Michael E. "Mike" Brown
One of the newer and younger members of our club, Mike joined January 12, 2000 through the sponsorship of Kevin Kelly. This Rotary year he is Club Service Chair and may have earlier learned some of the nuances of Rotary through his dad. Jeff Brown is a long-standing member of the Westtown-Goshen Rotary Club just up the road from the Concord Country Club.
Mike started life in Staten Island and fortunately moved to Pennsylvania after living about three years in Englishtown, New Jersey. Graduating from West Chester East High School in 1987, he headed south and got his degree in European/African history from the College of Charleston. His wife, Michelle is from Charleston, South Carolina and her father Ernest Leroy Passailaigue (former state senator) is czar of the South Carolina lottery program. No wonder Mike wins so much in our 50/50!
Being parents of two sons, Elias age 6 and Benjamin age 2 keep both Mr. & Mrs. Brown busy. Mike is a 8 handicap golfer and continues to maintain an interest in history. I might add that his full-time occupation is the insurance business.
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Sondra "Sondra" Eisenman
Sondra was the first lady president of our club in 1995-1996 and had as many if not more problems with the “Bad Boy Table” as any subsequent president. Jokes 5-6 years ago were cheaper! She is also a Gundaker Fellow.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Sondra graduated from P. S. Dupont High School and the University of Delaware with a degree in history. In 1958 she started her career in banking and was employed by the Bank of Delaware in their auditing department. Married in 1960, Sondra has two adult children living in far away places. Son Martin resides in Coral Gables, Florida and has two children, Jonathan age 9 and Jacqueline is 6 years old. Her daughter Lesley and husband Steve are expecting their first child in December and will help the growing population in Monterrey, California. Her husband Herbert died in 1976 at age 48.
Moving to the Chadds Ford area in 1961, Sondra was the technical librarian at Chadds Ford Elementary School and help found the Chadds Ford Business Association a few years ago. Since joining First Keystone Savings in 1985 and promoted to branch manager in October of 1986, Sondra has been a vital part of the Chadds Ford business community and has provided banking services supporting the annual Chadds Ford Pumpkin Carve.
Her hobbies include theater, gourmet dinner club and teaching hearth cooking. Other interests include membership in the National Council of Jewish Women and a 30-year member of the Chadds Ford Historical Society.
College basketball and baseball are sporting activities that interest Sondra. Volunteering for seemingly all fund raising that our club undertakes, Sondra is a key contributor not only for Rotary, but in her community.
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Gilbert P. "Gil" Tupper
Gil was born during the “Flapper Era” in a small South Dakota town by the name of Wessington Springs on May 24, 1928.
Eighteen years later he graduated from high school and went on to South Dakota State College, obtaining his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering in 1949. Later Gil was awarded a masters degree in engineering management (1964) from UCLA and has his professional engineering registration from the State of Oregon.
Married to Mary Lue Wiese on August 25, 1950 in Seattle, Washington, the pair recently celebrated their 51 anniversary. They have four adult children: Gary Tupper (Orlando, Florida), Lawrence Tupper (Lynchburg, Virginia), Susan Baseman (Voorhees, New Jersey) and Beverly Lee (Laurel, Maryland) and eleven grandchildren.
During his working career, Gil was employed by electrical utilities in the Pacific Northwest for 6 years and then spent the next 31 years at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in application engineering, sales, marketing management and business development. He and his wife have lived in over 30 different homes/apartments/log cabins in over 51 years. Today they reside in the very attractive age-restricted community called Hershey Mills in Chester County.
Gil retired in 1991 and joined our club November 30, 1991 and has served as editor of the Minute Man, held each of the officer positions including president, 1996-1997. Currently he serves on the Board of Directors of our Foundation and was Foundation President 1999/2000 and previously was Secretary of the District 7450 Community Service Committee. Other interests include the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and as the local representative of IESC. During this period Gil traveled to the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Later, Gil hosted a club program relating his very interesting European experiences.
Activities closer to home include Chairperson of the Foreign Policy Association in Hershey Mills for the past nine years. This is a non-profit organization promoting education and discussion on foreign policy issues facing the elected and appointed leadership of the U.S. Government. Gil and Mary Lue have a recreational vehicle (motorhome) and travel to many places including the Port Charlotte area of Florida during the winter. The two have retained their membership at Lima Methodist Church and are quite active in various church activities.
For our newer members, pull up a chair at Gil’s table and find out more about one of our club members. Maybe he will teach you to “Charleston”.
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Samuel "Sam" Mirshak
Previous to joining our club October of 1998, Sam belonged to the Aiken, South Carolina Rotary Club. Fortunately, he got it right the second time!
