Fall/Winter 2018
Newark Life
Magazine
Exploring the sanctuary of
Lums Pond State Park - Page 62
Inside • Memories become scents for Newark candle maker • Tubby Raymond: A remembrance • Fitness instructor Carole Walsh honored for her decades of dedication
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Fall/Winter 2018
Newark Life
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Table of Contents 8
Velo Amis supports non-profits in the area
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Q & A with Dr. William Matthaeus
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Newark fitness instructor honored for her decades of dedication
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Tubby Raymond: A remembrance
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In the glow of a candle
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Turning cast-offs into creatures
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Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research
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Celebrating what makes Newark special
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Letter from the Editor: From professors to candle makers to fitness instructors to nonprofit organizations that work to improve the lives of others, this issue of Newark Life celebrates some of what makes the City of Newark special. Writer Richard Gaw recalls two three-hour interviews with retired football coach Tubby Raymond, in search of more than the Xs and Os that made him a Delaware legend during the 36 seasons that he was the head coach of the University of Delaware football team. In this issue we also write about Carole Walsh, who has been helping to keep Newark residents fit for more than four decades through the classes that she has taught for the Newark Parks and Recreation Department. Earlier in 2018, Walsh’s efforts during the last four decades were recognized as she was selected as one of this year’s recipients of the City of Newark’s Jefferson Awards. We also spotlight Newark-based Velo Amis, which brings together runners and cyclists for events that support non-profits in the area. Another non-profit doing important work is the Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, which cares for more than 2,600 birds annually in its state-of-the-art facility. The TriState Bird Rescue has been helping birds of various kinds soar again for 42 years. There are candles that smell pretty, and then there are candles that transport you instantly to a summertime field, to your grandmother’s kitchen, to a sun-warmed tobacco barn. That’s the kind of experience contained in every one of the scents Meg Kuck puts into her Moderncity+Main candles. We talk to Kuck about the craft of candle making, and how she creates candles that crystallize memories and emotions. The subject of the Q & A is Dr. William Matthaeus, a Unidel professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware who has taken a major role in the development of the Parker Solar Probe, which will make 33 revolutions around the sun from now until 2024 in order to learn more about space-weather events that impact life on Earth. We also talk to Pedro DeAlmeida about how he started Upcycled Arts, a business that spotlights DeAlmeida’s boundless creativity and his ability to see dragonfly wings in saw blades and dinosaurs in wrenches. As always, we hope you enjoy the stories in this issue of Newark Life, and we look forward to bringing you the next issue, which will arrive in the spring of 2019.
Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13 Cover design by: Tricia Hoadley Cover photo: Jim Coarse www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | Newark Life
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|Newark Sports & Recreation|
Running and riding Velo Amis supports non-profits in the By Kevin Barrett Correspondent
F
or about eight years, Newark-based nonprofit Velo Amis has been raising money for other non-profit groups, as well as people in need of support. The group often partners with businesses, including Dogfish Brewery. The two organizations are holding a bicycle tour of Southern Delaware on Oct. 20. Newark resident Lauri Webber is one of the founders of the organization. She founded it along with Marc Vettori and Tom McDaniel who were all part of a local bicycle racing team. The team had been promoting mountain bike and cyclocross races for many years at the Granogue Estate in Montchanin, Del. Continued on Page 10
Photo courtesy Dennis Smith
This is the start of the 2017 Beau Biden Foundation Run 5K/10K held at Granogue in Montchanin, Del. Close to 800 runners showed up to race in the snow.
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g for a good cause he area
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Velo Amis Continued from Page 8
“The idea of starting a non-profit grew out of the simple act of collecting donations at one of our races for an organization called HERA. We had no connection to HERA, but a fellow cyclist from Philadelphia did,” Webber said. “It felt good to support something bigger than our bicycle race team.” HERA, which stands for Health, Empowerment, Research, and Awareness, is an ovarian cancer foundation that seeks
to eliminate the disease. Velo Amis has changed over the years, Webber said, but the goal of raising money for important non-profit organizations has not. Velo Amis is French for “Bicycle Friends” or “Friends of Bicycles.” “My family had spent a year living in France, and bicycles were a large part of our experience,” Webber said. “We wanted a name that made people think a little and was somewhat unique.”
Photo courtesy Ash The Photographer
The kids race from the 2018 Beau Biden Foundation Run 5K/10K at Granogue. Every one of the trail races has a free kids race, and these races are usually some of the best races of the day. 10
Newark Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.newarklifemagazine.com
Webber is officially the treasurer of the organization’s Board of Directors. However, she says the group that manages the non-profit is small. In addition to Webber, there are five other people. One of them is Charlie Fitzgerald, who Webber describes as the logistics person who keeps her “sane and grounded.” The other leaders are Kristine Andres, Matt Thompson, and Felix Smith. “We are such a small organization that we all Continued on Page 12
Photo courtesy Ash The Photographer
The Velo Amis staff (from left) includes Kristine Andres, Lauri Webber, Felix Smith and Charlie Fitzgerald. Not pictured is Matt Thompson. The photo is from the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance 5K/10K trail run in West Chester, Pa.
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Velo Amis Continued from Page 11
wear many hats,” she said. “Most of our time is focused on promoting our cycling and running events. These events are our primary means of fundraising for Velo Amis.” Over the years, the group has supported numerous organizations. To date, it has raised more than $150,000. It supports about a dozen organizations, including the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children and the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance. “When we formed Velo Amis, one of our primary goals was to support other non-profits,” Webber said. “We kept our mission statement very general so that we could have flexibility in choosing who we support. We are a volunteer-run organization, and we value small, local organizations where we feel that our money is not being used primarily for administration of the non-profit. We are contacted by organizations, but we also reach out to organizations that align with our philosophy. As a group, we meet and discuss each request for funding. We
partner or donate only to groups when we are unanimous in our decision.” Since 2017, Velo Amis has been partnering with Paradocx Vineyards in Landenberg, Pa. According to Webber, Matt Thompson has a personal relationship with one of the founders, and Paradocx general manager Trish Brown reached out to Velo Amis in regard to a 5K. Brown said that, prior to entering into a working relationship with Velo Amis, Paradocx had hosted a 5K to support a memorial scholarship honoring a local doctor. The fundraiser reached its final year, and that is when she contacted Velo Amis. Working with Paradocx, Velo Amis organizes two events. One is a run called Grape Stomper 5K, held on the grounds of the vineyard. A race was held in October. The first one was held in 2017. “The race was such a success that it again was organized for 2018. This event is fun, challenging, and enjoyed Continued on Page 14
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Velo Amis Continued from Page 12
by participants and their families, as well as the Paradocx family,” Brown said. “Lauri, Matt, Charlie, and Kristine are impressively organized, as well as focused and driven, so their events are guaranteed to be successful.” The Gravel Grape Crusher, which is a bicycle ride, was held the first Sunday of April of this year, and another will be held on April 13, 2019. Last year, the ride benefited the Police Unity Tour, which supports the families of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty. Photo courtesy Ash The Photographer
Parker Thompson, 8, and his brother Ryder, 9 (Matt Thompson’s sons,) are pictured cleaning up the start /finish area of the Race to Save the World, Enoch Lee Memorial Trail run 5K/10K. Parker was the 2018 winner of the 13 and Under Trail Creek Series 5K.
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There will be two routes for next year’s event – a 50K and 100K. The race will begin and end at Paradocx Vineyard, and bicyclists will travel through many areas, including White Clay Creek, Fair Hill Park, and the Newark Reservoir area. Velo Amis has been working with Dogfish Head Continued on Page 16
Photo courtesy Dennis Smith
Runners exiting the “Tunnel of Love.” This photo is from the 2016 Beau Biden Foundation Run. This race is in March and runners cross under the train tracks, run through a small creek and then through the tunnel.
