October 18, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Obituaries

Samuel Simons

Samuel Stoney Simons, 87, formerly of Chestnut Hill, died Oct. 1 at Foulkeways, Gywnedd, after a short illness.

Mr. Simons was a former chairman of the board of Chestnut Hill Hospital and the Springside School, and a former vice president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association. His career as an executive spanned the real estate, banking and pharmaceutical industries.

He had been real estate subsidiary vice president of the Berwyn Corporation and later an independent consultant to the firm. He was a partner in Medicon/Third Age and earlier had served as executive vice president of Western Savings Bank and head of development and assistant head of research at Smith, Kline and French (now GlaxoSmithKline).

From 1978-1995, he worked part time for the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Protestant Episcopal Clergy of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Active in the Episcopal Church, Mr. Simons had served as chairman of the Commission on Ministry of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, vice-president of the Children’s Service Board and vice-president of the Children’s Aid Board. He also served on the Standing Committee and the Budget Committee of the diocese. In addition, he served four terms on the Vestry of St. Paul’s Church in Chestnut Hill.

He was a former chairman of the Health and Welfare Council and the Henrietta Wurts Foundation, and an executive vice-president of the board for the Kearsley Home. He also served on the boards of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, the Colonial Savings Bank, Advanced Ceremetrics, the Glaucoma Service Foundation and the United Way.

Mr. Simons served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, rising to the level of lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. He was awarded the Purple Heart.

Born in Charleston, S.C., he attended Charleston High School and the Fountain Valley School in Colorado. He was a graduate of Princeton University where he served as president of the Ivy Club and vice president of the Class of 1942. Later he served on the university’s Alumni Council and on the executive committee of his class.

An accomplished athlete, he was a member of the 150-lb. football team at Princeton that retired the Sandford Trophy in his senior year and was an avid player of tennis and golf for most of his life.

Mr. Simons was a member of the Princeton Club of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Club, The Rabbit, the Society of the Cincinnati, The Assemblies, The Country Club of Charleston and Sunnybrook Golf Club.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Virginia Cooke Simons; sons S. Stoney Simons Jr. and Richard C. Simons; daughters Ellen D. Simons, Anne D. Simons and Elizabeth S. Mittermiller; a sister, Harriet P. Williams, and 15 grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at noon Saturday, Oct. 20, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall.

Memorial contributions can be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118, or to Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118.

Samuel Du Bois

Samuel Seton Mailland Du Bois, 76, died at the Hill at Whitemarsh on Sunday, Oct. 14.

Mr. Du Bois was born and grew up in Baltimore. He attended Baltimore Friends School and graduated from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. in 1953. 

After graduation, Mr. du Bois served in the U.S. Army in the Counter Intelligence Corp stationed in Korea. He had a long career in the paper business, as president of Curtis Paper Company in Newark, Del., and later a vice president of The James River Corporation of Richmond, Va. After retiring from the James River corporation he worked for Donside and UK Papers, both companies based in Scotland.

Mr. Du Bois served on the Board of Trustees at Springside School and the Chestnut Hill Hospital Health Care Board. He was a member of Sunnybrook Golf Club and The Rabbit.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Saranne Borda Du Bois and two daughters, Sarah D. Kingsley of Bethesda, Md. and Anne D. Jacobson of Richmond, Va. and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. at St. Paul Church. Internment will be private.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Springside School, 8000 Cherokee Street, Philadelphia, PA 19118 or The Whitemarsh Foundation, P. O. Box 538, Lafayette Hill, PA  19444.

Henry Wells

Henry Wells, 92, a retired professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and a community activist, died Oct. 1 at his home in Chestnut Hill. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-1990s.

Long interested in the democratic process in Latin America, Mr. Wells held faculty appointments at Yale University from 1947 to 1953 and at the University of Puerto Rico from 1953 to 1956.

At Penn, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American politics and Inter-American relations from 1956 until his retirement in 1986. He was chairman of the graduate program in International Relations from 1970 to 1973.

Early in his career he helped draft Puerto Rico’s first constitution. As a member of a technical assistance mission of the Organization of American States, he advised the Dominican Republic government on election law and procedure and received an Order of Merit for his work.

Fluent in Spanish, he traveled widely in Latin America and served as an OAS election observer in Costa Rica, Bolivia, Honduras, and Nicaragua.  He was author of the book, The Modernization of Puerto Rico: a Political Study of Changing Values and Institutions, published in 1969.

That year his enthusiasm for Central America took him to Costa Rica as a Fulbright scholar, this time joined by his wife and six children.

Growing up in the Depression sharpened his interest in politics, and he often referred to himself as a “New Deal Democrat.” He rang doorbells getting out the party vote well into retirement. As a lecturer at Yale, he was elected an alderman in the city of New Haven. In Philadelphia he was a consultant to Mayor Richardson Dilworth on community groups, including Puerto Ricans in the city.

