Middletown Life Fall/Winter 2014

Fall/Winter 2014

Middletown Life

Magazine

St. Andrew’s School: Q & A with headmaster Daniel T. Roach, Jr.

Inside • Middletown Relay for Life: 15 years of hope • Photo essay: Middletown Then and Now • A tradition on Noxontown Pond

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A Chester County Press Publication

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Spend a day in the 1700s over a fine cup of tea

14 Rocktober in Middletown 18 Diamond State Masters Regatta: A tradition on Noxontown Pond 26 Operation Homefront 30 St. Andrew's grad wins gold at Sochi Paralympics 34 The 2014 Relay for Life event

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...Fall/Winter 2014 44 Q & A: Daniel T. Roach, Jr., headmaster, St. Andrew's School 52 As Middletown grows, the Chamber of Commerce is paving the way 60 Profile: Joyce Dungee Proctor 70 Brennan McAllister's 8,000-mile journey 80 Photo essay: Then and Now in Middletown On the cover: (Photo by Eric Crossan) An aerial view of St. Andrew's School.

MIDDLETOWN LIFE Making a difference in Middletown... and around the world Middletown Life • Fall/Winter 2014 Letter from the Editor: As our writers and photographers prepared this issue of Middletown Life, the wonderful people of Middletown and the surrounding areas took us along with them on some amazing journeys. One thing that became obvious to us is that there are many people in the area who are making a difference.

Consider, for example, Brennan McAllister, a senior at Middletown High School, who earlier this year traveled to India as part of the Delhi Bible Institute’s mission. The McAllister family has helped with the ongoing effort to bring much-needed medical and dental services to people in India.

McAllister talks to writer Richard Gaw about how trips to India have helped put his life here at home in perspective.

Stacy Flora Roth takes us on a trip through history as she prepared for the upcoming program, “Revolutionary Tea,” which will be held in the Collins Sharp House in Historic Odessa. It’s an opportunity to spend a day in the 1700s over a fine cup of tea.

We also report about Chris Klebl, a 1990 graduate of St. Andrew’s School, who won a gold medal at

the Sochi Paralympics.

Speaking of the St. Andrew’s School, the subject of the Q & A is Daniel T. Roach, Jr., the headmaster of the school for the last 17 years. We sat down with Roach and Will Robinson, a 1997 graduate of St. Andrew’s and current dean of students, to talk about the changing role of education in the 21st century.

We talk to John Schoonover, one of the original organizers of the Diamond State Masters Regatta, about the two-day event, which has grown over the years into a tradition on Noxontown Pond.

In June, the 15th annual Relay for Life in Middletown took place.

While covering this event, we met many inspiring people who are dedicated warriors in the fight against cancer. This Relay event has raised more than $200,000 in a year, just one indication of its success.

This issue also features a story about Operation Homefront, a national organization with an office in Middletown. Operation Homefront helps to connect veterans with goods and services that can make a big difference in their lives.

This issue also includes stories

related to burgeoning commercial activity in and around Middletown. We look at efforts by the Middletown Chamber of Commerce to promote and strengthen the business community. We also profile Joyce Dungee Proctor, a speaker and author who has more than 20 years of experience providing career consulting and executive coaching to people in Delaware and neighboring states.

The past meets the present in the photo essay “Then and Now,” which found us taking pictures of local landmarks and recognizable buildings and placing them alongside old postcards and photographs of those same places.

We hope you enjoy these stories and, as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories. Enjoy the rest of 2014, and we look forward to the spring of 2015 when we will be bringing you more stories about how Middletown residents are making a difference.

Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher (randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553) Steve Hoffman, Editor (editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13)

Common Core and Critical Thinking The Common Core State Standards are intended to help students prepare for college and the working world, wherein they must think critically and apply the skills they learn in the classroom to a variety of real-world scenarios. The “buzz” about the standards is that they go much deeper into all math and English-language arts areas and emphasize comprehension and building understanding more so than rote memorization. The standards are meant to strengthen students’ ability to think, analyze, comprehend, defend and support one’s ideas, and much more. Here are a few examples: Reading Reading comprehension is top of mind at all levels. As students read a variety of texts – both fiction and nonfiction – they will be expected to make logical inferences, express their insights, explore ideas, and think about topics from many different viewpoints, among other objectives.

Speaking and Listening Through speaking and listening (and through media), students must assess and offer complex information and ideas. The classroom will focus on smaller group discussions as well as one-on-one discussions as a way to encourage students to think crucially, work together to develop ideas and answer questions, and more.

Writing Students are expected to write thoughtful, logical arguments, express their opinions, reason, and conduct focused and in-depth research.

Mathematics High school students will be expected to apply mathematical ways of thinking to real-world issues and challenges and think and reason their way through problems. The elementary and middle school standards help prepare students for this type of thinking.

Throughout our 36-year history, Huntington Learning Center has stayed in tune with the needs of our students. As American education has evolved, Huntington has adjusted its curriculum as appropriate in order to ensure our students receive the tutoring support they need to be successful students.

What does this mean for the families we serve? It means that Huntington stands ready to help students meet the challenges of these new, more rigorous educational standards. As schools curriculum and assessment testing evolve, students will need help that extends beyond the type of support they may have needed previously.

Huntington is prepared and excited to embrace those challenges together.

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Stacy Flora Roth will bring her ‘Revolutionary Tea’ program to Odessa on Sept. 28.

Spend a day in the 1700s over a fine cup of tea

By John Chambless Staff Writer Bringing audiences face to face with history is a passion for Stacy Flora Roth. Even the simple act of drinking tea had wide-ranging implications and complexity in the colonial era, and visitors are invited to join Roth as she explores the subject during a program in Historic Odessa on Sept. 28. The program, “Revolutionary Tea,” will be held in the Collins Sharp House, where the 1700s architecture, Roth’s authentic costume and her thorough knowledge of history will transport the audience to a lady’s parlor of long ago. During a recent interview, Roth discussed how she came to love history, and how she brings it to life for audiences.

Were you interested in history as a young student? Did your parents encourage your interest?

I was interested in history as far back as I can remember. My first interaction with history was my fascination with my father’s souvenirs from his service in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific during World War II, particularly his signal mirror, his log book, and a book of the

history of his bomb group, the 307th (The Long Rangers) that included many photos of the airmen and the natives on the base islands such as New Guinea and Morotai.

Even before studying history in school, I enjoyed watching television programs with historical settings. In elementary school, I had some wonderful history teachers, particularly in the fifth and seventh grades and in high school. We recreated historical debates and events. I became fascinated with the American Revolution. I grew up in Union County, N.J., frequenting streets where Continental Army troops and British troops marched and engaged in battle.

My interest in history was intertwined with my love of music, which was always part of my life growing up. My father collected jazz recordings and my mother and grandmother were entertainers who sang popular songs and showtunes for local audiences. I used to comb the bookstores and libraries for published collections and haunt record shops for recordings of historical songs including folk songs, songs of the Revolution and Civil Wars and sea chanteys.

Many of these songs are incorporated into programs that I present to audiences today. Several are featured in “Revolutionary Tea.” Did you major in history in college? What was your career goal at that time?

I majored in history as an undergraduate, and American civilization as a graduate student. I also have an MLS (Master of Library Science). My goal was to work in the field of public history interpretation, which included the improvised, unscripted portrayal of people of the past. (In museum parlance, this is known as “first-person interpretation.”)

How did your group, History on the Hoof, come about?

It was born from an employment experience that was so unpleasant that I needed a break from working under bosses and supervisors. So I joined forces with another historical interpreter, David Emerson, an alumnus of Plimoth Plantation and Colonial Williamsburg. We started creating our own programs and marketing them. That was in 1993. My grandfather used to say, “Better a penny working for yourself than a dollar working for someone else.” So I simply followed a family tradition of self-employment.

How did you select eras to portray in your presentations? Out of all the women in history, it must have been hard to decide.

At first, we worked with the eras with which we had the most experience through personal interest and previous employment. Eventually, we branched out to other periods, based on projects for clients and again, personal interest. In the past, I have portrayed a passenger on the Mayflower, a suffragist in 1915, and a Quaker during the American Revolution. My main characters these days are Mary Hays McCauley (a.k.a. Molly Pitcher, the woman who assisted her husband’s artillery crew at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse) and a World War II defense worker.

Portraying these characters is part serendipity, part personality match, and part economic viability. In the case of Mary Hays McCauley, the Monmouth County Archives contacted me because they were looking for someone to portray her for an exhibit opening, and the other character was born from an impromptu participation at a World War II reenactment. The late Lee Jennings, historian for Delaware State Parks, who I’d known from training staff in firstperson interpretation at several Delaware historic sites, suggested that I work up a program on that topic because there was a need for it on the interpretation circuit.

You have a variety of approaches that can be tailored to the needs of individual groups. Can you do child-friendly shows as well as shows aimed at a more scholarly audience?

Yes. The child-friendly versions of programs often include interactive components and topics that are relevant to a child’s perspective. As Molly Pitcher, I teach the children how a cannon was loaded and fired, pass items around for examination, discuss the chores that young camp followers tackled, and often dress one of the students in 18th-century clothing.