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Velo Amis Continued from Page 15
Brewery, which is based in Milton, Del., for a few years. The ride will be held on Oct. 20 is the Dogfish Head IPA, which stands for I Pedal A-Lot. The ride will begin and end at the brewery. The funds raised will benefit the Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, and Sussex Cyclists. Mark Carter, who handles community outreach for Dogfish Head Brewery, said that he met Lauri years ago at a cycle race during the early days of Velo Amis. The brewery also supported several non-profits in the area where Velo Amis puts on their events. He learned they were putting on a trail run series. “We have a lot of trail runners,” Carter said. “We like to support an active lifestyle, and one thing led to another, and we started working together through the trail run series.” Carter said there are a couple of reasons that Dogfish is happy to work with Velo Amis. “They put on a great event,” he said. “When you ride a long bike ride or you do a trail run, you want a well-marked course,
and they do a great job of route management. When you do a lot of these, you know the groups that do it well and those that don’t. These guys do a great job.” Another reason Dogfish is happy to continue the relationship, Carter said, is because the group really focuses on the activities and the community. “They’re runners, bikers, and outdoor folks themselves, so they’re passionate about the activities,” Carter said. “The premise of the group, though, is that they are tied to causes that are really great. Each trail run benefits a different nature preserve or area, and that’s pretty cool.” Carter also said that he thinks the routes created by the brewery’s association with Velo Amis are particularly interesting. “Everyone comes down to the beach, and they don’t realize that there’s this whole western side of the state that is really beautiful to explore,” he said. “We have created some really fun routes that take folks to some interesting cultural and historical spots
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around southern Delaware.” Kristine Andres, who attended the University of Delaware as an undergraduate is pursuing her Master of Business Administration from the institution, is one of the small group of people who manage Velo Amis. In particular, she is involved in marketing and managing social media. She met Lauri Webber through Lauri’s son, Jeffrey, one of her childhood friends. She contacted Webber when someone she went to high school with, Enoch Lee, died in the fall of 2014 in a car accident. Both Andres and Lee attended Newark High School. Andres wanted to put on a run in honor of Lee. “We had a lot of the same friends from high school,” Andres said. “He also volunteered much of his free time back to the Newark community and even internationally. He was an all-around great guy.” After she graduated from the University of Delaware, she got more involved in Velo Amis. Webber says that Andres is critical to the organization. Kristine
does all the social media and marketing and enjoys it,” Webber said. “She keeps us on task.” Andres said that it has been a lot of fun being a part of Velo Amis for the last few years and seeing how it has grown. “It is such a small organization, but we have gotten so much help from so many people,” Andres said. “We get volunteers at every event we hold. It is so nice to see people come together for no other reason than to help.” Webber said that family members of the small group that runs Velo Amis are also very important to the non-profit. Her daughter, Megan Bahnson, who is attending the University of Delaware, has been volunteering since she was only 7 years old. She now gets her friends from the university to participate in events and volunteer. Webber also said her husband, Brian Bahnson, who is the chairman of the Chemistry Department at the Continued on Page 18
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Velo Amis Continued from Page 17
University of Delaware, always finds the time to help Velo Amis do whatever is needed. Similarly, Matt Thompson’s three sons all volunteer and participate. Thompson, along with Felix Smith, manages graphics and design for the organization. “We couldn’t do it without our family’s support,” Webber said. Charlie Fitzgerald’s family business, Grass Management donates resources that are critical to Velo Amis’s race production. While the organization has been around for about eight years, Webber has been organizing races for well over a decade. She attributes the longevity and success of the non-profit to the fact the group is putting on top-notch events that they would want to participate in. “It is just our way of giving back and doing a bit of good,” she said. “When people do our events, they really enjoy them, and that makes you feel good. We get people out and exercising. We feel
like we’re giving back.” On Nov. 2, Velo Amis will be holding Ghosts of Granogue for the second year. The event is held at night, which is unusual. It is also a relay race involving both running and cycling. “The course is shared by runners and bicycles and is through very dark woods,” Webber said. “The final leg of the race is a pumpkin hill climb, where teammates need to carry a pumpkin up a brutally steep hill to the finish. Both teammates must finish together. The catch is that you bring your own pumpkin. It is weighed in, and you receive five seconds off your time per pound of pumpkin.” Participants are allowed mechanical assistance as long as it is human powered. “Last year’s winners were a father and son team with a 35-pound pumpkin that they transported on a dolly,” Webber said. For more information on Velo Amis, visit http:// veloamis.org.
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|Newark Life Q&A|
Q&A Dr. William Matthaeus, Unidel professor of physics and astronomy, University of Delaware How do you begin to learn about an object that is 93 million miles away from Earth? On Aug. 12, the NASA Parker Solar Probe embarked on what will be a sixyear journey to do what mankind has never done before: To nearly touch the Sun. From now until 2024, the Solar Probe will make 33 revolutions around the Sun – from a distance of nearly 4 million miles from its surface – to gather data on solar activity that will lead to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth. Dr. William Matthaeus, Unidel professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, has taken a major role in the development of the Parker Solar Probe. Recently, Newark Life spoke with Dr. Matthaeus to understand more about the Solar Probe, the information it hopes to gather, and to learn about what first attracted him to the mysteries of space. Continued on Page 22
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Courtesy photos
Dr. William Matthaeus, Unidel professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, has taken a major role in the development of the Parker Solar Probe.
The Parker Solar Probe, launched in August, is expected to make 33 revolutions around the Sun before the expedition ends in 2024.