Born in Jacksonville, Florida October 20, 1929, Sam grew up in suburban Chicago, Illinois (Oak Park - also home to Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright). He graduated from Oak Park High and matriculated to Northwestern University obtaining a bachelor of science degree and master of science degree in chemical engineering.
Sam met his future wife Gerri in college and the two married February 14, 1953 and are the parents of five adult children and 13 grandchildren. In order of birth their children are Tim (’53), Jim (’55), Lisa (’58), Steven (’60) and Julie (’65). If all of their children joined Rotary, we could reverse our declining membership!
Starting with the Savannah River Nuclear Plant, Sam began his working career in 1953 and left SRNP in 1984. He later moved to Dupont and worked in the Wilmington area before semi-retiring in 1989. Consulting work took up some of his time for the next ten years ending in 1999.
Gerri and Sam live in Chadds Ford, belong to St. Max Catholic Church in Westtown and are also very involved in the Chadds Ford Historical Society.
Other interests of Sam include being a board member of the Bayard Taylor Library in Kennett Square.
Sam was born literally days before the crash of the stock market and the worldwide depression of over ten years. Ask him for investment tips in that he didn’t loose his shirt as an infant.
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Lisa C. Dort
Lisa is one of our newer club members but not new to Rotary. She was president-elect of the Springfield Rotary Club before moving to Concord Township. Chalk up one big plus for the Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary Club.
Born in nearby Wilmington, Lisa mentioned early on that she didn’t want to be my next biographical victim! She did say that her dad worked for IBM and the family moved from Wilmington, Delaware to Salisbury, Maryland and then to Poughkeepsie, New York. Returning to the Wilmington area, Lisa graduated from Concord High School and then obtained her degree in textiles and clothing from the University of Delaware.
She and her husband Jeff (emergency medical technician) settled in Concord and have two children, Jeff who is 16 and Samantha age 12. Both attend school in the Garnet Valley School District.
Earlier this year Lisa moved to Sovereign Bank from Commerce Bank and is the branch manager at their Chadds Ford location. She is also active in the western Delaware County Business and Professional Association. On July 1st she agreed to be deputy tax collector for both Concord Township and the Garnet Valley School District. Being tax collector is sometimes not much fun, so don’t tease Lisa about the high taxes.
Hobbies include gardening and traveling to Ocean City, New Jersey for relaxation. Biking also fits into the picture along with working out at the Rocky Run YMCA. She also takes time to involve herself in local politics.
Make it a point to sit at Lisa’s table in the future. Maybe she can interest you in a bank loan.
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Frank C. Bratton
Frank has been a member of the Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary Club for over 17 years and at many club meetings leads us in song.
Born September 8, 1927 in Christiana, Pennsylvania (near Gap) in Lancaster County, Frank found his way to Philadelphia and graduated from Olney High School. Uncle Sam then called on him and he served at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as a combat engineer. After leaving the army he enrolled at Temple University majoring in music, garnering both bachelor and masters degrees in the subject. He met his wife Jean at Temple where she also was granted bachelor and master degrees from their music department.
The Brattons have three children. Lisa (1958), Andrew (1960) and Pamela (1962) and two grandchildren. Andy attends many of our club meetings and sometimes pays for his fathers happy dollars. Recently, Frank and Jean moved to Fox Hill Farm on Smithbridge Road.
Frank’s music teaching career started at Eddystone High School and he later retired from Swarthmore High School in 1986. He was the band director at both schools. Traveling is a special interest of Jean and Frank and they have been on 16 cruises and have also traveled extensively in Europe with stops in England, Spain, and Russia. When at home, Frank enjoys reading history.
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James G. "Jim" Wiegerink, Jr.
Jim was born in Columbus, Ohio at the time his father was doing graduate work at Ohio State University on May 2, 1937. The family subsequently moved to Ridley Park where he went to school, graduating from Ridley Park High School in 1955 while lettering in football, basketball and baseball. A football scholarship then took him to Duke University in North Carolina. Later, Jim injured his knee while playing football and his scholarship was withdrawn.
After leaving Duke, Jim worked in the family steel business for three years and joined the Army in 1959. After serving Uncle Sam for six months, he enrolled in Hope College and graduated from this Michigan institution of higher learning in 1963. During his time at Hope College, Jim met his future wife Maritta in a parking lot on the way to a college party.
Apparently the party was a bore and Jim hooked up with the girl from the parking lot and the two married in 1960. The Weigerink’s three children are Tom (1962), Sandra (1963) and Cara (1964) who have four children.
In his working life, Jim remained in the family steel business through 1980 and worked part-time for Carl Doubet Jewelers at the Concord Mall starting in the 1960’s. Jewelry became a full-time occupation in 1980 and Jim continued to work for Carl Doubet until 1995 when Doubet went out of business. He started his own jewelry business, Brandywine Jewelers, in 1995 and is located just around the corner from the Concord Mall on Naamans Road.