When discussing tea, I will focus more on historical children’s participation in taking tea, and in manners and etiquette. I’ll highlight pieces of a children’s tea set, and offer children an opportunity to experiment with the various ways of holding an 18th-century reproduction

—————|options|————— gram -- a “follow-up” segment where I revert to

Fine cup of tea...

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teacup and saucer, and/or roleplay a social visit, at which they are served tea. I have also worked with teachers to host an 18th-century tea with their students, so that the children learn firsthand how to use the chinaware.

Some of your program selections (other than Revolutionary Tea) involve character presentations. How do people react to you when you’re in character? Do they address you as the character, or do you make it clear that you’re only interpreting?

My approach to character interpretation is what I would consider “low threat.” My characters always treat visitors and audiences like old friends. As a result, they tend to feel at ease with me – and I don’t draw and quarter people for comments about modern things or asking if they can take a photo. It is my goal for people to enjoy interacting with a character in ways that are the most meaningful for themselves.

When possible, I offer -- as part of my pro-

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myself, provide a commentary on the later life of the character, and welcome questions that cannot be adequately answered while in character.

Often, people like to ask about the mechanics of first-person or where to find period clothing, in addition to questions about the character’s later life.

What are some of the common misconceptions people have about the role of tea, which you’ll be focusing on in Odessa?

When most people think about historical tea, they envision the traditions of the Victorian era through the early 20th century – times when tea was accompanied by scones and finger sandwiches and plenty of food. They are often surprised to learn that when people drank tea in the afternoon in the 18th century, it was enjoyed after the main meal of the day. The focus was on the beverage, not the food – and the most popular accompaniment, if any, was bread and butter.

Although “afternoon tea” and “high tea” are Continued on Page 12

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Fine cup of tea...

Continued from Page 10

customs that occurred after the American Revolution, the topic of “high tea” is often introduced by someone in the audience. There is quite a bit of confusion about the term “high tea.” In the U.S., people often refer to a fancy afternoon tea as “high tea,” assuming that “high” means “fancy.” However, traditionally, in Britain (and other Commonwealth countries), “high tea” was a working-class meal with substantial food taken after the workday. In the afternoon, the working class was, after all, working!

The mid-afternoon affair was one of delicate finger sandwiches and scones, enjoyed by those with the leisure to do so. It was simply called “afternoon tea.” (A few finger sandwiches would not have been very satisfactory fare after a day in the factory or the coal mine.)

Tea was much more than a beverage in colonial times -- kind of a political flashpoint?

Yes. Tea was a social lubricant, a ritual, a symbol of status, an important economic commodity, and a source of tax revenue. Ultimately, it was the tax issue that caused the controversy over its consumption at various times. Much personal wealth was tied up in the accoutrements with which it was served and enjoyed.

The focus of “Revolutionary Tea” is as much about why people abandoned their tea as it is about the social and material customs of the day.

Why are students sometimes disinterested in history, and what can teachers do to make it more engaging?

I do think that students – and adults for that matter -- are most interested in subjects that hold relevance for them. For instance, when discussing and demonstrating the social history of tea to young people, I include anecdotes, images, and objects highlighting children taking tea. Everything has a history – from our nation to our families to the gadgets we use and the food we eat. A good story is interesting – and what is

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of stories, facts, and other evidence of our world up to this moment?

If I think back to the inspiring teachers in my past, they made history engaging without dumbing it down. They used tactics that allowed us to place ourselves in the roles of people of the past – and they themselves took great pleasure in relating history to us.

In addition to relevance, the inclusion of concrete items, such as artifacts, reproductions, and images appeal to all ages. The “stuff” we use and admire is of inherent interest to many and provides many angles of analysis. Take a teacup and saucer, for example. It can be examined for its artistry and construction and also for its social role. Who owned it? Who used it? How does it function? What do its size, shape, and other features say about it? How would one grasp it? How did it change over time? Was it expensive? Was it practical or decorative? What beverages did it hold?

Do you feel that you’re bringing audiences closer to their own history with your presentations?

What do you hope that people take away with them after you perform?

Even though the main focus of my presentation is about tea in the 18th century, audience memories of family tea customs, or tea drinking on trips abroad, or visits to tea plantations are always welcome. In my program on World War II defense workers, an entire segment of the program solicits personal and family stories from the audience.

Stacy Roth will present “Revolutionary Tea” from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Collins Sharp House (Second and High streets, Odessa) on Sept. 28 from 2 to 4 p.m. Reservations are required and space is limited. Tickets are $30. Visit www. historyonthehoof.com. Keith Adams, a collector and expert on ceramics and colonial furniture, will present a program on Sept. 24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Bank Building meeting room (Second and Main streets, Odessa) focusing on the collection of 18th-century tea wares and decorative arts installed in the Wilson Warner House in Odessa. Visit www.historicodessa.org for more information.

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——————|Middletown Arts|—————— Middletown’s annual Rocktoberfest, about to kick off its fourth year, brings together music, families and fun

Rocktober in Middletown

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

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or the last three Octobers, the Rocktoberfest in Middletown has served as the town’s mini version of Delaware’s Firefly Festival, its very own homage to the idea of communal gathering and the love of music.

For the festival promoters, it’s also served as an Etcha-Sketch board of changes, tweaks and improvements, done with the intention of drawing larger and more diverse audiences year after year. Promoters are saying that this year’s Rocktoberfest, on Oct. 4, promises

to be the best ever.

“We’ve kind of morphed it over the past three years,” said Tracy Skrobot, festival organizer and program director for Middletown Main Street. “Our first year was 2011, and we started it as a two-day event in the Home Depot parking lot. The following year, we added carnival rides and kids' areas. We found that it was too hard to get the people there, and going two days was just too much for us. We’re very confident that this year, the event will focus so much more on the music.”

Continued on Page 16

Courtesy photo

Hung Jury will headline the fourth annual Rocktoberfest, which will be held on Oct. 4.

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Rocktoberfest...

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Headlined by Hung Jury, a sod-stomping, Earthquaking countrified rock band from Delaware, this year’s Rocktoberfest will also include music by Three Day Weekend, featuring Chuck Kuzminksi of CKuz Guitars; the Stone’s Throw Band from the Stone’s Throw Church; The Terribles; and Paul and Alyssa Lewis, a father and daughter duo from Middletown.

The music kicks off at noon at the Middletown Square and runs until 11 p.m., and will also include a corn hole tournament, a car show, food vendors, and a beer

and wine tent.

The event, held as a fundraiser for Main Street Middletown and the Middletown Chamber of Commerce, is intended to serve as an entertainment backdrop to the work of the two entities to develop Downtown Middletown as an incubator for emerging businesses and cultural opportunities.

“Middletown is a great cultural town, and when an event happens that benefits the community at large, the people all come together,” said Roxane Ferguson, executive director for the Middletown Chamber of Commerce. “Last year, we had about 1,000 attend Rocktoberfest. We’re anticipating an even larger crowd this year.”

Ferguson said that in addition to drawing the community to the downtown area, the event will raise funding for future music programs on Main Street, and a portion of the proceeds will go toward scholarship programs for local students.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ chestercounty.com.

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Photo by Steven Hoffman

Diamond State Masters Regatta

Diamond State Masters Regatta officials John Schoonover and Maggie Brokaw.

A tradition on Noxontown Pond

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

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ohn Schoonover peered out intently at the rowers racing toward the finish line. He lifted his camera and captured the image of several of the boats clustered together in the fast-paced race. It’s Saturday, July 26, the first of two days of the 2014 Diamond State Masters Regatta, and Schoonover is pleased that another race day has arrived.

It was 24 years ago that Schoonover and Howard Smith, then board members at the Wilmington Rowing Center, were at the center of the effort to establish a regional regatta for rowers over the age of 21.

“We wanted to create another opportunity for master’s rowers to compete in one of the most idyllic venues in the country,” explained Schoonover, a resident of Wilmington. “Masters rowing has been growing nationally.”

The first Diamond State Masters Regatta took place on Aug. 4, 1991. There were approximately 350 rowers competing in 35 different events that first

year, and even then the event was able to attract participants from a wide area.

According to Schoonover, the tranquil Noxontown Pond was the natural choice to serve as the venue for the event. He is a graduate of St. Andrew’s School, which overlooks Noxontown Pond. The picturesque setting offers tremendous views of the water for race spectators, and they can enjoy most of the action along the course.

“For the spectators to see almost two-thirds of a race is very unusual,” Schoonover explained, noting that the course is approximately 1,073 meters from the starting platforms to Rodney Point across from the school campus.

A. Felix du Pont, who helped found the school in 1929, was a rowing enthusiast. Students at the school not only use Noxontown Pond for rowing, but for educational programming, too.

Schoonover is a 1963 graduate of St. Andrew’s School. He served as a coxswain on a St. Andrew’s rowing squad in 1959 and 1960. There is something special about organizing an event that takes place at

We wanted to create another “opportunity for master’s rowers to compete in one of the most idyllic venues in the country.

”

JJohn h SSchoonover, h di director off the h Diamond State Masters Regatta a venue where he competed as a student.