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Dr. William Matthaeus Continued from Page 20
Q.: Congratulations on the work you and your colleagues are doing on the Parker Solar Probe. It was launched on Aug. 12 at 3:31 a.m., with the intent to study the corona of the Sun. How is the Solar Probe doing up there so far? A: Since witnessing the spectacular takeoff that early morning, we’ve been keeping track of the progress that the Probe has been making. My graduate students and I have been checking its status online, and we’ve been able to see how many tens of millions of kilometers the craft has progressed in the days after the launch. In the last few days, I have received messages that different instruments on board are being commissioned. They’re being brought up one by one, and we’re being told how they will be used. There are always little glitches in projects of this size and scope, but that’s anticipated. So far, the Solar Probe is moving forward at a pace that will allow us to actually acquire data within a month or so. The Solar Probe is expected to reach as close as 3.8 million miles from the sun and make 33 passes around the Sun between now and 2024. What do you hope to find? The science questions are, and have been for a long time, related to finding out why the corona layer of the Sun is as hot as it is, and why it gets hotter the further we move away from it. It’s important for us to know more about those questions, because the corona is where solar wind originates, and where the supersonic flow of charged particles come off of the Sun and create the gas and plasma environment of the entire solar system. It drags the magnetic field with it, which protects us on Earth from drastic cosmic rays, but at the same time, the activity of that magnetic field is responsible for the solar energetic particles, which originate at the Sun. It’s a complicated ecosystem out there, and we really don’t understand some of the basic principles about how
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it all works. If we ever want to have space-weather predictions to use for space expeditions, we need to be able to measure that electromagnetic and radiation environment. We really don’t know how these plasma works yet so close to the Sun. We don’t know why they’re as hot as they are, and we don’t know why they’re moving as fast as they are, so this mission is to help us find that out. How did you become involved in the development of the Parker Solar Probe? This is what they call a group project, yes? There are thousands of people involved, and there are half a dozen instrument suites, and each has its own team of dozens of scientists working on it. My involvement predates this particular version of the mission by two decades. After I got my Ph.D. and did a post-doctoral fellowship in the early 1980s, I began to hear about a solar probe mission that discussed the concept of traveling close to the sun. Actually, this mission was discussed in some form back in the 1950s, even before NASA existed. I came to the University of Delaware in 1983 as a junior professor, and at that time, I was already interested in a lot of the science questions [related to the study of the Sun], and talked about the hope of someday being able to see this mission happen. As I became more senior in the field in the early 2000s, I was part of a committee, formed by the National Academy of Sciences, that ranked the Solar Probe as the number-one priority for the coming ten years. After that, things began moving at NASA headquarters, and in 2004, I was asked to be on NASA’s science and technology definition team. Continued on Page 24
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Dr. William Matthaeus Continued from Page 23
Do you see science and technology advancing to the point where our research of the Sun may get us closer to its surface? Absolutely. We could get to three or four solar radii right now, but the orbit we would need to go to would only permit a few passes [revolutions] around the Sun. As rocket technology improves, we can get to three or four passes, and maybe we can get to two passes. This is not the last time that we’re going to do something like this. We’re going to learn things that we don’t even know that we don’t know. There will be discoveries made on this mission. How will the discoveries made on this mission ultimately help us on Earth? Once we understand the basic mechanisms that are going on close to the Sun, we can then begin to predict the space plasma, electromagnetic and radiation environment near Earth. That’s important for satellite technology, human exploration of space, and in the establishment of bases that we may have on the Moon or Mars in the distant future. We surely need to know a lot more about the environment out there in order to expand the space exploration that we’ve been doing for the past 50 years. How and when did you first become interested in space, astronomy and physics? Take me back to those early days of fascination. When I was a little kid in the 1950s, maybe 5 or 6 years old, I used to watch “Mr. Wizard” on TV. I used to lay Continued on Page 26
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Dr. William Matthaeus Continued from Page 24
on my stomach in front of the back-and-white set and draw pictures of rocket ships going to different planets. At about the same time Russia launched the Sputnik, the United States declared The International Geophysical Year that announced that the U.S. was going to explore the Earth’s upper atmosphere towards space, and attempt to orbit the planet. I was just the right age to become completely enthralled with that. From the time I was 7, I imagined that I would spend my life studying something in space, and I watched every science fiction movie and program that I could find. As fate would have it, and with some luck, I was able to get the right education, and I ended up doing just that. You’re a lucky person when you get to do for a living exactly what you dreamed of doing when you were 7. Since 2016, you’ve been the director of NASA’s Delaware Space Grant. How is that grant distributed throughout Delaware? We are in charge of distributing funds for promoting young peoples’ participation in undergraduate studies, graduate studies and summer internships in the STEM-related subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This program helps student research at the University of Delaware, Delaware State, Wesley College, Del Tech and Delaware Technical Community College. Any student interested in a STEM subject can apply to us for support. It’s very gratifying for me to encourage young people to go in the same path that I personally have gone on myself. Richard L. Gaw
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|Newark People|
Newark fitness instructor honored for her decades of dedication By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
C
arole Walsh has been helping to keep Newark residents fit for more than four decades. Walsh explained how she first got started teaching fitness classes for the Newark Parks and Recreation Department in 1971—more than 47 years ago. “Janet Chance was instructing fitness classes for both the YWCA and the fledgling Parks and Recreation Department when I joined one of her classes in 1969,” Walsh explained. “I loved it!
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This was not my middle school physical education class, but a fun and challenging exercise program to my favorite music. Later, when Janet needed to cut back on her schedule, she asked me if I would be interested in teaching one of her evening classes. I think it was Jim Hall who accepted her recommendation, and I began in 1971 trying to replicate Janet’s program. The following summer, and for several years thereafter, I attended the Bonnie Prudden Institute for Physical Fitness to improve my teaching skills, learn safe techniques and choreography that could be adapted to many levels.” That was the start of Walsh’s commitment to
One of Carole Walsh’s favorite memories is a surprise birthday party that was planned in her honor.
fitness and dedication to her classes that still continues today. Earlier in 2018, Walsh’s efforts during the last four decades were recognized as she was selected as one of this year’s recipients of the City of Newark’s Jefferson Awards. According to Paula Martinson Ennis, the deputy director of the Newark Parks and Recreation Department, Walsh is now the longest-standing employee for the department, and her fitness classes have a regular following of participants— some of whom have been taking Walsh’s classes for decades. Speaking on behalf of the Newark Parks and
Recreation Department, Ennis wrote in an email, “Carole Walsh has been an integral part of the Newark Parks and Recreation Department for over 45 years. She began instructing a fitness class in 1971, and continues to teach this class today. Carole’s lifelong commitment to fitness and dedication to her classes has provided countless people in the community the opportunity to build and maintain their fitness level. Her classes have a regular following of participants, some of whom have been a part of her class for decades. We are truly honored to have Carole as one of our fitness instructors. She is more than deserving of Continued on Page 30
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Carole Walsh Continued from Page 29
recognition for her years of dedication and service to the Newark community.” The Newark Parks and Recreation Department also shared a comment from one of Walsh’s students, who said, “Carole is an amazing woman who consistently challenges me to keep fit. The warmth of her personality and the great care she takes to make a fun creative workout are outstanding. I love her class and make it a priority in my weekly schedule.” Walsh, who has been a resident of the city since
All photos courtesy
Carole Walsh has been a fitness instructor and has taught classes through the Newark Parks and Recreation Department since 1971.
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“Jefferson Award Winners”
Courtesy photo
Surrounded by a crowd of friends, neighbors and local officials, several outstanding volunteers were presented with Jefferson Awards at a ceremony earlier this year. This year’s recipients of the award include the following: Judy Taggart (Friends of Newark Library); Steve Sinko (Fusion Inclusion); Deb Buenaga (Preston’s Playground); David Milsom (Newark American Little League) and Carole Walsh (Newark Parks and Recreation Department and the League of Women Voters of Newcastle County).
