A family of lawyers, but first a family
by Paula M. Riley

It was the first day of school. The year was 1986. Terri was adjusting her 1st-grade uniform. Her big sister, Susie, was wondering if her 6th-grade friends would be in her junior high homeroom. The eldest, Mary Kate, was curious about what the first day of high school would be like.

Alongside the excited sisters stood their mother, who, like her daughters, was starting school that morning. It was the first day of Villanova University Law School for Kate McGrath. She was 40 years old.
MoRE

Kate McGrath (second from the left) stands with her daughters (from left), Susan Valinis, Terri Gillespie and Mary Kate McGrath. Kate returned to law school when she was 40, and her daughters found their way there as well.  All four are practicing lawyers, and Valinis, Gillespie and McGrath were named 2010 Pennsylvania Rising Stars in Philadelphia Magazine this month. (Photo by Paula Riley)

Other News…

Phillies 1st pick, Biddle, ‘couldn’t ask for anything better’
Power play gets physical at 22nd Ward meeting

Microbe-buster also a prolific author
CHA grad given one of nation’s top medical honors
By Deidra Lyngard

This March, Richard P. Wenzel, 70, a 1957 graduate of Chestnut Hill Academy, professor and former chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College, was honored with the Maxwell Finland Award. Dr. Wenzel is one of the nation’s top experts on swine flu.
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Identity crisis?

If you stand on the southwest corner of Moreland Avenue and Winston Road and look at the pile of bricks on the corner while contemplating its potential future, you may see two different things depending on your disposition.

Maybe you see in the plans for a dialysis center and some $2 million in investment to renovate the space a promising turn for a blighted corner, a much-needed infusion of new job opportunities — a sign that the neighborhood is on an upswing.
MorE

Springfield Mills at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania (www.morrisarboretum.org) is a historic place that matters to the Fairwold Chapter of the Questers International Organization.   Fairwold Questers, an eastern Montgomery County chapter, celebrated completion of the window restoration for the mill, a project supported by Questers. Included on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Morris Arboretum, the mill is a rare survivor of the Philadelphia region’s rich milling heritage.  It features original 19th century machinery and is being restored by the arboretum with the support of many volunteers. “This Place Matters” is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (www.preservationnation.org).
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Springside hoopsters uproot Little Flower
by Tom Utescher

In the Lou Cappiella Summer Basketball League in Roxborough, Springside School opened its warm-weather season last Tuesday evening with a 38-8 victory over Little Flower High School. Rising junior Sydni Epps rang up 13 points on the night to lead the Lions, who got eight points apiece from sophomore Gianna Pownall and junior Michelle Boggs.
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I KEEP ON RUNNING INTO PEOPLE WHO ARE HOMESCHOOLING THESE DAYS. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING IT AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO IT?
“I’ve been doing it for four years and I found out about it through my cousin. Actually, I home-schooled [my son] through public school the first year, cyber charter for the past three years. Public school wasn’t good for home schooling. … Now the cyber school, they have a lot of support. He has a special ed. teacher, a regular teacher and specialized teachers.”
Tameica Lawrence of Mount Airy.
See closeup.brianrudnick.com 

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