“It’s very nostalgic,” Schoonover said. He is joined each year by a growing number of the school’s alumni—this year, thirty or forty of them competed in the Diamond State Masters Regatta.

Continued on Page 20

Photo by Steven Hoffman

A picturesque scene at the Diamond State Masters Regatta.

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Action from Saturday, July 26, the first of two days of the 2014 Diamond State Masters Regatta.

Noxontown Pond is an ideal venue for the Diamond State Masters Regatta.

Diamond State...

Continued from Page 19

This regatta has matured into a popular regional event even though there have been plenty of challenges through the years.

Smith passed away before the 2000 regatta, leaving

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Photos (2) by Steven Hoffman Sculling events took place on the first day of the regatta.

Schoonover to take over as the director of the event. The committee that organizes the regatta decided to name the race in Smith’s honor.

At the time of Smith’s passing, the race already doubled in size from where it started in 1991, attracting about 600 rowers to compete in 70 races.

By the 15th anniversary, the event had grown to

Photos (2) by Steven Hoffman

Hans Mueller, a member of the Wilmington Rowing Club, helps out on race day.

the point where organizers had to figure out ways to schedule 100 heats for more than 1,000 rowers from 55 rowing organizations. The race day, a Sunday, started at 8:15 a.m. and didn’t end until after 6 p.m.

An even greater challenge than scheduling difficulties

arose in 2006, when a pond weed infested Noxontown pond, making it impossible to row until the problem was resolved. When the race returned in 2007, more popular than ever, the organizers began considering a two-day Continued on Page 22

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Photos (3) by Steve Hoffman

Diamond State...

Continued from Page 21

regatta to help reduce how hectic the schedule was on race day. Before the change could be made, a potentially dangerous storm wreaked havoc on one race day.

Transitioning to a two-day event provided some protection in case rain came on one of the days. Schoonover said that organizers decided on a format of sculling on Saturday and sweep rowing on Sunday. Athletes with two oars, one in each hand, are scullers, while athletes Continued on Page 24

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Diamond State....

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with only one oar are sweep rowers. This two-day schedule allowed for a more relaxed atmosphere. The day also includes vendors offering food and drinks and plenty of camaraderie.

“Since we went to a two-day event, it’s much less complicated and much more relaxing,” Schoonover explained. “It’s easier on the people managing the regatta.”

When the regatta debuted in 1991, there were 20 or 25 volunteers who helped out with the event, but now there are more than 100 people who are there to assist on race weekend.

“We like involving people as part of the regatta,” he said, noting that some of the staff at the St. Andrew’s School helps set up for the event.

Rowing enthusiasts like Hans Mueller enthusiastically help out on race day. Originally from Germany, Mueller is a member of the Wilmington Rowing Club and he is in charge of the equipment for the regatta.

Mueller is among the growing number of people who take up rowing at a later age because of the health

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Photo by Steven Hoffman

benefits of the sport.

“I’m a late starter,” he said. “I like being out on the water. Rowing is easy on the joints. When you get older, that’s important. There’s no pounding, like with tennis or running. And it’s a complete workout.”

Mueller said that the event organizers always hear from participants about how well this race is organized. He talked about the attributes of the Diamond State Masters Regatta, and how the event is designed to be friendly for both participants and spectators.

“It’s very compact,” Mueller explained. “The boat trailers are close. It’s easy to launch and the crowd has a view of the course. You see the finish line.

The atmosphere is great. It’s a good way to spend a weekend.”

“It’s a tradition now,” Mueller said. “It has earned its reputation.”

This year, rowers came from Boston, Pittsburgh, Florida, and as far away as California.

“You have rowers from age 21 to 85 here,” Schoonover said. “We’ve been able to maintain the energy and the interest in the regatta.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty.com.

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Spectators have a good view of much of the race course and can enjoy the close races.

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—————|Around Middletown|—————

Middletown program is lending a hand to military families

By John Chambless Staff Writer The way Pete Stinson sees it, military veterans have given too much to have the nation turn away when there’s a need.

As the executive director of Operation Homefront’s tri-state region, Stinson has worked for four years to connect veterans with goods and services that can make a big difference in their lives. In July, the national organization got a Middletown connection with the opening of an office on Broad Street, in a second-floor space that was donated by Pettinaro, the company that owns the shopping center.

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The office was being used by Nick Callazzo, who had been coordinating help for area veterans on his own for several years. “I was just a guy doing things for veterans,” Callazzo said. “I’m glad now that it’s Operation Homefront. It’s a national name, and I think we can do even more good things for veterans.”

Callazzo will be a regular presence at the site.

The office is nothing fancy, but it’s a place that can be used for meetings, and for storing supplies that will be donated to military families in need, Stinson said.

The office also lets the public know that goods and services are available locally. The office will be staffed regularly, Stinson said, and the website and phone line are always open.

Photo by John Chambless

Programs manager Matt McCue, at the new Middletown office for Operation Homefront.

Operation Homefront serves as a conduit for aid.

“We try to connect locally, to work with active members of the military as well as the reserves, to provide family assistance,” Stinson said. “We also work with VA facilities and deal directly with veterans from OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom] and OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom].”

Stinson said the Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey region he oversees has three offices, and is hoping to open a fourth. “The office in Middletown can be used for in-kind donations, which are physical donations, not cash or checks,” he said. “That could be a couch, or building supplies -- that kind of thing.”

Referrals are handled online for the most part, Stinson said, when a family contacts Operation Homefront for help. “The office allows us to be as grassroots as possible,” Stinson said. “This lets us get the word out that we have a presence in the community.”

The organization provides emergency financial assistance to post-9/11 veterans who have been injured in the line of duty. That money can be for food, housing, a sudden car repair or home repair. “In his region, we’ve more than doubled the dollar amount in total www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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assistance from 2012 to 2013,” Stinson said. “There’s a growing need in the Delaware area. And we do expect another increase in 2014.”

In August, Operation Homefront holds a backpack giveaway for children of veterans at the Dover Air Force Base. Dollar Tree stores collect donations of school supplies across the country for the giveaway. “We provide the backpacks to go with the school supplies,” Stinson said.

Every winter, Operation Homefront provides toys for military families, and Dollar Tree contributes stocking-stuffer gifts to go along with them.

“We also hosted a baby shower in May at the Dover base,” Stinson said. “We called it ‘Star Spangled Babies.’ It’s for expectant mothers at the base. We provided them with some education, a variety of basic supplies, gift cards, that sort of thing.”

There’s also a two-year-old program called Homes on the Homefront, Stinson said. “We provide mortgage-free homes to veterans of any generation. We’ve

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already given five homes in Delaware, which is pretty outstanding. Nationwide, we have done between 350 and 400 homes. They come from a couple of banks.

We work with Home Depot to do any rehabilitation, or make the homes ADA compliant.”

With no shortage of people who need help, Stinson said the most important thing the public can do is make a tax-deductible contribution. People can also contribute their time to help with logistics of delivering items to families if necessary.

“The most important things are the financial donations that drive everything we do,” Stinson said. “We just want to get the word out about what we do. And we’re very efficient and effective, with 93 cents of every dollar going to programs and services.”

The new office of Operation Homefront is at 811 N. Broad St., Middletown, in the offices above the Goodwill store. Appointments can be made by calling 800-779-5892. Online resources are at www.operationhomefront.net, Facebook at www. facebook.com/ohpadenj, or Twitter, @OH_PADENJ. To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com.

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——————|Middletown Sports|——————

St. Andrew’s grad wins gold at Sochi Paralympics

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

W

hen Chris Klebl, a 1990 graduate of St. Andrew’s School, lined up at the start of the 10K race at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics as a member of the Canadian team, he was as about as far off the radar as you could imagine.

The 11-time U.S. National Champion was competing in his third Paralympics and had yet to win a medal.

Meanwhile, Russia, the host nation, had already won more than its fair share -- 79 to be exact, with Ukraine coming in a distant second in the medal count with 24.

The Russians had even pushed back the 10K race

Klebl displays his gold medal.

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

Courtesy photo

with the expectation of ending the games with a celebration of Russian skier Roman Petushkov’s recordbreaking seventh gold medal.

With all of the pomp and circumstance in place for Petushkov’s surefire win, the race was run anyway, and Klebl won the gold, seizing the lead at Continued on Page 32 Photo by Ronald Martinez/ Getty Images

Chris Klebl powers across the finish line in the men’s 10-km sitting cross-country race at the Paralympics.

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Klebl...

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the four-kilometer mark and finishing in a time of 30:52, which was 14 seconds faster than his closest competitor. As Klebl crossed the finish line first, an entire stadium of Russian fans, including Soviet President Vladimir Putin, sat in stunned amazement.

“The Paralympics are once every four years and this is my third,” Klebl told CBC Sports. “I’ve been doing this for 10 years. It was the last opportunity for the next four years. I’m pretty excited.”

Klebl, one of the most decorated athletes in St. Andrew’s history, grew up alpine skiing and snowboarding in Austria. Participating in many other sports, he also competed in running and rowing in high school and at St. Andrew’s. A broken wrist caused him to narrowly miss the U.S. Junior National team for rowing.