1966, still teaches two classes a week during the school year. She always tries to make the classes fun and different for the participants, and through the years she has helped many people identify an exercise program that works for them. Walsh explained, “There was a time when I taught up to seven classes per week, but not all of them were for the city. In the mid-1980s, one of my class members offered her backyard pool in order for us to continue exercising during the summer; so we got together one day a week for “aquacise.” Many years later, when the pool was no longer available, our group began hiking in White Clay Creek State Park on a weekly basis during the summer. This little hiking group is now under the leadership of long-time class member Lucy Marianiello, who leads a hike every day Continued on Page 32
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Carole Walsh Continued from Page 31
and has expanded her contact list to almost 100 individuals. I am proud to have begun this hiking group and prouder still of Lucy, whose efforts have encouraged so many people to participate in a regular fitness routine.� Fitness is a very important part of Walsh’s life, and she tries to emphasize the importance of being physically active to anyone who takes one of her classes. “I am very fortunate to have had the luxury of being able to enjoy physical activity that is both fun and healthful,� she explained. “Aging is inevitable, but keeping active as long as possible is the best way to stay healthy and energetic. I am grateful to my parents for giving me good genes, and to my husband for supporting my enthusiasm for teaching the classes.� She said that the most meaningful part of her work
during the fitness classes has been the close relationships that she has formed with the participants. “I have met so many wonderful and talented people and made lasting friendships with many of them,� she explained. “We have shared many of life’s joys and a few heart-breaking tragedies. We have followed each others’ children as they have grown up, and now it is the grandchildren that we keep up with.� One of her favorite memories of all her time with the Newark Parks and Recreation Department came just last year when the class gave her a surprise birthday party. Walsh explained that there was a birthday cake with her photo, along with the Wonder Woman logo, balloons and a basket of cards and notes. There were lots of current and former Stay Fit class members and a large group of Continued on Page 34
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Carole Walsh Continued from Page 32
people from the Parks and Recreation Department. “It was amazing that so many people were able to keep the secret!” Walsh said. “The notes and cards meant a lot to me, and I have kept them along with quite a few notes of appreciation that have been sent to me over the years.” Another one of her favorite memories is the many years that she spent cooking bacon for the attendees of the annual Thanksgiving breakfast that the city sponsors. The breakfast was held for years at the George Wilson Center. Walsh explained that, “Vernae Waverly was wonderfully efficient in organizing the event, getting donations, and making sure she had enough volunteers to make everything run smoothly.” Walsh said that she was always happy to volunteer for the community event. When Walsh received the Jefferson Award, it
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was also noted that she is a member of the League of Women Voters of New Castle County, and she has served as the moderator for candidates’ forums prior to City Council elections for many years. It’s another way that she has helped serve the Newark community. While Walsh appreciated the Jefferson Award, she was also very humble about it. “It is certainly an honor,” she explained, “but as I told Mayor Sierer, there are many others who are more deserving of the recognition than I am. Nevertheless, I was delighted. The ceremony was memorable, and being in the company of a number of individuals who have contributed so much to the community was extraordinary. I was pleased that my adult children were able to attend. I teased them by noting all of the times throughout their Continued on Page 36
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Carole Walsh Continued from Page 34
lives when I was sitting in an audience being proud of them, now it was their turn to applaud for me.” When she looks back at the 47 years and counting that she has served as a fitness instructor, Walsh said that the old adage that if you find something you love doing, then you will never work a day in your life has been true in her case. “Of course,” she explained, “this is not a full-time job, but finding the appropriate music, and the steps and moves that fit is sometimes challenging, but it is never ‘work.’” To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.
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|Newark Reflections| A writer recalls two three-hour interviews with a retired football coach, in search of more than the Xs and Os that made Tubby Raymond a Delaware legend By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? Ecclesiastes 3:18, King James Version of the Bible It is Indian Summer in Newark as I write this. Soon, the last bombastic heat stroke will sweep through this region, then mercifully surrender itself. It even has a sound, heard best on the University of Delaware Mall, when all of those dreamy millennials stomp on the crispness of fallen leaves, in a place where academia and nature collide. Autumn is the slow burn into Winter before the shutdown occurs and our hibernation begins, when we make our annual tumble into the season of sweaters that announce both alma maters and designers, and inhale the still far-off scent that warns of Winter’s arrival. For several Saturdays, some will renew their acquaintance with University of Delaware football, and a few observant souls will admire how the ancient stadium seems wrapped up in an enveloping canvas of orange and red that is splashed about the hills and woods that encircle it. For ten consecutive seasons beginning in 1991 and ending in 2000, I enjoyed the view, because I rented four seats in Section J at Delaware Stadium, as a season ticket holder for University of Delaware football. Every game brought a new set of occupants who sat beside me – friends, family, but most often a small assemblage of tailgate colleagues, crammed side-by-side with both the bluebloods and the blue collared, all of whom, no matter their calling or luck in life, pledged allegiance to a program that was steeped in tradition and success. 38
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Photo by Richard L. Gaw
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If there is anything I learned about Delaware football fans in those ten seasons, it was that with success come expectations, and with expectations come standards that must be achieved, and when those standards are not met, the order of everything collides upon itself. For ten seasons, I learned that whenever that order was
interrupted, whether by a fumble or an interception or by an interpretation of play calling, the direction of the fans’ ire – their finger-pointing blame – was directed solely at a diminutive plug of a senior citizen who stood on the sidelines across the field, whose mouth appeared to be twisted into a permanent scowl, and whose his eyes were barely visible beneath the brim of a blue baseball cap. In the 36 seasons Harold R. “Tubby” Raymond was the head coach of the University of Delaware football team, he molded his teams into a Division I-AA powerhouse. He
Raymond accumulated a record of 300-119-3 and won three national titles, six Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, four Boardwalk Bowls and 14 Lambert Cups. Courtesy photos
In the 36 seasons Harold R. “Tubby” Raymond was the head coach of the University of Delaware football team, he molded his teams into a Division I-AA powerhouse. 40
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inherited an offensive scheme called the Wing-T from his predecessors and sharpened its schematics until it was nearly impossible to penetrate. He accumulated a record of 300-119-3 and won three national titles, six Atlantic 10 Conference Championships, four Boardwalk Bowls and 14 Lambert Cups. Under his guidance, dozens of his former players later played in the National Football League, including a few All-Pro quarterbacks. For years, coaches with bigger resumes than his consulted him, hungry to learn from the master. On Saturday afternoons in the fall, however, I learned that absolutely none of these accolades mattered, because for 36 seasons, Raymond coached in a “What have you done for me lately?” lions den of unreachable expectations. After Joe Biden, Raymond was Delaware’s second-most famous citizen but he was also its number one Kewpie doll. “TURN THE PAGE, TUBBY.” “YOU’RE MISSING A GREAT GAME, TUBBY.” “YOU’RE LOSING THIS ONE, TUBBY.” “THE GAME HAS PASSED YOU BY, TUBBY.” “GET OUT OF FOOTBALL, TUBBY.” From my seat across the field, I would listen to the relentless venom that would pour down on him like sheets of rain, and wonder what the perpetual juggle between massive success and unbearable criticism felt like. Whether or not it had been his life’s dream to live like this, or whether he was simply chosen for the position, was Raymond’s secret. From my seat across the field, I saw first-hand what this life had done to him. It was there, in the guise of a man in the arena who folded up into himself along the sidelines, where the mysteries and truths of his journey lay. Would they ever become known? Maybe someday, but not now. It’s fourth-and-one on the Lehigh 20-yard line and the Blue Hens are down by four with two minutes to play. A decision must be made. Someday eventually came. * * * * In September 2010, nine years after he had coached his last game, I sat with Raymond at his home for two threehour sessions, for what became a 3,000-word profile entitled “The Clothier’s Son,” that appeared in the Fall edition of Newark Life. It began with a phone call to the coach. He had moved to nearby Landenberg years ago, and lived less than a mile from my home. I told him that I would like to write a profile of him for the magazine. “You want to what?” Raymond asked. His voice seemed Continued on Page 42 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | Newark Life
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as if it was rubbed along pavement, a gravel pitch accented with an upward squeal, a sound carved into his larynx from decades of coaching. “I said I would like to know if you would be interested in sitting down with me, for a profile interview. For a magazine.” “You’re kidding,” Raymond said. I insisted that I was not. “Why?” “Because I think that it would be interesting to learn more about who you are, and what led you to the life you’ve had.” “...Interesting? To who?” “Well...for all of those people who never got to know you as a person, who only knew you as a coach,” I said. “This would be an opportunity for you to share a part of you that I believe remained...hidden for so long.” “Who said it was hidden?” he asked. “You?” “I’m retired.” “I know.”
