Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: October 1983 Volume 21 Number 4, Pages 147–148

Notes and Comments

• Repairs to the Bartram Bridge
• Our Lady of the Assumption Marks 75th Anniversary
• Berwyn Golfer Wins U.S. Amateur Championship

Page 147

Repairs to the Bartram Bridge

In an "unusual move designed to encourage historical preservation" the Supervisors of Willistown Township recently donated $250 to the Marple-Newtown Historical Society to refurbish the old Bartram covered bridge over the Crum Creek. (The bridge between Willistown and Newtown townships was the subject of an article in the previous issue of the Quarterly,)

The funds will be used, with other monies raised by the Historical Society, to adjust the roof line to spare prized trees, to repair boards in the decking and sides of the bridge, and for painting.'

Our Lady of the Assumption Marks 75th Anniversary

In recognition of the Diamond Jubilee of the founding of Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Strafford, on August 7, 1983, Bishop Louis A. DeSimone, Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Krol, Archbishop of Philadelphia, celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving. The parish was established in 1908 to provide services in their own language for the many Italian families who had moved into the area.

Page 148

The occasion was also marked by the gift of a replica of Murillo's statue of Our Lady of Assumption, hand-cast in bronze by DeMetz in Italy. The gift of the Lucas Leone family, the statue is placed at the front (or west side) of the Church; behind it is a new stained glass door designed by the Baut Studios in Swoyersville.

A new ramp to help the elderly and handicapped enter the Church was also presented as a gift to the Church by B. Pietrini & Sons, who also constructed it.

During the special Thanksgiving Mass, an offertory procession included the presentation of symbolic gifts: a rose, the symbol of life, by Mrs. Joyce Leone; a history of the Church, signifying its roots and heritage, by Mrs. Maria D'Antonio, ninety-three years old and a menber of the parish for seventy-three years; a trowel and level, representing the laborers who built the Church and maintain it, by Dino Calvarese and Carlo D'Ambrosio; wheat and grapes, used to form the bread and wine of the Eucharist and a reminder of the need to set selfishness aside and form one community, by Daniel Heim and Mrs. Mary Timperio; a Bible, by Miss LeAnne Podeyn; ciboria, the bread of life, by Mrs. Antoinette Recchi and Mrs. Anna D'Ambrosio; water and wine, symbols of the humanity and divinity of Christ, by Anthony Mann, the first altar boy for the Church back in 1909, and Martin Kleiber; and finally, a candle, representing the faith nurtured for 75 years in the parish and now being passed on for future generations to preserve and foster, presented by Miss Mary Fioretti, known affectionately in the parish as 'Little Mary", and by five-year old Marc Pietrini.

During the week that followed, the Church held its annual Italian Festival, which concluded on August 14th with a Mass celebrated by Father Daniel L. Pirolli, the pastor of the Church.

Berwyn Golfer Wins U.S. Amateur Championship

Jay Sigel, whose home is in Berwyn, won the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship for the second year in a row when he defeated Chris Perry, 8 and 7, at the North Shore Country Club in Chicago in early September. Sigel, who also won the championship in 1982 at Brookline in Massachusetts, is the first player to win the title two years in a row in almost three decades, and only the eighth player to record back-to-back championships.

The Berwyn linksman, a 39-year old insurance broker who plays out of the Aronomink Golf Club, also won the British Amateur championship in 1979, has played on several U.S. Walker Cup teams, and has won the Pennsylvania state amateur championship eleven times.