May 3, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Obituaries

Carole Boynton

Carole Brady Boynton

Carole Brady Boynton, 66, of Roxborough, who was interim editor of the Chestnut Hill Local from November 2005 to March 2006, died April 26 at her home of complications from kidney disease. She had been a writer and editor for weekly community newspapers in the area for many years.

Starting in 1983, Mrs. Boynton worked for the Roxborough Review for 13 years, writing news articles and a column, and eventually becoming an associate editor. During this time, she won several journalism awards, among them a Keystone Press Award in 1988 for a story about the Roxborough incinerator.

She left the Review for a year in 1992 to work as a constituent-services representative for Councilman Michael Nutter. Later, she was editor of the Conshohocken Recorder from 1997 to 2004.

She was the author of Andorra: Diary of a Community, a book commemorating the 50th anniversary of the neighborhood in 2000.

Born in New York City, Mrs. Boynton received an associate degree from Becker Junior College in Worcester, Mass. After graduation she became a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in New York.

Her husband of 38 years, Frank E. Boynton, died last year.

Mrs. Boynton is survived by a son, Frank J. of Long Beach, Calif.; brothers Thomas J. and David B. Brady, and two grandchildren.

A memorial service was held April 28 at the Koller Funeral Home in Roxborough.

Memorial contributions may be made to the National Kidney Foundation, The Bourse Building, Suite 411, 111 S. Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

William Kurtz

William Longstreth Kurtz, 89, formerly of Chestnut Hill, Mechanicsville Bucks Co. and Blue Bell, Pa., died February 16 in Princeton, N.J.

The son of the late Henry K. and Anna Longstreth Kurtz, Mr. Kurtz attended Chestnut Hill Academy and graduated from the South Kent School in Connecticut.

During World War II he served in the First city Troop in Africa and Italy, where he was wounded during a reconnaissance mission and hospitalized for several months. Upon recovery he remained near Florence running a cavalry remount station until 1946.

Returning from the service, he worked for Proctor and Schwartz, putting together the pieces that made the first pop-up toaster, saving millions of slices of breakfast toast from a charred fate.

In 1948 he played on the men’s field hockey team for the 1948 Olympics in London. That same year he married Constance Dallas, daughter of Philadelphia’s first Councilwoman. They had three children: Leslie Wharton, Nichols and Andrew Dallas, and moved to Bucks County in 1953.

Following their divorce in 1973, he remained in Mechanicsville and in 1984 married Ann Goodrich Miller, who died in 1994. In 1995 he married Mary Valentine Keon and moved to Blue Bell, where they spent the summers, and to Palm City, Fla. where they spent the winters.

He was an avid nature lover, taking delight in finding wood storks, ibis, sandhill cranes and a Louisiana heron in his yard.

In June, 2002 he moved to Acorn Glen, an assisted living facility in Princeton, N.J., where he died.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Kurtz is survived by three children: Leslie of Washington, D.C., Nicholas of Mercerville, N.J., and Andrew of Belle Mead, N.J.; a brother Paul, of Chestnut Hill, and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother Henry.

Services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, May 19, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. A reception will follow in the Church Hall.

Memorial contributions may be sent to South Kent School, 40 Bull’s Bridge Road, South Kent, CT 06785.

Emily Sunstein

Emily W. Sunstein, 82, an author and a leader of the reform movement that swept an entrenched Republican regime out of City Hall in 1951 after 67 years in power, died April 21 at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of complications of an autoimmune disease.

A longtime resident of Chestnut Hill, Mrs. Sunstein moved to Rittenhouse Square three years ago.

She was a district organizer in the campaigns of Mayors Joseph S. Clark and Richardson Dilworth that changed the political complexion of Philadelphia, and in the 1960s was head of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Americans for Democratic Action.

She also was the author of two books on the Shelley family: Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality — a seminal work on the author and feminist — and an earlier book on Shelley’s mother, The Life of Mary Wollstonecraft.

For her writing, Mrs. Sunstein was awarded the prestigious Modern Language Association Prize for independent scholars in 1989, along with other major literary awards.

She served on the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission from 1970 to 1974, and was head of the Philadelphia YWCA in 1975.

Among her interests were collecting art, entertaining and horticulture.

The former Emily Weisberg, Mrs. Sunstein received a bachelor’s degree in art history from Vassar College in 1944. A year earlier, she married Leon Sunstein, Jr., a stockbroker. The couple lived for a time in Elkins Park, then moved to Wyncote where they raised three children. Later, the Sunsteins built a large cedar home in Chestnut Hill overlooking Wissahickon Park.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Sunstein is survived by daughters Kay Hymowitz and Lauren; a son, Paul; six grandchildren; a brother, and a sister.

Funeral services were held on April 23.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Rosenbach Museum, 2008 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

Edward Wilkes

Edward J. Wilkes Sr., 79, of Mt. Airy, a former brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad, died April 26 at Mercy Suburban Hospital in Norristown.

Mr. Wilkes was the husband of the late Ruth M. (Henry) Wilkes.

He is survived by a son, Edward J. Wilkes Jr. (Janet); sisters Theresa and Anna; brothers Walter and John; a grandson, Jason; a sister-in-law, Ann Riccardi (Rickey); a brother-in-law, Dr. Chester E. Smith, and many nieces and nephews. Mr. Wilkes was preceded in death by a sister, Elizabeth, and brothers Joseph and Frank.

A funeral Mass was celebrated April 30 at Holy Cross Church, 154 E. Mt. Airy Ave. Interment was at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.