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“I haven’t coached in years.” “I know.” “Share? What do I have to share...?” There was a pause that felt like it was a week long on the other end of the phone. “...Can you be here next Wednesday morning?” he asked. I knocked on his door at precisely 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, and the first thing I saw standing in the doorway were his eyes. They were two gray stones, and I was determined to change their color. Continued on Page 44
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* * * * Nearly everything about Harold R. Raymond’s life, I learned in his study on the second floor of the beautiful home he shared with his wife Diane, was traced to the State of Michigan. He spoke about growing up in Flint City, and recalled the names of old coaches he admired and played for at Flint Northern High School as a two-way offensive guard and middle linebacker. It was not without irony that a man who grew up in Flint City would reel off names that sounded as if they were carved from rock. Fritz Crisler. Bennie Oosterbann. Tom Harmon. He spoke about learning the famous Wing T offense from former Delaware head coach David Nelson, and using his left hand as a blackboard, punched the formation’s principles into it with his right hand. I had spoken with a few of his former players for the profile – K.C. Keeler, Scott Brunner, Billy Vergantino and Raymond’s son, David – and every story they shared with me gave a picture of a man who was singularly possessed by a need to succeed. Keeler talked about the time when
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Raymond hurled a can of orange soda at a film screen, enraged that Keeler had missed a tackle. Brunner recalled when Raymond screamed at him for taking a short breather against a goal post during a Summer practice. “My father wanted to be feared,” said David Raymond, a kicker on the 1979 Division II national championship team, told me “He did a great job of developing the personality he wanted people to believe, that of a tough coach who was aloof. If a player needed a pat on the back, he knew enough to go to a coach for it, not my father.” For three hours, I heard how the successful life of Tubby Raymond began, how it was sustained and how, in twilight, it was protected. Our conversation sounded like it was scratched down in a playbook, or shown in game-film rewinds. Behind Raymond, I saw into another room that was filled with easels and half-done paintings, a life in art that I had heard about for years. I wanted to get there, to talk about the easels and the colors and the brushes and the portraits I saw ten feet away, but Raymond kept throwing body blocks at any attempts I made to know about anything other than football. I left Raymond’s home at 1 p.m. on that Wednesday with the feeling that I still knew nothing about my subject, and I
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believed that it was the subject’s intention to do so. Everything about what I had come to find was protected by a wall of granite. I had come in the hopes of a revelation and instead received a tutorial. I was positioned as the right tackle in a Wing-T formation, held the line for three hours, and gained nothing. Two days later, I called Raymond again. “Coach, I was wondering if we could schedule another interview,” I said over the phone. “What for? You didn’t get enough the first time?” “I think I just want to hear more. There’s so much more about your life that I would like to talk about.” “About what? I’ve told you everything.” “I’d like to hear about your art. I’d like to know about your childhood in Flint. Your family.” Again, a lengthy silence. “...Come over tomorrow morning.” * * * * It was my conversation with former UD quarterback Bill Vergantino that confirmed the side of Tubby Raymond that I wished to find. In 1989, Susan, Raymond’s first wife was diagnosed with a stage four brain Continued on Page 48
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Throughout his coaching career, Raymond was known for his steely demeanor and his cold passion for winning.
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tumor, after an MRI diagnosed a malignant growth in her brain. She was told by doctors that she had eight months to live, and during that time, Raymond’s attention turned away from football and to doctor’s visits and tests and further diagnosis. He had surrendered the team to his assistant Ted Kempski, but still attended practices and games. Vergantino, then a sophomore, hitched a ride to practice with Raymond one day. It was a short drive, but it gave Raymond enough time to tell his player about the fact that his wife was very ill. “It was the first time I had ever seen another side of him,” Vergantino told me. “Until then, I had looked at Coach as always just about football, but in that short ride to the practice facility, he spoke to me as a man. Coach probably doesn’t even remember that car ride,” Vergantino added. “I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.” Sue Raymond died on April 17, 1990. She was 50 years old. Raymond remembered the car ride with Vergantino. On my second visit to his home, in fact, Raymond remembered everything. Whatever fortress he had put up during our first meeting – whether by accident or with intention – had been politely removed, and all of the Xs and Os had been erased on the imaginary blackboards in the room. It is said that the fear they saw in their parents eyes never quite leaves the children of the Great Depression. Instead, it lingers like a near presence that’s just a bad decision away. It magnifies each wonderful moment in life as a fleeting, teetering speck of time, soon to be replaced again by the great albatross. It is the unimaginable reality that everything they have worked their whole lives for, at any moment it chooses, vanish from their hands. His father Russell came of age in 1920s Michigan, with dreams of becoming an architect, but no amount of kindness and genteel Puritanism could hold back the swelling waves of two world wars and a depression. He raised his family on a salary earned as an automobile assembly line worker in Detroit, and then as a door-to-door insurance salesman. The home he had purchased went into foreclosure, and he moved his family into his parent’s home in Bay City. His children Jane and Harold did not have a bedroom. The young Harold wanted a new baseball glove, but he also needed a new pair of pants. Both cost ninety-nine cents. His parents told him that he could have one, but not both. He chose the baseball glove. “You see, that’s exactly...I have always been terrified of failure, because if you fail, there’s no place for you to go,” 48
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Raymond said. “So I committed myself to success. I kept feeling that if we lost, I wouldn’t make as many friends as I’d like if we won all the time “It all goes back to the little kid in Flint City, Michigan, who didn’t have anything.” The faces of the portraits in the next room then welcomed us from every easel – current UD football players, dignitaries and friends. Raymond stared deeply into one of his paintings. “I would love to make one great painting someday,” he said, “one that my wife would look at and say, ‘That’s wonderful.’” To this day, I do not know if he ever made that painting. * * * * Harold R. “Tubby” Raymond died on Dec. 8, 2017 after a short illness, at the age of 92. In January, a memorial service was held for him at the Bob Carpenter Center that drew over 1,000 attendees, that ranged from University of Delaware football fans to Vice President Joe Biden to former NFL players to former players who only managed to reach the second string. “My dad was my father. He was your father,” David Raymond told the audience. “My dad was my coach. He was your coach. My dad was my family’s hero. He loved this place. And he loved each and every one of you. He is here today. He’ll always be.” Throughout the service, Raymond was called “a leader of men,” “a legend,” and “the common denominator” that connected several generations of Blue Hen players he coached. “It is an honor to be referred to as one of Tubby’s players,” said Biden, who played on the 1961 freshman team Continued on Page 50 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | Newark Life
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that Raymond coached. “There’s not many things in life where merely by being identified with a man or a woman, you gain prestige. I mean that sincerely. Think about it, those of you who played for Tubby. “I was one of Tubby’s guys. It matters.” During the ceremony, Philadelphia-based guitarist Camille Peruto sang “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” a song written by Pete Seeger and later made famous by The Byrds. Seeger’s lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the Book of Ecclesiastes: A time to build up, a time to break down A time to dance, a time to mourn A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together It was one of Raymond’s favorite songs. From 2002 to 2012, K.C. Keeler, now the head football coach at Sam Houston State, served as Raymond’s heir apparent. While at UD, he coached the Blue Hens to a Division I-AA College Football Championship in 2003, and an appearance in the championship game the following year. On his former
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office wall at UD was a framed photograph of Keeler and Raymond, taken on the evening of Keeler’s first game as UD head coach. Keeler stared at the photograph from his desk. “Tubby Raymond was more than a football coach,” he told me. “He has lived this amazing life. The old saying goes, ‘Never follow a legend,’ but I took that as a challenge. The truth is, he made it all possible for me.” “He made a lot of things possible for a lot of young men. He gave us all a chance to shine.” To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@ chestercounty.com.