In 2005, Chris broke his back jumping off a cliff on his snowboard in Colorado. One year later, he joined the American-Para-nordic team and went on to compete at the 2006 Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy, and at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

In six years of racing, Klebil racked up more than a dozen IPC World Cup podiums, and won 11 national titles for the United States, before moving to Canada in 2011, where he has since raced for the Candian team.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@chestercounty.com.

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

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—————|Middletown Events|—————

15 years of hope

Each year for the last 15 years, the Middletown Relay for Life has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the fight against cancer.

The event is an opportunity to remember loved ones who have battled cancer and to fight back against the dreaded disease

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

O

ctober is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but for people like Deb Watson, Sharon Hart, Stephanie Ripanti, Libby Martin, Bette Webster, Evelyn Robinson, and Kenny Ford, the fight against cancer is

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

a ceaseless battle that knows no bounds. These people are warriors in the fight against cancer. Each year they come together for an event that showcases the power of remembering, the wisdom of working together, and the courage of standing up to a dreaded disease.

The 2014 the Middletown Relay for Life took place at the Silver Lake Park on Friday, June 6 and Saturday,

June 7. Every year is slightly different, but the main goal is always the same: to raise awareness about cancer and to raise money to eliminate the disease. The goal this year was to exceed $200,000.

Relay for Life events take place in large and small communities across the country, raising millions of dollars for the American Cancer Society each year. The roots of Relay for Life can be traced back to 1985 and an estimated $5 billion has been collected worldwide since then. Everyone has a reason for relaying, and it’s almost always very personal.

For Libby Martin and Bette Webster, they participate in the Middletown Relay for Life because their parents, Robert and Rose Alexander, both battled cancer and are survivors. Rose has been cancer-free for 15 years, Robert for 9 years. Libby’s son also battled thyroid cancer.

Evelyn Robinson of Townsend is a member of the Immanuel Townsend team, one of the leading teams in this Relay event each year. She expressed a view held Continued on Page 36

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Libby Martin and Bette Webster take part in the annual Relay for Life because family members have battled cancer.

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Relay for Life...

Continued from Page 35

by many people at the 15th annual Middletown Relay for Life.

“We have to find a cure for this,” Robinson explained.

“It touches everybody and we have to find a cure for this.”

Kenny Ford is a two-time cancer survivor. After the first diagnosis, he told his friend Vicky Kendall that “This is why we Relay.” He was more committed than ever to battling cancer, not just for himself but for anyone else who might be diagnosed with the disease.

“He is my hero,” Kendall said of Ford. On the delay of the relay, heroes are all around. They practically stand shoulder to shoulder as they walk laps around the track in honor of cancer survivors or in memory of those who passed away from cancer.

Kendall is the publicity chairperson of the committee that organizes the Middletown Relay for Life. Her late grandmother was diagnosed with cancer 28 years ago and as a caregiver for her Kendall saw firsthand the

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Photo by Steven Hoffman

Debbie Watson is a new committee member this year.

importance of finding a cure for cancer.

When a neighbor’s young daughter, Natalia Ferrara was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 3—Natalia is 20 now—Kendall sought out a Relay for Life to participate in. The Ferraras were determined to fight back against cancer, and so was Kendall.

“I have lost so many people to cancer,” Kendall said. “And this makes me feel like we’re doing something.”

The Middletown Relay event is filled with activities, especially during the overnight hours.

On Friday evening, there is a dinner for the cancer survivors and caregivers. Each survivor is introduced as they begin the journey around the track. A touching Continued on Page 40

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Relay for Life...

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luminaria ceremony provides an opportunity to remember those who have passed away.

A committee of between 12 and 15 people work throughout the year to plan the event.

“A lot of us have been on the committee for all 15 years,” Kendall explained. “I’ve been doing this so long that I’ve seen children grow up here. That’s really celebrating life when you’ve seen families grow up {at this event}.”

Because of the dedicated volunteers, the Middletown Relay for Life was nominated for the Spirit of Relay Award for the Delmarva Peninsula because it is a “quintessential example of a community that takes up the fight and embraces everyone and anyone in the community who wants to join them.”

More people are joining each year. Debbie Watson lost her brother to cancer and is herself a cancer survivor. She not only participates in the annual Relay for Life for Gary’s Chargers (the Relay group named after her late brother’s favorite football team), she serves on the committee that plans the event. Her family has

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Billy Grybowski and his wife, Jenn, residents of Wilmington, participate in the Middletown Relay event year after year.

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

benefited from the American Cancer Society’s programs and services when her brother was sick. That keeps her motivated to make sure that that help is available to other families.

“My family walks because we want to make sure that no family goes through this,” Watson said.

Plus, the event is a lot of fun. While there are certainly moments of remembrance, the Middletown event has been lauded for its positive atmosphere.

“We had a great time last year,” Watson said with a Continued on Page 42

Stephanie Ripanti, a resident of Townsend, is a member of “Beauties fighting the Beast.” She has been a cancer survivor for five years.

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Relay for Life...

Continued from Page 41

laugh, explaining that there is a celebratory tone to the event. It is an opportunity for family and friends to come together for a common cause.

Billy Grybowski and his wife, Jenn, residents of Wilmington, come back year after year. Grybowski was diagnosed with leukemia just a few years after graduating from high school. It was a life-changing experience, and he made it through with the support of family and friends, but the extended support provided by the Relay for Life helped, too.

“I never knew beforehand that there were organizations like this,” Grybowski said.

Sharon Hart is a part of Team Survivor that has raised about $50,000 over seven years.

“This is the least depressing event to have related to cancer,” Hart said. “There is an emotional time, but it uplifting, too.”

Some Relay for Life teams, like the Angels of All Generations, are legacies. This team was started by Joyce Scott, who died in 2008 from ovarian cancer. Her family continues the team in her memory.

Kendall said that the team captains are active throughout the year and team members sometimes hold yard sales, car washes, and online fundraising to boost the totals collected.

Stephanie Ripanti, a resident of Townsend, is a member of Beauties fighting the Beast. She has been a cancer survivor for five years.

“I wanted to do something to give back,” Ripanti said.

Webster and Martin are on team “Git R Done” which this year set as a goal raising $1,600. The team members had raised more than that before the day of the event. Webster and Martin both said that they like to be involved on the day of the Relay for Life because it’s a fun, family-friendly bonding experience.

“Your feet are sore the next day, you’re tired, but it’s definitely worth it,” Martin explained.

Julia Foxwell, a community manager with the American Cancer Society, said that Middletown’s Relay for Life has earned a reputation for being one of the most entertaining and fun Relays around, which is one reason for its success.

“Every Relay for Life is different,” Foxwell said. “And every person has a different reason for being here.”

Foxwell lauded Middletown for being a communitywide effort.

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The Town of Middletown is very supportive, Kendall said. The town is not only a sponsor of the event, but also provides additional funding and sends Public Works employees to help handle the logistics.

“We could not do this without the support of the town,” she said.

Everyone involved with the Middletown Relay for Life is looking to finish this fight against cancer. They look forward to a day when there is a cure and so many millions of lives will be prolonged.

Anyone interested in joining the fight against cancer can start now in preparation for next year’s Relay for Life event. More information about the Middletown event can be found on the event’s page on www.relayforlife.org and on Facebook.

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

Photo by Steven Hoffman

The annual Relay for Life event in Middletown is a chance to remember, fight back, and celebrate. www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

43

|Middletown Q&A|

QA &

Daniel T. Roach, Jr. headmaster, St. Andrew’s School

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Will Robinson, a 1997 graduate of St. Andrew’s and current Dean of Students at the St. Andrew’s School, left, along with Daniel “Tad” Roach, Jr., School Headmaster.

In his 17 years as the headmaster at the St. Andrew’s School, Daniel “Tad” Roach, Jr., has seen the art of education transform from one learned primarily in a classroom to one that extends globally, measured not only in knowledge but in action.

At. St. Andrew’s, what a student does is just as important as what a student knows, and it’s a tenet that Roach has woven within the mission of the school. Recently, Middletown Life sat down with Roach and Will Robinson, a 1997 graduate of St. Andrew’s and current dean of students, to talk about the changing role of education, the impact of a parent on a child’s learning, public school education versus private school education, and the role that a St. Andrew’s student should play in the world.

Q: The world has become a global marketplace of ideas and innovation, and the craft of learning no longer takes place just within the pages of a textbook or merely in a classroom. In your estimation, what must the mission of education for the 21st century become, and how do you see it in evidence at St. Andrew’s?

Roach: If you think about educational philosophy in a 44

Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

very broad sense, you’re thinking about three basic things: The intellectual skills and habits of mind that are necessary for success and citizenship and engagement in the 21st century; issues of character and issues of integrity and morality that are going to be increasingly important; and the increased understanding of diversity in our world.

An educator now balances all three. In terms of habits of mind, the revolution in technology, the research in great teaching, has allowed us to know more about the process of learning than we’ve ever known.

In terms of the issue of character, integrity and morality, we’re living in a world that gives us examples of both extremes. Teaching this is the increasing responsibility of schools. Schools are where the most important changes in American society have taken place. We witnessed changes in the notion of educational opportunities for women.

We pursued the civil rights revolution in all schools.