Travel is a main interest of Jim and Maritta and the couple has taken ten cruises to places like Alaska, Panama Canal and other areas of the Caribbean. Last year the two celebrated their 40th anniversary by vacationing in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Jim is a sports fan, likes the A. C. casinos and is the current president of the Western Delaware County Business Association (BPA).
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Donald A. "Don" McNeal
Don was born December 25, 1952 and is a nearly lifelong resident of Delaware County. Born at what was then called Chester Hospital (Chester-Crozier today), Don lived briefly in Parkside before moving to Brookhaven. He has an older sister Donna and a younger sister Sandy along with the usual relatives.
An active member of the Sun Valley football team, Don graduated in 1970 and then matriculated at Albright College in Reading, graduating with a degree in sociology. At Albright, Don was a three-year starter on the football team but mono precluded his playing during his senior year. Later, he obtained a masters degree in Criminal Justice from West Chester University.
Joining the Glen Mills School staff in 1975, Don is now Director of Support Services including supervision of finance, purchasing, facilities management and the golf course. One of the perks for employees at Glen Mills School is playing the course for a nominal fee.
Wife Mary and Don met at Glen Mills School where she is now Technology Coordinator. They have three sons, Tim (15), Patrick (13) and Matthew (9). In his spare time, Don keeps up with his families extra curricular activities, supports various sport teams at Glen Mills and coaches an AAU basketball team. Other leisure time pursuits include running, fishing, golf and collecting reptiles. One of our past club programs featured Don and his reptile collection!
President of our club in 1989/1990, Don remains quite active. It should be noted that he was born approximately 7 weeks after the founding of the Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary Club on November 5, 1952. Does that mean he will be 50 next year????
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Harold D. "Dabbs" Woodfin
Dabbs is another of the pre-World War II members of our club born February 28, 1940 in the small town of Brinkley, Arkansas. His dad was a farmer and retailer (general store) and he has a sister Maribeth and bother Max.
Graduating from Brinkley High School in 1958, Dabbs entered Hendrix College, graduating in 1962. He then started his post graduate work at Tulane University and secured both his masters degree (Modern European History) and doctors degree (British Constitutional History) from that esteemed university in 1968.
He started his teaching career at Newcomb College (Womens College of Tulane University) for two years and then moved to Davidson College in North Carolina where he taught United States and European history for another two years. Starting in 1968, Dabbs began teach U. S. and European history at Temple University through 1975. The next career stop was at a nonprofit Lutheran program for handicapped people before moving to Sleepy Hollow Restorations, a group of museums in the Hudson Valley area of New York.
Believe it or not, Dabbs has been the Director of the Newlin Grist Mill since 1983 and a member of our Historical Commission for a period of time. As many of us know, the Newlin Grist Mill is a significant historical and recreation asset in our region.
Dabbs has a daughter Anne who works for Cargill in Chicago and he and Elsa (married in 1975) have two adult children. Kristin is 23 and plans to further her education and become a veterinarian. Son Max is 21 and is currently traveling in China. A student at the College of the Atlantic, Max has also been a Rotary Exchange Student in Thailand and has spoken at our club about his life experiences. Wife Elsa teaches history at Montgomery Community College and is also the Director of the Social Sciences Division at this institute of higher learning.
Gardening and hiking also interest Dabbs and it should be noted that his father and both of his grandfathers were members of Rotary International along with his brother-in-law, Cliff Harrison. He is our Gundaker Foundation Director and editor-in-chief of our weekly Minuteman. Putting out a weekly publication is not an insignificant accomplishment. Thanks Dabbs for your commitment to Rotary!!!
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Samuel B. "Sam" Ward
Sam's father served in World Ward II and was stationed in San Diego, California. At 18, Sam graduated from Point Loma High School in San Diego after earlier starting school at Media High School. Then it was a greeting from Uncle Sam and a stint in the U. S. Army with stops at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Coming back home, Sam entered Pennsylvania Military College and obtained his engineering degree in 1951. Marriage followed and a second call from the military. This time Sam went to far off Korea as a second lieutenant to fight the North Koreans and Red Chinese forces who had invaded South Korea. Fortunately his unit had light casualties even though they were involved in the fighting at "Heartbreak Ridge".
Discharged as a captain, Sam was finally finished with the military and returned to civilian life. He eventually had five children and started his metal fabrication business in Chester Heights. With three younger brothers and a sister, senior son Steve is a Colonel in the Pennsylvania National Guard and spoke to our club about three years ago. His youngest adult child and only daughter is Joan, who has served as Fire Chief in Chester Heights and like her older brother, has come to visit our club. The other three sons are Steve and Jim, both engineers who are in the family business and Joe who is an accountant.
