Swarthmore resident James C. Peyton Jones will share excerpts from a recently published memoir, “Wartime Wanderings,” about his father’s exploits as a young British naval officer during the Second World War.
All in People of Swarthmore
How They Met: Beth and Bob Gross
Once upon a time, before computers, Tinder, and Coffee Meets Bagel, young people met romantic partners by chance, or else through blind dates or family. Beth and Bob Gross met via the last two.
How They Met: Gary and Trish Sheff
Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you. Trish and Gary first met in elementary school when they were seven years old. This was in Ardsley, New York, a town even smaller than Swarthmore, where Trish had lived all her life. A skinny kid from the Bronx with a giant head of hair, Gary moved to Ardsley in second grade, joining a class that already had a Larry and Barry. He and Trish quickly became friends. But it would take them 33 years to realize they were perfect for each other.
How They Met: Steven Hopkins and Adrienne Caddell-Hopkins + Evan Hopkins and Rachelle Guzy
It’s a charming, romantic coincidence that these two couples met in the same way. The younger couple, though, took it all a big step farther.
How They Met: Martha Townsend and Tia Newhall
We both were born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. Growing up, we had friends and acquaintances in common, but we didn’t meet until the spring of 1988. And after 25 years together, we started our honeymoon phase, and we get to celebrate two anniversaries each year, in April and October.
How They Met: Pat and Donna Francher
We met during rehearsals for the high school play. I was a senior, she a sophomore. First date was on Valentine’s Day at the High School Winter Weekend. It didn’t go well.
My dear wife and I met online, of all places. I invited her to come hear me at an open mic I was playing. I held her hand for three hours. On our second date, I said, “We should get married.” She said,” Well, I wouldn’t say no.”
50 Second Hero
The other week, I was in Texas when I received a push notification from the Nest Cam we have keeping an eye on our yard. The notification arrived just after the school bus would have dropped the kids off, so I tuned in to say hi. It took me a second or two to realize what was going on. My son was throwing the football with the UPS guy.
An Unexpected Progression: Blind Melon Guitarist Still Rocks, but Thrives on Small-Town Life
The very next day after I met Rogers Stevens, I was in the CVS south of Swarthmore on Route 320 when “No Rain” started playing on the overhead sound system. Stevens, an attorney and a guitarist, lives in town — it was probably just as likely that he’d have been in the CVS as that I was. “No Rain,” which topped the charts in the early nineties, is a song with an immediately recognizable jangly electric guitar intro, and it was Stevens who played it.
Gaieski Brings a Blend of Talents to Borough Council
Jill Gaieski was recently sworn in as the borough’s newest council member, and with her partner Lori Knauer she is working hard to open Swarthmore’s first wine bar. She also had a couple of other interesting careers in her past.
Pamela Boyce Simms: Building Resilience in Delaware County
Pamela Boyce Simms, an environmentalist, activist, herbalist, leadership coach, and neurolinguist who recently moved to Swarthmore, envisions Community Supported Enlightenment (CSE) as preparing people for the problems that will inevitably come with climate change. And she sees plant medicine as a portal to a larger mission of self-transformation.
Michelle Frumento’s School for Mannerly Dogs
It’s Thursday evening at the Swarthmore Community Center, and Michelle Frumento is getting ready to teach “drop it” to a room full of humans holding the leashes of excited dogs. This is beginner manners, one of several dog-training classes Frumento has been offering out of the community center for the past five years. Manners, not obedience.
Why Dave Augustine Creates His Holiday Magic
Now that the holiday season is well and truly over, the Swarthmorean is remembering Dave Augustine’s holiday courtyard garden and the light it brought during dark December nights. We asked Dave what got him started and what keeps him going, and this is what he told us.
2019: An Inventory
How to inventory a whole year? What to remind you of, and what to skip? What would you rather forget, but maybe shouldn’t? What have you already forgotten that might interest you to recall? Collecting (recollecting) these happenings and lives and milestones is a way to consider what we have accomplished and aspired to and worried about as a community, as we take the first steps into 2020. To think about where we have succeeded, where we have more work to do, and where we might want to start all over again.
Daring to Produce
Swarthmorean Leticia Roa Nixon recently worked both behind and in front of the camera in Day of the Dead festivals in Philadelphia. As a member of an Aztec dance group, she danced in Love Park and at Fleisher Art Memorial in early November, then turned to video recording and editing to capture the pageantry, magic, and cultural significance of Día de los Muertos processions and celebrations involving members of Philadelphia’s varied Latin communities.
A Scandinavian Christmas Tradition
Sophie Jackson, a sixth grader from Swarthmore, participated in the Saint Lucia celebration at the American Swedish Historical Museum earlier this month. This Christian feast day and celebration of lights commemorating the Italian martyr Saint Lucia marks the beginning of the holiday season for many Scandinavians.
Made By Hand
Later this week, in a pretty Victorian house on Park Avenue in Swarthmore, a group of six women artists and makers will carry half the furniture upstairs. They’ll move the remaining tables and cabinets around until they’ve created just the right backdrop. Then they’ll begin arranging their work: jewelry, handbags, photographs, candles shaped like pinecones and beehives. Hat stands, tea towels, bowls made from salvaged wood. By Thursday evening, they’ll be ready to pour the wine, set out the cookies, and welcome the public. The fifth annual Handmade Holiday Home Sale will have begun.
Two Swarthmoreans
An unofficial theme has emerged in this Thanksgiving week issue of The Swarthmorean: community. We talked with two Swarthmoreans who recently moved back to the borough about what this place means to them, and both of them cited a sense of community as a special quality of the town.
‘Every Day Is Fun’: Marty Spiegel, Newly Elected Mayor of Swarthmore
“I was invited to throw out the first pitch this year for the Swarthmore-Nether Providence T-ball game…I throw out the first pitch, and then they throw all the balls at me.” Such are the pleasures and perils of life as a small-town mayor. Marty Spiegel has been serving as mayor of Swarthmore since February, when Borough Council appointed him to replace Tim Kearney, who resigned after being elected state senator of the 26th district. On November 5, Spiegel was elected to the position by the borough’s voters.
New Threads: Opening Thoughts From Your New Editor
When I moved to Swarthmore in June 2000, our real estate agent gave us a year’s subscription to The Swarthmorean. I remember how happy it made me to leaf through those pages. The articles, the ads for local business, the calendar, and the classifieds were all windows into this new, unknown community I was joining. In the nearly 20 years since, I have looked forward every week to getting the paper. Even as I came to know my neighbors, get drawn into local organizations, and see my kids’ procession from first grade at SRS all the way through the high school, I have counted on The Swarthmorean to inform me, enliven me, and help me feel connected. My goal as editor will be to continue these missions and to broaden outward.