St. Andrew’s is a private school with a public purpose.

In the early 20th century, American boarding and prep private schools were modeled after the English public school tradition, and they were for a particular group of white male students who were from affluent backgrounds, and were being prepared specifically for privilege and for leadership. In 1929, St. Andrew’s founders decided that there needed to be a school that would have an audacious

commitment to financial aid, that could serve students from poor and middle-class backgrounds, and seek to give those students the same opportunities that other students were receiving at other prep schools.

Each headmaster at St. Andrew’s has been given the responsibility of trying to figure out how the founding of the institution will play out in his era. I’ve been the head for 17 years. The modern school still has this commitment to financial aid. Almost 50 percent of our students are on financial aid, our budget for aid has reached $5.5 million a year, and the average financial aid commitment is about $40,000 a year per student. International students are coming from all different countries and cultures. We are a school of tremendous energy, diversity and possibility.

If you’re a head of a school, you’ve got to know how it will respond to modern society, and the evidence is that students graduating from here are not only prepared for individualistic success, but that their lives have to be about something more than themselves. They have to believe in their responsibility for something greater than themselves.

Robinson: I married a woman from my class who is a midwife in Dover and spends a lot of her time advocating on behalf of women. Tonight I’m having dinner with a Continued on Page 89

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——|Middletown Chamber of Commerce|——

As Middletown grows, the Chamber of Commerce is paving the way

By John Chambless Staff Writer When Roxane Ferguson and her family moved to Middletown about a decade ago, “we had to leave the area to go get clothing and other essentials,” she said.

Today, she doesn’t have that problem.

First as a resident, and then as the executive director of the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce, Ferguson has seen Middletown transition from a sleepy crossroads with a moribund downtown to a place where businesses and corporations are lining up to be part of the explosive growth.

From her office in the historic Middletown Academy Building -- where she works with the chamber’s only other paid employee, office manager Peg Ryan -- Ferguson acts as a connecting point between business owners and the public. Juggling the needs of a rapidly increasing population and an ever-expanding list of businesses large and small seems to come naturally to Ferguson.

The Chamber of Commerce was founded 43 years ago by the Middletown Rotary Club. Its activity has risen and fallen along with the fortunes of the town, but as anyone who has driven through town lately can see, things are picking up.

“When Peg and I first started working together three years ago, we were at 165 members. Now we’re over 400,” Ferguson said. “We’ve grown exponentially.”

Ferguson credits the cooperation of Middletown, Odessa and Townsend with moving the whole region forward and attracting new residents who appreciate 52

Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

Above: David Lewis with Roxane Ferguson and Peg Ryan of the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce.

His business, Moore Sealcoat and Striping, was named the 2014 Business of the Year.

Right: An accountant specializing in small business work is located near a banner promoting the Peach Festival, one of Middletown’s biggest events.

the quaint shops of Middletown, as well as the chain stores and restaurants that are expanding the east and west parts of town.

“There’s a culture here,” Ferguson said.

“We’re a part of New Castle County, but we’re below the canal, so there’s a smalltown atmosphere. We’re in the heart of everything. As a resident, everybody knows everybody. You can’t go anywhere and not run into somebody you know.”

Under the leadership of Middletown mayor Kenneth Branner, Jr., the outskirts of Middletown are becoming a major regional attraction. Ferguson ran down a list of the new businesses. There’s a Wendy’s on the way, a Marshall’s department store, a Chipotle, a Michael’s craft store, and a Texas Roadhouse restaurant is set to open in September. The Westown Movies location is a brand-new theater with the latest

The huge Amazon distribution center brought about 1,200 jobs to Middletown.

Continued on Page 54 To the east of Middletown, the HealthSouth medical complex is under construction.

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

53

——|Middletown —— — Chamber of Commerce|—— Continued from Page 53

technology. There’s a CVS pharmacy on the way. The Amazon distribution center brought 1,200 jobs to town and serves as a major hub for the online retail giant.

Closer to Route 1, there’s the Christiana Care facility, and the HealthSouth building should open in late October. That facility will be “the major brain injury care center in Delaware,” Ferguson said. Also on the east side, there’s a CVS pharmacy under construction, and a McDonald’s may be next.

There are homes popping up all around Middletown, with new developments in the works -- both entrylevel housing and more upscale apartments.

“Together, we’re all working towards economic development,” Ferguson said. “For us, it’s about creating a lifestyle. The mayor will say that the town took the ‘Field of Dreams’ philosophy that if we build it, they’ll come. Well, they’ve all come. Now it’s a matter of helping them while they’re here. The chamber,

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With all the growth comes the possibility of too much of a good thing. There are only so many acres that can be turned into housing or businesses. Ferguson said Middletown works with the state of Delaware to carefully plan economic development and job creation. The growth plan for 2015 is on track, she said.

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The 2014 Olde Tyme Peach Festival, held Saturday, Aug. 16, was a great day for local families to celebrate the importance of peach crops to the history and growth of Middletown.

“Based on what the mayor shared at a recent Rotary Club meeting, we don’t expect the town to expand to more than 20,000 or 25,000 people,” she said.

“The town has built the infrastructure to support the commercial business that we’re getting. In the next several years, when things are built up, we’ll be where we expected to be when the town created the plan. What the chamber is working on now with the state is a business incubator for some of the smaller businesses, or even international businesses, that might want to come here. We’re looking for a location for it, and looking at getting some grants through the state.

“On the west side of town, there’s still quite a bit of development opportunity there,” Ferguson said. “The infrastructure’s in place for us to be able to accommodate growth. Right now, we can build new construction from the

Roxane Ferguson, the executive director of the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce, works with small business owners and large corporations to bring new opportunities to town.

Scott Waugh, the general manager of Westown Movies, a recent addition to the quickly expanding west side of Middletown.

ground up, which a lot of areas don’t have.”

For Tony Martina, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and the owner of three Tender Loving Kare childcare centers, the chamber has been an indispensable boost to his business.

“My family and I moved here 11 years ago to join the family business,” Martina said. “I joined the board of directors at the chamber in 2009.”

Continued on Page 56

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——|Middletown —— — Chamber of Commerce|—— Continued from Page 55

At that time, the growth of Middletown was demanding a full-time executive director of the chamber, but the chamber members weren’t sure they could afford to pay someone, Martina said.

Luckily, Ferguson’s children were enrolled in area schools and she was a huge booster of the region, so she came on board.

Martina’s daycare business has grown along with the area’s population of young families. In 2007, he said, there were eight competing daycares in town. Then came the housing bust, which cut that number. “Some of them are still here,” he said.

Tender Loving Kare caters to infants up to children the age of 13, and employs 35 people at its 10,000-squarefoot building on Route 301, which has been expanded as much as it can be.

“I do attribute the success of my business to my involvement with the chamber,” Martina said. “It got me more involved in the community. I get to meet other business

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An empty mansion stands on land that’s marked for development.

people and community leaders, it gets my name out to the community, and there’s a great web presence.”

All it takes for a prospective business owner to be sold on Middletown, Martina said, “is to drive around and look at all the activity. ... This area is, for Delaware, the next center of growth. There are plenty of young, working families moving in. There’s no better place to start a business.”

The Middletown Chamber of Commerce is a

relentless booster for businesses, starting with connecting prospective owners with the tools they’ll need, holding ribbon-cutting ceremonies for each new business, and giving businesses a robust online platform that can be updated easily.

Each year, the chamber selects a Business of the Year. For 2014, it’s Moore Sealcoat and Striping, owned

by David Lewis, who bought the business from its previous owner in 1999.

“In my industry, there are a lot of notso-desirable people,” Lewis said. “I want to be associated with other professionals who took their business as seriously as I do. In 2009 or so, I met Peggy at the chamber’s spring expo and I signed up. I took advantage of everything the Middletown Chamber has to offer.

“People now see that we’re the

Continued on Page 58

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——|Middletown —— — Chamber of Commerce|—— Continued from Page 57

Business of the Year. We are legitimate and people know we’ll do a good job,” Lewis said. “I have to make the chamber look as good as it makes me look. My business has doubled this year. I used to have two guys, and now I have six fulltime guys. ... My advice to any business owner is to get involved with the chamber and make those relationships. Our Middletown business has grown by leaps and bounds, and I attribute much of that The Walmart store is part of the expansion on the west side of Middletown. to the chamber.”

In the lobby of Westown Movies on Commerce Drive, general manager Scott Waugh explained how the 12-screen theater combines state-of-the-art technology with a hometown atmosphere.

The huge mural in the lobby, first of all, showcases Middletown’s past and present. The concession stand sells food provided by local businesses, including Pat’s Pizza, Pretzel Boys soft pretzels, and Brewster’s Ice Cream. Instead of Dasani at $4 per bottle, Waugh said, the theater sells Crystal Geyser spring water for $2.

Prices are kept as low as possible so families can enjoy a movie more often, he said.

“We could have gotten frozen pizza and made more profits, but people love that it’s local businesses providing the food,” he said.

“All of our concession prices are about 40 percent less than at the big movie chains.”

One day a month, there are showings of family films where the sound is turned down and the lights are left on slightly, letting toddlers share the fun of a big-screen film. Area non-profits are welcome to set up in the lobby to spread awareness or raise funds.