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|Newark Busines|
Photo by John Chambless
Meg Kuck in the dining room/work space at her Newark apartment. 52
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In the glow of a candle
Meg Kuck mines her memories for candle scents that make magic By John Chambless Staff Writer
T
here are candles that smell pretty, and then there are candles that transport you instantly to a summertime field, to your grandmother’s kitchen, to a sun-warmed tobacco barn. That’s the kind of experience contained in every one of the scents Meg Kuck puts into her Moderncity+Main candles. Working out of a space perhaps eight feet long, and sharing it with her dining-room table, Kuck creates candles that crystallize memories and emotions, and bring them back to whoever opens the lid and takes a sniff. On her website, Kuck explains what inspired each one of her products. How did she arrive at Lightning Bugs, for instance? She writes: “For me, this scent is reminiscent of that wonderful moment in the summer day, when I was happily exhausted from a full day of fun and adventure, my belly was full from family supper, my skin a bit tender from too much sun, and I still had just enough energy left to enjoy the sights and sounds of each summer night. This scent reminds me of fresh cut grass, my mama’s flower garden, sweet songs of the crickets, and chasing lightning bugs (and the joy of catching and releasing them in my hands!).”
Of Tomato Leaf, another of her distinctive scents: “As a little girl I knew summer was coming when visible in my mother’s vegetable garden were her tomato plants beginning to stand tall and proud. I remember I used to love rubbing my fingers on the leaves and then enjoying the lingering scent of fresh tomato. I was amazed at how the leaves were so fragrant. This scent is a tribute to my mother’s green thumb, our love of tomatoes, and my growing fondness of summer and of gardening.” “I have very vivid dreams,” Kuck said at her table during an interview. “Often my dreams will lead back to a memory. So they’re moments that I experienced that are significant, people in my life that are meaningful. Perhaps those who have passed on. The connection is still there through these memories, and sometimes it comes up in these dreams. So if I’m thinking of something that I want to capture in a scent, then I will just think of one of those moments or experiences. And your sense of smell is the strongest attached to memory.” Kuck grew up primarily in Delaware, but her extended family is rooted in the South, outside of Charleston, S.C. She visited two or three times a year when she was growing up, and her summer memories are of long days playing in the Carolina Continued on Page 54
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sunshine. “Growing up with a southern family, there are certain sensibilities that you can’t teach, you just grow up with,” she said, laughing. She majored in art history and French at the University of Delaware before landing a job at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. “At the time, they had the Center for the Study of Modern Art. My position was pivotal in that I worked with educators, curators, staff, people in development, contemporary artists, to create the curriculum,” Kuck said. “For me, working five years in the city in a job like that prepared me in so many ways for what I’m doing now. I built everything from the ground up – how to manage a small business, and everything else on top of that.” While she was in college, she dated a young man and, while they eventually married, their decade together was marked by tension and domestic violence. “We moved to D.C. together, and the last year there, I lived on my own,” she said. “But I’ll tell you that was probably one of the best years of my life.” The subsequent process of healing has led, in many ways, to self-discovery and Kuck’s candle business. In February, she formally established the Shine The Light Foundation, which focuses on awareness of domestic violence. “We started doing Continued on Page 56
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All photos courtesy unless otherwise noted
In conjunction with Suicide Prevention Week, the Shine the Light Foundation made certificates available that could be customized for a wide range of people in recovery.
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Meg Kuck Continued from Page 54
social media engagement and public programming for National Suicide Prevention Week,” she said. “One in four survivors of domestic violence will attempt suicide. I’m working right now with a wellness center and a counselor for a high school. We’re developing a proposal for an afterschool program to go into schools and talk to students about healthy relationships.” As part of the foundation’s work at the time of Suicide Prevention Week, online visitors could download and print out certificates that praised someone in their lives or supported their recovery. Simply filling out the “You matter because ...” line and holding up the paper for a photo was a healing moment. Kuck works at the University of Delaware as an academic advisor for undergraduates in the business school, many of them international students who need assistance or advice with class selection or career plans. As the founder and sole owner of Moderncity+Main, Kuck can give firsthand advice on what it takes. Her sleek, elegant website (www.moderncityandmain.com) is a delight to read, as she describes her life story and details what elements go into each scent, and what they mean to her. The product list is really a diary. “Each one of my candles tells a part of a story,” she said. “The candles
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The Moderncity+Main candles are creatively named and reflect the memories of their maker.
are like different chapters in my life. And it’s fun to hear other people’s stories, too. Sharing stories is one of the best ways to connect with another person.” Kuck orders her supplies online from a North Carolina company, but the combination of scents – lily and white grapefruit,
jasmine, rose and violet, sandalwood, musk and vanilla – is all her own trial and error. “It’s chemistry, absolutely,” she said. “But I’m not a chemist. It was a lot of time and trial and error. I’ve had some epic failures,” she added, laughing. “But I’d say the failures were more connected to me learning, along the way, the importance of temperature control when you melt the wax. You have to get it to a certain temperature, you have to let it cool a bit, and then you have to slowly add your fragrance and slowly stir. Then you let it cool a little bit more before you pour it into the vessels.” On her website, she describes the painstaking process: “A small batch is four of my 9-ounce glass jar candles, which takes about 20 minutes, start to finish (melt to mix to pour to cure). For you math whizzes out there, you know that means that in the two years of making candles for my business, I have spent nearly 300 hours in my studio.” That number has certainly grown since then, and the autumn– with gift-giving holidays at hand – is Kuck’s busiest season. Her business started several years ago, when she would make candles as gifts, and the response eventually inspired Moderncity+Main. “I knew that if I started this candle business, I wanted to have some purpose behind it,” she said. “I love storytelling and I really enjoy making candles. It’s something I can share with others. When you’re burning a candle, it’s Continued on Page 58
During the candle-making process, Kuck pours and inserts wicks, one at a time, into each one.
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just the illuminating feeling that’s incredibly comforting.” As a longtime journal keeper who clearly has a gift for words as well as scents, Kuck is able to unite her past, her recovery, and her business in ways that – while making her an open book – also resonate with customers. “In scent development, I really want to pinpoint what I’m trying to capture,” she said. “Not only just the scent, but the feeling and the memory that comes with it.” She has created scents specifically for retailers. She made Vintage Linen for a store in Wilmington (“It smells fresh, but with a story behind it,” she said), as well as for the Bodhi Counseling and Healing Center in Northeast, Md. “They focus on survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault. There are four different scents, and they call them the ABC’s of healing – Awakening, Balance, Clarity, and Sacred Spaces,” Kuck said. Sacred Spaces was intended to suggest “the smell of old churches,” and indeed it does. The daily process of taking care of her son, Luke, as well as a full-time job means plenty of long nights at the apartment she shares with her partner, Matthew, to make candles. “I
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The workshop where Meg Kuck makes her candles is her dining room.
work daily,” she said. “There are some nights when I don’t sleep. But that’s OK. I have to wait until everyone’s in bed. This time of year is my busy season – fall scents and holiday scents. I’m very good at hiding away my work so it doesn’t intrude on our daily lives, but there are several stacks of orders that are ready to go out.” While she and Matthew have seen a house they’d Continued on Page 60
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like to buy that has both studio space and a garage, it is not yet a reality for them. In the meantime, Kuck takes her products to stores and craft fairs in the region, relishing the chance to make personal connections with her customers. “I love to get a ‘Yes!’” when someone opens one of the candles, she said. “The joy that comes with that is really cool. I’ve made several connections with people and become friends with them. Two years ago, at the Townsend Fair, a young woman came up and saw that I put Shine the Light on the labels of my candles. I give 10 percent of all sales to the foundation. She put the candle down and just said, ‘I think that’s wonderful that you donate 10 percent.’ Her eyes started to well up and she said, ‘I’ve just started my life over and I had a really hard time.’ I just couldn’t help but break down, too. It was one of those moments when I knew that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. “Business aside,” she said, “the human connection is what life’s all about.” For more information, and a list of retail locations, visit www.moderncityandmain.com. For more information on the Shine the Light Foundation, visit www. shinethelightfoundation.org. To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty.com.
