to cry on to the many individuals who passed through her establishment.

Quick-witted, with an unfiltered sense of humor, sentimental and endlessly generous, she was most happy surrounded by friends and family, always trying to have a wonderful time.

A lifetime resident of Chestnut Hill, Mrs. Campbell was he youngest of six children born to Sicilian immigrants Carmela LaRussa and Thomas Poleri. She attended J.S. Jenks Elementary School in Chestnut Hill and Germantown High School.

She is survived by a daughter, Christina Campbell, and three grandchildren. Mrs. Campbell’s husband died in 1999.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, at Our Mother of Consolation Church, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m., Friday, Nov. 29, at Jacob F. Ruth Funeral Directors, 8413 Germantown Ave. Interment will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, at 34 Washington St., Suite 200, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481, or curealz.org. – WF

Sandy Thomas, 67, beloved mother, sister, grandmother and friend passed away November 27, 2013. She was born in Bethlehem, PA, to Clarence and Arlene Barthold. Resident of Chestnut Hill for more than 45 years until moving to Spring Hill, FL last year with her youngest daughter’s family. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Myles “Don” Thomas, Sr. Sandy is survived by her son M. Donald Thomas Jr. (Miriam), Rhode Island; daughter Susan Samson (Bruce), Wyndmoor, PA; daughter Keri Focht (Lawrence), Spring Hill, FL; six grandchildren; brother Clarence Barthold, Slatington, PA; sister Jayne Naylon, Clearwater, FL; and sister Brenda Smith, Moorestown, NJ. In lieu of flowers, donations in Sandy’s memory may be made to SPCA of Hernando County, 9075 Grant Street, Brooksville, Florida 34611.