Movie tickets are donated as prizes for non-profits as well.

During a driving tour of Middletown, Ferguson pointed out successes such as the Amazon headquarters as well as places that are still in transition -- the large MOT Park, for instance, which has a sign but never got developed, and a couple of empty storefronts downtown that need to get new tenants.

But as she stood at the main crossroads downtown, Ferguson Space-available signs are a mainstay of booming Middletown. beamed with pride that Middletown has flourished, and is continuing to expand.

For more information about the Middletown “It’s a very sports-minded area, it’s a very family-minded area, Area Chamber of Commerce, visit www. and the school district is amazing,” she said. “We are an econommaccde.com or call 302-378-7545. ic hub for the state of Delaware. There’s still a lot of opportunities To contact Staf Writer John Chambless, for residents, and still a lot of opportunities for businesses. ... I’ve e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com. been blessed to make a difference for my community,” she said.

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—————|Middletown People|—————

Photo by Theresa Knox

Joyce Dungee Proctor has been providing professional services in career consulting and executive coaching for more than 20 years. She is the founder of Seminars by Joyce and The Total You, Inc. 60

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Joyce collected some of her strongest beliefs in a book, “Take the Limits Off: Nine Ways to Stop Talking and Start Doing.” The book encapsulates some of the lessons that Joyce learned about leadership, management, sales, and human resources roles during her career.

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Who would you become if you dared to live your dreams?

Joyce Dungee Proctor is interested in finding out. Not only that, she can help you become that person who lives your dreams by achieving your personal and professional goals.

Courtesy photos (2)

Joyce is about to release a new book titled “The Break-Through Book: A Personal Writing Tool for Creating The Life that you Want.”

Joyce, a resident of Townsend, is the founder of Seminars by Joyce—The Total You, Inc. She has been providing professional services in career consulting and executive coaching for more than 20 years, and several times a month she conducts seminars and workshops focusing on how individuals can elevate both their personal and professional lives to new heights.

Continued on Page 62 www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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“The journey of my own life led me to this career—it’s my passion and my purpose,” Joyce explained during an interview in late July. She admits that she was a shy person growing up, and would not have imagined herself becoming in demand as a professional speaker.

That changed as she grew in her own career and faith.

“I was able to overcome the shyness because I worked in the service industry,” Joyce explained.

She first discovered that she had an ability to inspire and motivate groups of people while she was working as a district manager for Casual Corner and had to do a Dress for Success seminar.

As she became increasingly comfortable honing her message for that initial seminar, which she delivered to various groups, it gave her the opportunity to book other speaking engagements, among them a talk in front of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.

Before long, she was regularly conducting workshops for many of Delaware’s Fortune 500 companies, colleges, and non-profit organizations, and serving as the keynote speaker at job fairs and career transition programs Continued on Page 64

Photo by Theres Knox

Joyce is very much in demand as a professional speaker and career coach.

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throughout Delaware and neighboring states.

During her work with some of these larger companies, she inspired and coached managers and team members in a variety of industries, and earned a reputation as the “career transformation coach.” She was able to help a lot of people make critical decisions about their futures.

Joyce said that she discovered both a passion and purpose for supporting, inspiring, and coaching people to succeed.

As she met with and talked to more men and women, and learned about the problems and challenges that they were facing in their careers, she developed some very precise ideas about what people needed to do to meet their career objectives and live the lives that they wanted.

After Joyce coached thousands of individuals on their careers, she drew upon her diverse experiences to create Take the Limits off Career Services, a powerful new approach to career management. She utilizes a coaching formula known as the Ultimate Career Coaching method, which has been featured on CNN and NBC, and in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Take the Limits off Career Services works directly with

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executives professionals, as well as coaching and advising employees to take charge of their careers by creating work that they love while also earning what they deserve.

She collected some of her ideas about best practices in a book, “Take the Limits Off: Nine Ways to Stop Talking and Start Doing.” The book encapsulates some of the lessons that Joyce learned about leadership, management, sales, and human resources roles during her career, including some of her favorite nuggets that she frequently shares during her talks.

She encourages everyone to take control of their own careers and not to rely on the company or the managers to do so.

“I always tell people that they are in charge of managing their own careers,” she said.

It all begins, she said, by taking the limits off yourself.

“We have self-imposed fears that we set on ourselves,” she explained. “I encourage people to act anyway, to continue to move forward.” Joyce encourages everyone to be prepared with an updated job-seekers tool kit that will help them remain active in looking for the next promotion or job opportunity.

“You may have four or five careers in your lifetime,” Joyce explained.

She encourages everyone to be proactive instead of

IS S CLOSER + LIVE ACTION TABLES + Photo by Theresa Knox

Joyce Dungee Proctor, speaking at a recent seminar

reactive when it comes to career planning. There are a number of things that everyone can do to remain proactive. At the top of the list, she said, is networking—people always need to be plugged in with other professionals to succeed at the current job and to identify future opportunities.

“You must stay connected to people,” she explained.

It’s also critically important for people to never stop learning, to continually stay informed about the latest information and trends in a given industry. Attending workshops or pursuing additional certifications can be helpful. It’s also important to not be intimidated by technology because the most advanced technology can be useful for many professional endeavors and will look good to a potential employer.

Joyce is about to release a new book titled, “The BreakThrough Book: A Personal Writing Tool for Creating The Life that you Want.”

In the effort to continue to pursue the life that she wants, Joyce has added breast cancer awareness to her platform. It is a cause that is near and dear to her heart.

She wants to continue to utilize her talents, gifts, and influence so that she can make a difference in the lives of others.

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

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65

Joyce Townsend

To book Joyce to speak at your next event, or to seek her help as a career coach, please call 302-438-8478, e-mail joyce@seminars byjoyce.com or visit www. seminars byjoyce.com.

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MHS football team invites fans to “Beat The Beast” During their September 26 game against Glasgow High School, members of the Middletown High School football team will be wearing pink jerseys emblazoned with the name of someone who has battled cancer. That family member will be honored in a pre-game ceremony and receive the jersey right off the back of his/her player, at the conclusion of the game.

Now the players are giving their fans an opportunity to buy pink “Beat the Beast” shirts for the same cause.

Commemorative pink t-shirts emblazoned with the message “Beat the Beast” are now on sale for $10 each, and can be purchased at Middletown High School during school lunch periods throughout September; by filling out an on-line form available at www.apposchooldistrict.com, and providing form and payment to receptionist Chrys Mills at the Appoquinimink School District Office on 313 South Fifth Street, Odessa, DE 19709; or by purchase on game night at the stadium. Shirts come in adult sizes S through 4XL. Volunteers from the American Cancer Society, The Helen Graham Cancer Center and Miles for Melanoma will provide cancer awareness information at the game, and prevention messages will be featured prominently throughout the stadium and at information stations. All proceeds raised by the event will be given to local nonprofit organizations dedicated to the fight against cancer.

– Richard L. Gaw “Beat The Beast” at Middletown High School Date: Friday, September 26 Time: Opening Ceremony at 7:00 p.m. Middletown vs. Glasgow at 7:30 p.m.

Place: Cavalier Stadium, 504 S. Broad Street, Middletown, DE www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Or toll free: 1-800-341-4022 Rehoboth Beach, DE 302-644-7700 Open Saturday 8am-12pm

Middletown Life Magazine A Chester County Press Publication

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EDITOR

Steve Hoffman

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Middletown Life is published twice a year by Ad Pro, Inc., P.O. Box 150, Kelton, PA 19346, 610-869-5553.

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Editorial: We want to hear from you. Send your comments, suggestions, and story ideas to editor@chestercounty.com or mail them to P.O. Box 150, Kelton, PA 19346. Written correspondence must be signed and include a mailing address, telephone number, and an e-mail address, when possible.

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All contents copyright Ad Pro Inc. Nothing contained herein may be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. Publisher disclaims all responsibility for omissions and errors. All rights reserved.

—————|Middletown Health|————— For Brennan McAllister, a senior at Middletown High School, spending ten days assisting the poor in India this past January helped put the life he has back home into proper perspective

His 8,000-mile journey Courtesy photos

On his most recent trip to India, McCallister worked with Judd Ryan, a dental lab technician, on making partials for Indian patients who sought dental assistance.

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By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

T

he approximate distance from the area directly behind home plate at the Middletown High School baseball field to the northern reaches of India is 7,900 miles, but for Brennan McAllister, a catcher on the school’s baseball team, the miles between his life and the life he saw for ten days this past January are measured in the people he helped.

To meet McAllister is to glimpse into the life of a normal teenager in full flight, one on the fast track in preparation for his senior year at Middletown Continued on Page 72

McAllister assisted Ryan for a period of ten days.

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

High School and beyond. A year from now, he envisions himself in college, attending class, writing term papers and playing baseball. For now, he spent his summer as the catcher for the Delaware Diamonds, a traveling team of a high school players from the state, that included a seven-game barnstorming tour of the South.