The candles are a subtle blend of scents that create the essense of a place.
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Newark’s Natural Sanctuary Text by Richard L. Gaw Photos by Jim Coarse To the residents of Newark and surrounding communities, the nearly 1,800 acres that make up Lums Pond form a fulfillment of riches, in a place where adventures come in many forms, and where the clutter and noise of the outside world is silenced. Wrapped around the largest freshwater pond in Delaware and open to the public since 1963, Lums Pond is the home of hiking and fishing, horseback riding and sports facilities, picnic areas and pavilions, camping and canoeing, horseback riding and ziplining, and a calendar teeming with outdoor programs and day camps. Continued on page 65
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Newark’s Natural Sanctuary Continued from Page 63
Perhaps the most definitive purpose of Lums Pond, however, is its gift of silence. At various points along a trail, in a canoe on the water, or at the moment of sunrise that sharpens its gentle light on a thicket of forest, a visitor can hear the sound of nothing except the whispers that a natural sanctuary makes. Continued on page 67
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Newark’s Natural Sanctuary Continued from Page 65
Considered the father of the United States park system, landscape architect Frederic Law Olmstead believed that a park should respect “the genius of a place,” and enter fully into the marriage between the ecological and the spiritual. He saw parks as places of harmony, where people could go to escape the pressures of life and keep the outside world at bay. Lums Pond is the genius of a place, personified in the many gifts it continues to give the people of Newark, and beyond.
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|Newark Arts|
These are two of DeAlmeida’s first sculptures, displayed on a wall at his mother’s home in Newark.
Turning castcast Newark artist Pedro DeAlmeida can turn a box of car parts into a menagerie of animals 68
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Photos by John Chambless
Pedro DeAlmeida with a few of his metal creations.
ast-offs st-offs into creatures By John Chambless Staff Writer
A
bout four years ago, Pedro DeAlmeida had a background in welding, a bunch of random car parts and an idea. Inspired by his children’s Legos, he decided to make something. “They had Legos and they’d build them once, then lose the instructions and they’d ask, ‘Can you make me something?’” DeAlmeida said. “They were amazed by what I could make, just using my mind.” Those first metal sculptures – a turtle made out of a
shovel, a flower made from a spring, and a “Love” sign made from random parts and implements – were the start of Upcycled Arts, a business that spotlights DeAlmeida’s boundless creativity and his ability to see dragonfly wings in saw blades, and dinosaurs in wrenches. As far as artistic training, “I’ve had none at all,” he said. “I messed around with working on cars, mostly. That’s how I ended up learning how to weld. I never actually went to festivals or shows to see what other people made.” A graduate of Dickinson High School and Delcastle Vo-Tech, where he learned welding, DeAlmeida has a Continued on Page 70 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | Newark Life
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day job as a labor foreman, but he devotes a few hours each night to poking through his sheds full of metal parts and seeing what he can come up with. And the result is a menagerie of slightly cartoonish, very distinctive animals that are made of things you would never think of putting together. “The first ones, I was just playing around,” he said of his early works, which are still displayed at his mother’s home in Newark. “It started with a little bit of stuff I had laying around. I made one for my mom and one for my wife, and then they started getting a little bit bigger and better. People told me, ‘You might be onto something.’” For the past three and a half years, Upcycled Arts has been a fixture at area crafts shows and events. “I did one car show and did really well,” DeAlmeida said, because the works are largely fashioned from springs and brake rotors and other automotive elements he had on hand. “I was impressed that they loved my stuff as much as I loved their cars,” he said. “I get a lot of stuff now at junk yards, and people give
DeAlmeida works in a covered outdoor space to create his sculptures.
One of the metal sculptures looms over Rockford Tower at the annual Flower Market.
Continued on Page 72
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me things,” he said. “They’d rather give them to me than have them go to a scrapyard. Now I have two sheds full of junk,” he added, laughing. “But instead of going and getting melted down, these pieces are in the same form, just repurposed.” Among DeAlmeida’s trademarks are his “Love” signs, which are assembled from an always-changing array of elements – drill bits, rakes, clamps – anything that will spell out the letters when welded together. Making the signs “is cool but it becomes repetitious, and I got a little tired of that,” he said. “I like to challenge myself.” Now he enjoys creating pigs, dogs, fish, dragonflies and large works that are limited only by how heavy they are when finished, he said. “I have this one ridiculous piece, a dog that weighs 200 pounds,” he said. “It was the first one I was really happy with. I didn’t really want to sell it, so I had it at a few shows, priced at like $2,000. So it’s still with me, sitting right by the front door.”
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While DeAlmeida makes multiples of popular designs, no two are exactly alike. “When I build one, I’ll figure out better ways to make it bigger and better. None of them are the same. All the fish, and all the grasshoppers, are all different,” he said. “I try to not make the same piece. Something will be different on it. If I sell some, I’ll make more. I try to keep 50 to 60 in stock. I’m not scared to step out and try new things. I’ll kick over a bucket of parts and start seeing things in them.” Spring and summer are DeAlmeida’s busy season, and he’s likely to be doing one art show or another every weekend. This past
summer has been tough due to repeated rainouts, he said. He also participates in a few Christmas craft shows, but his whimsical animals are not the kind of thing that most people see as holiday gifts. “I’ve had people come to the table and say, ‘Looking at your stuff has actually made my day,’” DeAlmeida said, smiling. “People usually try to figure out what the pieces are made of. I haven’t seen anything like my stuff around.” Other artists may make foundobject sculptures, but the Upcycled Arts creations are distinctive. Continued on Page 74
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“Auto parts are probably my favorite things to work with,” DeAlmeida said. “That, and garden stuff. I realy like antique tools. Old farm equipment, stuff that you don’t see much these days. I guess some people would consider it junk.” Broken shovels are versatile, turning into bodies or shells or who knows what else. “Something like an old World War II jerry can with holes in it – I made a goat out of one,” DeAlmeida said, smiling. When he starts a project, “everything I get is rusty to begin with,” he said. The metal parts have to first be ground down to reveal their untarnished surfaces. Everything is coated with WD-40 before it’s sold, but if customers want, they can put DeAlmeida’s creatures outside and let them tarnish and rust naturally. This past summer has been a wet one, and “I’ve had to re-clean all 60 pieces four times this year” after getting caught in a downpour at a show, he said. Among his best sellers are the “Love” signs. “If you give Continued on Page 76
This bird sculpture is in the front garden of DeAlmeida’s mother’s home.
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somebody some flowers, they’re only going to last so long. Jewelry, you may end up losing it. But giving somebody a ‘Love’ sign, that’s for life,” he said. His snails are also big sellers. They’re usually made of brake rotors, nuts and bolts, but they have personalities. Among his most spectacular creations are the huge dragonflies with four saw blades for wings. They mount on posts and sway in the wind. As a major statement in a garden setting, they are dazzling. “I’m working on a couple that are a lot bigger,” DeAlmeida said. “Hopefully they’ll be done by next year. I’m working on a fish made out of a bike frame.” DeAlmeida doesn’t have fancy tools, just a welder, anvils, a vise, saws and grinders. After working a full day, he puts in a few precious hours every day making art. “I wish I could make it more of a full-time business,” he said, but for now Upcycled Arts is a creative outlet that can be profitable on a good weekend. “In the winter I pretty much shut down until the weather Continued on Page 78
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Boxes of car parts and other metal bits await being turned into art.