Fire fighting and saving lives must be in Sam's blood as he spent 28 years as Fire Chief of the Chester Heights Volunteer Fire Company and also served as President of the Chester Heights Borough Council. Sam is a member of St. Thomas The Apostle Church.
When we in Rotary speak of Service Above Self, it is men and women like Sam who give of their talents and energy to make our community a better and safer place to live and work.
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Earl W. "Earl" Hagerty
Earl just celebrated the 20th anniversary of his joining the Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary Club on September 2, 1981. He was sponsored by Charles White and later served as club president (1990-1991). He is a Paul Harris Fellow and for a number of years has coordinated our book scholarship program. You also see Earl helping out at club fund raising activities and he is always willing to pitch in for the benefit of our club. Check him out selling either peanuts, popcorn or cotton candy at the upcoming Pumpkin Carve!
He was born in Philadelphia prior to rock & roll greats like Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell and Fabian, closer to the time of Eddie Fisher. His family gravitated to Delaware County and Earl graduated from Ridley Township High School in the class of 1952. He tells me that the football coach at the time was the famous Phil Marion who earlier played football nearly two decades earlier for Fordham College with Vince Lombardi and the "Blocks of Granite" as the offensive line was known at that time. Earl claims to have been too skinny to play football for the Green Raiders!
Married in 1956 to his wife Joan, the two have 7 adult children. Most live in the area and may be familiar to some of you in the business community. The couple still reside on Mendenhall Drive and work together at their Baltimore Pike office. Earl tells me that he started his insurance business in 1957 and began in real estate a year before. Other interests include jazz and helping in the community.
Earl related an interesting story of he and his family just moving to Concord prior to the flood of September 11-15, 1971. Four lives were lost in the immediate area and many more down stream along the Chester Creek.
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Norman James "Jim" Murphy
New Years Day of 1957 is the day Jim came into the world at Chester Hospital. Six years later his family moved to Mattson Road in Concord Township and then to a home on Concord Road. He went through the Garnet Valley School District, graduating from high school in 1974.
As far as I know, Jim is the only member of our club that has spent a lot of time in jail. After high school he was hired by the Delaware County Prison as a corrections officer attached to the canine corps. After four years at Broad Meadows, Jim started his own pest control business known as Tri-County Test Control.
Karen and Jim will be celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary this April. She is a Cardinal O’Hara and University of Delaware graduate and works as a clinical scientist for Glaxo (Smith Kline). They have three daughters, Kelsey (12), Tori (10) and Emily (8).
In his spare time, Jim is active in the Concord Masonic Lodge and was the 1998 Lodge Master. The family has a second home in Tioga County (Wellsboro) and has traveled to Ireland, United Kingdom and Nova Scotia. Hunting, fishing and coaching soccer at the Brandywine Youth Club also take up some of Jim’s time. If you have a pest problem (and I don’t mean the person sitting next to you at lunch on Wednesday) please call Jim!
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Dominic J. “Dom” Cappelli, Jr.
Dom joined our club February 22, 1995 and has been an active club member.
Born September 14, 1951 at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital, his family resided in Springfield before moving to Chester Heights in 1960. In 1966 they moved to Concord and Dom continued his elementary school education at St. Thomas the Apostle. Later he attended and graduated from Salesianum in Delaware and then if was off to Austin, Texas to attend St. Edwards University where he later graduated with a degree in finance and management. Dom tells me that St. Edwards is the preseason home of the Dallas Cowboys and the year-round home of Dell Computers.
He has three younger brothers, Peter, Richard and Joe. Both Peter and Joe are involved in the family business, Garnet Valley Excavating and Richard is a member of the Delaware County Bar Association and serves as the elected District Justice.
Dorothy 'Dottie' and Dom married in 1978 and have two daughters. Amanda is a sophomore at Carbini College and is a former Rotary Club Student of the Month while attending Garnet Valley High School. Audra is seven and a second grade student at Concord Elementary School.
Dom proudly traces his American heritage back to a great-grandfather who came through Ellis Island in 1916 and settled in Philadelphia, starting the family excavation business at that time. The business was incorporated in 1952 and Dom took over full-time responsibility of the firm in 1992 when his dad retired. In 1994, he was presented with the Suburban Contractor's Distinguished Service Award and has been very involved in the activities of the Brandywine Youth Club and the post-prom organization. He is particularly proud of raising over $32,000 in the last three years with the Leon Mascaro Scholarship Fund. Their annual golfing event is the prime source of the funding for the scholarship fund. Dom uses the "convenient scoring method" when playing golf (keeps a pencil handy) and is involved in the local Republican organization along with an interest in salt water fish.
What happened to fresh water fish???
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