Yet, there is an experience -- or rather, a set of experiences -- in McAllister’s 18-year-old life that have set him apart from most of the other teenagers seen around Middletown, life lessons learned seemingly a galaxy removed from the comfort of high school hallways or baseball dugouts. To hear him speak of these moments is to see the myopic view of most teenagers vanished, and replaced by that of a wise sage old beyond his years. He speaks of his three trips to the country of India slowly, with reverence and respect, as if someone he met there has suddenly and abruptly come to stand before him.

Beginning in the sixth grade, again in the eight grade and most recently this past January, McAllister has joined his father Brian, a dentist in Middletown, as well as the rest of his family, in traveling to India as part of the Delhi Bible Institute’s mission to provide impoverished individuals and families there with adequate medical and dental services.

On his latest visit, he spent ten days assisting dental professionals with making dentures and partials for patients at makeshift health centers set up by the Institute.

Since its beginning in 1954, the Institute, headquartered in New Delhi, has been spreading the Gospel message through its Bible teaching and training ministry. For the past 50 years, DBI has trained over 4,000 students and pastors, and has started over 2,000 churches throughout North India, one of the most unreached parts of the world.

The purpose of the Institute is to reach North India with the teachings of Jesus Christ and to serve the evangelical church in North

India by training its leaders through various levels of theological education programs.

The first time the elder McAllister went, it was not by choice. Brian first went over to India in 2008 as a vision trip that first year, in order to determine what was needed in order to firmly establish the treatment centers.

In 2009, stockpiled with dental equipment, Brian and other dentists and Continued on Page 74 Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Brennan McAllister, a senior at Middletown High School, recently traveled to India as part of a mission that provided dental assistance to patients.

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hygienists returned, only this time, the entire McAllister family joined him - his wife Cyndy and their children Brennan, Colleen and Craig. McAllister joined his father and his team in providing dental care to those who came to the campsites. In most cases, he helped clean teeth. In a few cases, he helped pull them.

“My father had already been going to India for a few years, and when I was 12 years old, he called for his entire family to come with him,” McAllister said. “I’m not going to lie. It was pretty scary hearing my dad’s stories about the chaos of India he had experienced on his previous journeys.

I was on edge, but when it was all said and done, it was a great experience.”

At first, Cyndy was fearful about flying

Courtesy photo

McAllister is a catcher on the Middletown High School baseball team.

Continued on Page 76

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her children to another part of the world. Could she open her mind to the prospect of seeing her kids walking around impoverished villages, thousands of miles from the comfort of home?

“But one night at dinner, my daughter Colleen asked me, ‘Mom. What are you afraid of?’” she said.

“The reason for these trips stem from our faith in Christ, and by knowing that our children belong to Him, Brian and I knew that our job is to shepherd them. It’s part of who we are as Christians. Brian and I saw this as planting seeds in our children’s hearts that may change them for the better.”

If his first two journeys to India served as enlightening introductions to a part of the world he only read about, then it was McAllister’s most recent 10-day visit that could best be defined as an illuminating experience -- one that revealed the state of the rest of the world to him.

He saw the caste system of India compartmentalize its people into three parts: the rich, the middle-class

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and the impoverished poor. Those on the bottom rung of the economic scale in the United States still have access to like subsidized housing; in India, he would travel on trains and see vast stretches of land dotted with families whose living spaces consisted of lean-to shacks made of corrugated scraps of lumber. McAllister and his family would stay at decent hotels, where just beyond their gates, he would witness poverty the likes of which he still to this day he knows he cannot adequately describe.

It was as if ugliness rubbed up against beauty.

“The gap between rich and poor in India is tremendous,” he said. “India is not exactly a third-world country but there are parts that I saw that show exactly how it is there.”

Working with another dentist, McAllister made dentures and partials, which after their insertion better enabled patients to chew their food.

As the McAllister family and the team of dentists and hygienists traveled from camp to camp -- Lucknow,

Dhurdan and Ranchi -- McAllister saw the impact a lack of daily dental hygiene can have on entire villages of people which, when coupled with poor nutrition and a steady diet of sugar cane, leads to massive tooth decay.

“Even if they have a toothbrush, they don’t even know how to use it,” he said. “When you’re not brushing your teeth, there’s not much you can do to prevent your teeth from breaking down.”

Continued on Page 86

McAllister is considering playing baseball on the collegiate level.

Courtesy Photo

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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————|Middletown Then and Now|————

The past meets the present in Middletown

By John Chambless Staff Writer

While the edges of Middletown are seeing unprecedented growth and new construction, the heart of the town is dotted with ghosts of the past.

Whether it’s the stately commercial buildings at the bustling corner of Main and Broad streets, or in the narrow alleys where 1800s horse barns still remain, the past and the future of Middletown are standing side by side. During a walk around town last month, armed with a camera, a street map and a copy of the 2014 book, “Images of America: Middletown” by Shauna McVey and the Middletown Historical Society, I stood in the same places where photographers of long ago captured the landmarks of Middletown. Some places – such as the former home of the M.O.T. Little League at West Green and Scott streets – are gone, leaving no trace. Other places are much the same, although the trees, signs and telephone lines have changed. See if you can find some reminders of Middletown’s long history the next time you’re walking around town.

Here’s what I found.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com.

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This postcard view, looking west on Main Street, shows the steeple of the Presbyterian Church in the middle of the image.

Today, the view looking west on Main Street has changed almost completely, although the steeple is still a landmark.

Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

This postcard captures the stately trees along Cass Street, as well as this elaborate Victorian home.

There’s no mistaking the ornate architecture of the home today.

This store, with its distinctive corner turret, was a commercial center of town when this postcard view was taken.

The building has new tenants, but much of the same look today.

The south east corner of Main and Broad, when the streets were dirt.

The building at Main and Broad still anchors the southeast corner.

Continued on Page 82 www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Then and now...

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Above: Saved from the wrecking ball by dedicated volunteers, the Everett is still a showplace or the arts.

Left: The Everett Theatre opened in 1922, and served as the entertainment hot spot in Middletown.

Above: Today, the Academy building holds the Middletown Historical Society and the Chamber of Commerce office.

Left: The Middletown Academy, a private school, was founded in 1827 to offer English and classical education.

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Right: St. Anne’s is just as impressive today. Only the trees have changed.

Below: St. Anne’s Episcopal Church was built in 1872 at East Green and Cox streets.

Above: Slight changes have been made to the steeple, but the brickwork is still a distinctive touch.

Left: The steeple of the Presbyterian church, at 44 W. Main St., with workmen perched on scaffolding surrounding the clock.

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Above: The church still welcomes the community today.

Left: Dale United Methodist Church was built in 1894 on Lake Street as worship center for the black community.

Above: The mansion has been carefully preserved, and is known locally as the ‘Grande Dame of Middletown.’ Right: This circa 1907 mansion at 217 N. Broad St. was expanded by Dr. Dorsey Lewis and his wife, Mary.

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Right: The bank is currently vacant, awaiting new tenants to continue its history.

Below: The 1923 building on the northwest corner of Main and Broad streets was a working bank until the early 2000s.

Above: Although the building has been replaced, there is still a grocery store at Anderson and North Broad streets.

Right: Perhaps one of these men our front is H.C. Jones, the proud owner of a grocery store at Anderson and North Broad streets.

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Journey...

Continued from Page 77

Although the decimation of an impoverished and largely ignored part of the Indian population may have informed his journey, it did not wholly define it. From camp to camp, McAllister saw with amazement that the patients he and others saw would return to the camps as much as ten times during the day -- for no other reason than to thank the people who had just helped them.

“A lot of the people who were treated had never seen a medical professional or a dentist before, let alone be in the company of a light-skinned person,” McAllister said. “We’d go into these villages and they would stare at us as if we were ghosts.

We must have looked like aliens to them. I kept thinking that America to them is like heaven, a far-reaching place they’d heard about in stories.

And here they suddenly were, getting help from

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an American, from a part of the world that was previously unimaginable to them.”

There was no way McAllister could go from India back to Middletown High School and not be a changed person. How could he? Everything -- his academic work, his social life, his baseball -- was all being filtered through a different prism of light.

“I saw a maturity begin to grow in him this past January,” Cyndy said of her son’s most recent trip to India. “He took the initiative on this trip to learn hands-on how to make partials and dentures, which is not surprising, given that Brennan learns best through a hands-on approach, not just sitting in the classroom and listening. Whatever direction he wishes to take in life, I know that it will be one guided by his maturity and sense of responsibility.”

“I wasn’t surprised to hear he volunteered in

India, because Brennan’s not afraid to put himself out there on the baseball field,” said Middletown Varsity baseball coach Scott Smith. “He’s a leader, very vocal, and he rallies the team around him. Brennan does well academically, athletically, and he’s just that kind of guy who people want to be friends with and coaches want on their team.

“Maybe sports in a sense has given him the confidence to feel comfortable enough to put himself in an environment he’s unfamiliar with, and allow him to just go after it.”

It may have been between games of a doubleheader, McAllister cannot recall, when he first heard that he was selected by USA Today and the Army National Guard to be one of 15 high school student-athletes in the United States to receive this year’s Inspiration Award, given to those who have demonstrated outstanding service to others.