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gets warmer,” he said. Working outside at his home gets harder in cold weather. His children – ages 14 and 7 – have grown accustomed to their father’s tinkering. “I had my older son with me at a show once and I had him watch the table for a minute. While I was gone, he made $300,” DeAlmeida said. “He was like, ‘Dad, I made $300!’ I said, ‘See? That’s why you need to start coming to the shows.’ So maybe that will stick with him. “He’s starting going to vo-tech school, so we’ll see what he picks up,” DeAlmeida said. “I need to start getting him more involved, but I don’t want to pressure him. When I retire, I’m thinking about doing all the design and welding, and have my sons do the shows.” For now, “My wife has learned
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Each ‘Love’ sign is made of different elements, but remains among DeAlmeida’s most popular items.
to accept having the junk all over the place,” he said, laughing. For more information, visit www. facebook.com/upcycledarts, or call 302-545-8926. To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty.com.
Newark Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.newarklifemagazine.com
The Tome School The Tome School sets high standards in academics and personal behavior with a rigorous academic program and a dedicated, caring faculty that helps students reach their potential and acquire the skills that they will need to lead successful lives. “Tome is unique,” said head of school Christine Szymanski. “We put a big emphasis on respect, personal responsibility, and academic rigor. We talk about doing things the ‘Tome Way.’” The ‘Tome Way’ has always been to provide a topquality education to students at an affordable cost—that was what Jacob Tome envisioned when he founded the school in 1889. Jacob Tome, a banker, politician, and philanthropist, built one of the largest fortunes in the U.S. at the time while he was living in Cecil County. He wanted to create a school in the area that would offer the finest education for students willing to undergo its challenging regimen, regardless of their families’ ability to pay the cost for that education. With its long tradition of excellence, the Tome School continues to be true to that mission today, focusing on academics, character, and community. The school
educates approximately 455 K-12 students each year. With small class sizes—the maximum number of students is 14 in kindergarten, 20 in grades 1-8, and 25 in grades 9-12—the faculty members offer the personal attention that students need. Tome graduates are well-prepared for the future. In two recent graduating classes, the school’s seniors exceeded the state average SAT scores in reading, math, and writing by more than 100 points. When a graduate of The Tome School arrives on a college campus, he or she is typically ready for the new academic challenge. “We are very academically driven,” explained Szymanski. “So when students get to their next schools, they are very well-prepared.” Tome School keeps tuition significantly lower than other independent schools, partly because of the substantial funding from The Jacob Tome Institute and partly because of parental assistance. Volunteer efforts by Tome families help keep tuition increases to a minimum. The Tome School is proud to be a part of the Cecil County Community, and has been an active member of the Cecil County Chamber of Commerce for 30 years. The Tome School is located at 581 S. Maryland Avenue in North East, Maryland. The telephone number is 410287-2050. For more information, visit www.tomeschool. org.
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|In the Spotlight|
To the resc The Tri-State Bird Rescue has been helping birds soar again for 42 years The red-bellied woodpecker is in care.
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scue All photos courtesy
The Tri-State Bird Rescue’s Frink Center for Wildlife.
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
E
ach year, more than 2,600 birds receive the care that they need at the Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research’s state-of-the-art facility in Newark. There are two kinds of days at the bird rescue—those that are busy, and those that are busier as the team of professional staff and volunteers treat birds from Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Even some birds from as far away as Continued on Page 82
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Tri-State Bird Rescue Continued from Page 81
New Jersey end up at the Wild Bird Clinic on Possum Road for the quality treatment and compassionate care that have been hallmarks of the bird rescue since it was founded 42 years ago. When Newark Life caught up with executive director Lisa Smith one day in September to talk about the mission and activities of the bird rescue, she explained that, because of migration patterns, “There are millions of birds moving right now, mainly from north to south. Some species are staying here, but a lot of others are heading south. There’s a lot of song birds passing through right now.” Any injury to a bird during the migration can be a serious issue for them to overcome. “It’s really a race against time to get them healed and back on the migration path,” Smith explained. “We’re here to take care of any injured or orphaned wild birds.” Continued on Page 84 Photo courtesy Sue McVoy - A snowy owl release
A mallard receives a decontaminate wash. 82
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A greater scaup.
se
p.
The release of a great blue heron.
Kittiwake release. www.newarklifemagazine.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | Newark Life
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Tri-State Bird Rescue Continued from Page 82
The Tri-State Bird Rescue’s birth 42 years ago was in response to a crisis. On Dec. 26, 1976, a Liberian tanker named Olympic Games ran aground in the Delaware River. The resulting oil spill, the sixth major oil spill in the Northeast region of the U.S. in just a three-year period, killed tens of thousands of animals in the area, despite the best efforts of many people who attempted to help. Continued on Page 86
House finch patients.
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A volunteer feeding baby birds.
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Tri-State Bird Rescue Continued from Page 84
Canada geese that got caught in the oil spill were found walking on roadways three miles inland, searching for open water. It was a heartbreaking sight for anyone who was there to witness it. Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, Inc. was founded that winter to establish a team of wildlife biologists, veterinarians, pathologists, chemists and concerned citizens to study the effects of oil on birds and to develop protocols necessary to treat affected wildlife. The organization’s mission has evolved through the years. So many people were bringing injured birds to the Tri-State Bird Rescue for care that, in 1982, the organization expanded its mission to include a wild bird clinic. In 1989, the Frink Center—named after the founder Lynn Frink—opened as a state-of-the-art center to care for ill, injured, or orphaned wild birds. Today the Frink Center for Wildlife consists of animal care wards, surgery and research labs, outdoor aviaries and pools, an oil spill facility, and administrative offices. Smith emphasized that birds that are sick or injured really need professional care, especially if they must overcome broken bones, traumatic injuries, or diseases. Injured wild birds should be taken to a licensed wildlife clinic for treatment as soon as possible. Most of the birds who end up under the care of the Tri-State Bird Rescue are brought to the clinic by kind-hearted citizens who find them. There are also volunteers who are sometimes able to go pick up injured birds that have been reported to the bird rescue.
A bald eagle getting examined.
Continued on Page 90
Photo Courtesy Craig Koppie
A bald eagle gets re-nested.
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Tri-State Bird Rescue Continued from Page 88
The staff and volunteers know how to care for the many different species of birds that are found in the area, Smith said. When birds are brought to the Frink Center, they are examined so that the staff can determine a course of treatment. The state-of-the-art facility has all the imaging and testing equipment and a surgical area necessary to allow the staff to care for the injured birds in any way that they need.“Wildlife preservation has really evolved since the 1980s,” Smith explained. “The treatments have really improved.” Smith has been the executive director of Tri-State Bird Rescue since 2011. Her involvement with the organization started when she signed up as a volunteer around 1984. She was still in high school at the time, and received the training that was necessary to care for the birds. Eventually, she joined the Tri-State Bird Rescue’s staff, and served in the clinic from 1993 to 1996. Smith explained that caring for birds is an act of love, and the staff members are all very caring and dedicated. The Tri-State Bird Rescue has a staff of about 14 people. “We also have about 120 really active volunteers,” Smith said. “It’s not unusual for our volunteers who help us for five or ten years, and we have some volunteers who have been here for 30 years.” Research and education is an important component of the work at the Tri-State Bird Rescue. The center provides a lot of training and also holds information sessions for volunteers. The organization is a nonprofit, and it is very reliant on private donations to continue its good work. “We really rely on the community so that we can do the work that we do,” Smith said. The Tri-State Bird Rescue is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents in Delaware and surrounding states can call TriState Bird Rescue at 302-737-9543 or visit the organizations Facebook or its website at www. Tristatebird .org. To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty.com. 90
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A great horned owlet receiving care.
A red-tailed hawk release.
The release of a bald eagle.
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