It’s all part of what has become the magical ride that McAllister has been on since his return from

India. He wants to go back there and help again sometime in the next few years, but for now, his goals are to dedicate his senior project to helping raise money for the Delhi Bible Institute through a dodgeball tournament he’s planning, and then onto college, where he plans to focus on the books and baseball. He’s interested in the dental industry, but unlike practicing as a dentist like his father, he’s looking to pursue the idea of creating dental enhancements like molds, dentures and bridges -- items that he made in India.

“What I have learned through my experiences in India is a big part of who I am becoming,” he said.

“Going back the last time brought the person I’m becoming to full thought. Visiting there in sixth and eighth grade were at times in my life when I was still relatively young, but when you’re a junior in high school, you’re beginning to put your entire life together.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@chestercounty.com.

www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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————————————————————

Kids can show their best at ‘Trick or Treat on Main’

On the night before Halloween, it will already be the witching hour in downtown Middletown.

During “Trick or Treat on Main,” children in costume can pick up a free treat bag and coloring book from participating merchants, and then walk from store to store to collect treats from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

There will be costume judging for infants through age 12, as well as for costumed pets. The event, which will be held rain or shine on West Main Street, features Halloween tunes being played by DJ Jammin’ Jeff in Cochran Square.

For more information and a costume contest application, visit www.middletownmainstreet.com.

Costumed kids can get free treats along West Main Street on Oct. 30.

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Middletown Q&A...

Continued from Page 45

few St. Andrew’s classmates, one of whom works for the Chester River Association, helping keep our waterways clean, and another is a professor of sociology and is one of the leading voices on juvenile justice reform in America.

It’s hard to leave St. Andrew’s and simply just make a lot of money and nothing else. You have to stare people like Tad in the face and tell them what you’re doing for the world, and I would be embarrassed if I were to tell him that I wasn’t doing anything for anyone but myself. It’s why I came back to St. Andrew’s, and why I’ve devoted the last four years of my life to it. I believe in our mission.

Q: A a first-year student arrives at the St. Andrew’s School in the fall semester of 2014. Let’s call him Ian. Four years later, he will collect his diploma and leave the campus for the last time. During his time here, how do you want him to grow as a person? How will he be different on that podium than he was as a first-year student?

Roach: It’s dynamic and organic and there’s no one process. I try to plan backwards by asking what is it I want Ian to have when he leaves St. Andrew’s? I want him to have a passion for the life of the mind. I want this to be a place where he will fall in love with religion or philosophy or math or literature. The notion of the school is designed to make them lifelong learners. It may sound like high rhetoric, but it’s designed to allow them to fall in love with the work of scholarship.

The other gigantic thing is that we want them to be more kind, empathetic, and more aware of the needs of others than when they arrived. We want them to become independent, resilient and autonomous, so that whatever they face for the rest of their lives, whether it be challenge or tragedy, they’ll have resources to get them through those moments.

We want them to understand that when they leave here, that the world, the nation and their own communities need them to be alert and alive and engaged, and being able to give of themselves in a powerful way.

I received a beautiful letter from a student who just graduated. She told me that when she was in the ninth grade here, she didn’t speak at all. She did her assignments but was very quiet. Her praise of the school, she said in her letter, was that the school had given her a voice.

Q: In November 2011, you said at Christ Church in Charlottesville, Va., that a primary goal of education – beyond its strategic notions – should be to improve a student’s grit, determination, tenacity, and most Continued on Page 90 www.middletownlifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2014 | Middletown Life

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Middletown Q&A...

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importantly, to learn how to accept failure. Explain why these tenets are valuable in an education.

Roach: In America, there is the notion of immediate gratification. If you want to be a good athlete or student leader of your class, there’s something in the air that seems to say to students, ‘Just snap your fingers and you’re either gifted or you’re not.’ If you talk to adults, every single one of them will say the reason they’ve gotten to where they’ve gotten is that they’ve worked very hard. The problem is that the students of today are living in this technological world where they can get anything they want in a matter of seconds.

I tell parents that it’s going to take their students a long time to become a good athlete here, a good student, or a good leader. We ask the parents to suspend their desire and the need for immediate results. The only way to teach tenacity and resilience in students is to actually have them practice it. It’s something the students need to learn.

Why is failure so scary? It once was not the unspeakable tragedy of a young person’s life to fail a test or get cut from a team. What you have to do in a 21st century school is

to talk to students all the time about it. The kids have to understand that the notion of making mistakes is part of growing up.

Robinson: When I was a student here, the faculty would hold us all accountable. They would tell us that we were not holding up. If we made mistakes, they would look at you and ask, ‘What are you going to do about this to make this right?’ As a teacher, I tell my students, ‘I know you’re better than that.’ Kids in general respond to being held accountable. They want to be told that they can do better. Those moments of failure are some of the greatest opportunities for learning for our students. Because we all live here on campus, it’s not uncommon to get a knock at the door at 10 p.m. from a student who might be struggling with something. Then we sit down and work with them.

Q: Whether in a private school or in a public one, a high school student sees himself or herself placed in a pressure-cooker of having to succeed at all costs – to earn high grades in hopes of a scholarship, for instance, or to succeed on the playing field. In many cases, the pressure cooker has been made not by the student, but by his or her parents. Parents have become so much a part of a student’s learning that they are now influencing curriculum, teachers and coaches. Do you accept this involvement as merely a reflection of our win-at-all-costs society, or Call for 2014 Brochure!

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Middletown Life | Fall/Winter 2014 | www.middletownlifemagazine.com

do you attempt to balance parental influence with your educational curriculum?

Roach: Parents who send their kids to St. Andrew’s or to a boarding school in general are doing something unusual, putting faith in an institution to do the intellectual preparation and setting the moral and ethical foundation in their child, all during this amazing time between 14 and 18 years of age. It’s a leap of faith that I take very seriously, and we get a lot of support from parents. I think what we’re struggling with as a country, in terms of parenting, is allowing students to become autonomous and independent. In general as a society, parents are having difficulty in finding out what the balance is between providing opportunities, and allowing their children to explore those opportunities.

There is in the culture a desire on the part of parents to be over-involved and over scrupulous and that is, ironically, creating a culture of dependency and immaturity.

Schools have to be worthy of the trust and if they are, then parents have to have the patience to allow the school to do the work that it’s going to do. The whole notion of education is that you can’t speed it up, you can’t simplify it, and you can’t create a routine that’s going to simplify education. If we can get to a place of trust, where parents can allow their children to work independently, however, I think we’ll be in a much better place than we currently are.

Q: There is the perception that those students who attend private school receive a more well-rounded and effective education than a student who attends a public school. St. Andrew’s shares Middletown with two highly competitive high schools, each of which graduate a high percentage of students who go on to pursue a college education. How do you respond to the perception?

Roach: I always honor the scope, the mission and the professionalism of the public schools, especially in our area. What the public school does is accept everyone, educate everyone. They create programs for the full diversity of the student body. The work that public school teachers are doing is the most important work that’s going on in the country right now.

When a student goes to a public school, he or she may well gain what a private school can’t always provide, which is an appreciation of the sheer diversity of one’s own community and the sheer quality of what it means to be in a public school in an American community.

An American public school, at its best, allows students to see the full diversity of our country. Middletown is unique in that it has public schools that are not divided by socio-economic classes, and because of that, I think the Continued on Page 92

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Appoqunimink School system is fantastic.

I’m very skeptical about the mission of the private school in America. I not only understand the perception, I understand the reality. A lot of private schools in this country represent exclusivity, elitism, and everything that is contrary to the vision of St. Andrew’s.

I tell students at the beginning of the year, ‘Just because you go to St. Andrew’s, you’re no better than anyone else anywhere in the world. You have nothing that brands you in a superior way.’ I also tell them, ‘This is going to be the private school that takes these stereotypes and tosses them on their heads.’ We may not succeed all the time, but that’s the mission, and that’s been my rallying cry for 17 years.

The great thing that’s happened in the world in the last hundred years is that colleges and universities have truly begun to honor the public school tradition. Now, going to a public school is considered a badge of honor, and it is a sign that a student has grit and tenacity; we in the private schools have to prove it.

Q: What is your favorite spot in Middletown?

Roach: I have a lot of them. The Ches-Del restaurant.

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Dunkin’ Donuts is the place I begin my day at 5:30 a.m.

I really miss Duke Field in Middletown. There used to be an incredible field in the middle of town, and it’s where I spent six years watching my son play baseball. The Silver Lake School is where my two oldest kids went, and it’s a place I love.

Robinson: I love walking on Main Street and stopping in at Frameworks to say hi to Dave Leathrum. His daughter, Grace, graduated from St. Andrew’s and he’s a good friend of the school. He does great work and is especially patient and kind with my two sons. I always enjoy going there.

Q: If you were to host a dinner party at your residence and could invite anyone to it, living or not, who would we see sitting around the table?

Roach: I’m a teacher of literature at St. Andrew’s in addition to being the headmaster, so I’m obsessed with three writers: Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy and George Eliot. The other part of my life is trying to connect St. Andrew’s with issues of social justice, so I’d have Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Barack Obama join Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Eliot at the table.

Robinson: I’m a sentimental person, so I’d want my grandfather at that dinner table if I could.

-- Richard L. Gaw

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