As president of West Mt. Airy Neighbors in the early 1960s, he championed integration and inclusiveness. In the fall of 1962, the organization encouraged United Nations families in New York to visit West Mt. Airy to see how ordinary Americans lived. Two hundred international visitors from 31 UN countries accepted the community’s invitation to spend the weekend as houseguests of local residents.

He was a member of the Chestnut Hill Community Association and chairman of its Community Relations Committee. He was a member of the vestry at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields and on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Divinity School.

Mr. Wells was born in Macomb, Ill., a great-grandson of pioneer settlers, and graduated from Rushville (Ill.) High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois, Phi Beta Kappa, followed by a master’s at Louisiana State University.

He interrupted his doctoral studies at Yale during World War II to serve as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve, assigned to the Seventh Fleet from 1942 to 1946. He returned to Yale, earning his degree in 1947.

A devoted golfer, he learned to play on the public golf course in his hometown of Rushville, Ill., and helped to finance his graduate studies at Yale by working as a golf pro during summers in Litchfield, Conn.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Patricia P.B. Wells; daughters Jane E. Wells of Concord, Mass., Mary Paul (Polly) Wells of Toronto, Ont., Alexandra Wells of Glenside, and Emily H. Wells of Coon Rapids, Minn.; sons Thomas G. Wells of Yardley and Anthony M. Wells of Philadelphia, and 10 grandchildren.  

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, November 2, at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, in Chestnut Hill. Burial was private.

Memorial contributions can be made to the All Saints Fund, Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

Richard Sinkler

Richard K. Sinkler, 63, of Tampa, Fla., and Charlestown, R.I., formerly of Chestnut Hill, died Oct. 10 of cancer at his home in Charlestown.

A racehorse breeder, Mr. Sinkler was the brother of Francis P. Steel Jr., headmaster of Chestnut Hill Academy, and the husband of Nancy Steel Sinkler, formerly of Chestnut Hill.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Sinkler was raised in Chestnut Hill, the son of the late William L. E. Sinkler and Nina Knowles Steel. He attended Phelps School in Malvern and Randolph Macon College.

He was a member of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the Thoroughbred Breeders Association of New York and Pennsylvania.

An avid golfer, he was a member of the Hunter’s Green Country Club in Tampa, Fla., and a founding member of the Lake Isles Golf Club in North Stonington, Conn.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Sinkler is survived by a daughter, Nancy Sinkler Viseth of McKinleyville, Calif.; a son, Richard Knowels Sinkler Jr. of West Warwick, R.I.; brothers Francis P. Steel Jr. and William Sinkler of Charlestown, R.I.; sisters Nina Talbot of Plymouth Meeting and Amanda Rich of Warren, R.I., and two grandchildren.

A memorial service was held Oct. 13 at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Hopkinton, R.I.

Memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society, 931 Jefferson Blvd., Ste 3004, Warwick, R.I. 02886, or the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, 200 Niantic Ave., Providence, R.I. 02907 (www.donationsrifoodbank.org).

Mary Martin

Mary R. Martin, 77, of Chestnut Hill, died Sept. 27 of cancer at her home.

A native of Glassboro, N.J., Mrs. Martin moved to Philadelphia with her mother. She attended Philadelphia public schools and Pierce Business School.

She worked for a time at Fidelity Bond and Title Co. and subsequently joined Jerrold Electronics in Philadelphia, where she served as the executive secretary to Milton J. Shapp, who eventually became Governor of Pennsylvania.

While at Jerrold Electronics, Mrs. Martin met her future husband, Francis E. Martin, who was then affiliated with the company. She continued to work at Jerrold until the birth of her only child, Francis J. Martin. 

In the late 1970s, when her husband started a new business, Northwest Home Movies, she returned to work as office and finance manager for the firm. She remained active in family business interests until the time of her death.

Although the effects of childhood polio resurfaced in later years, Mrs. Martin maintained an active social and business schedule. She was always willing to help those in need, and was generous in her assistance to Our Mother of Consolation Church in Chestnut Hill, where she was a member, and to the community of Chestnut Hill, where she served on business and aesthetic committees.

The Martin home was a stop on the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s 2006 Holiday House Tour.

Tom Bird, a longtime friend and business partner, said, “Most people collect objects — Mary collected people.”

Mrs. Martin is survived by her husband and son.

A funeral Mass was celebrated Oct. 2 at Our Mother of Consolation Church.

Helen E. Miller

Helen Elizabeth Miller, 92, a longtime resident of Wyndmoor, died Oct. 1.

Mrs. Miller was the widow of John J. Miller, owner of the Miller trash hauling company. She helped run her husband’s business for more than 50 years and was “Mom” to a very large extended family.

She volunteered at the Chestnut Hill Hospital’s Women Auxiliary for more than 30 years.

Mrs. Miller is survived four children, five sisters and a brother.

A memorial service was held Oct. 14 at the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield in Flourtown.

Memorial contributions may be made to the National MS Society, P.O. Box 4527, New York, NY 10163 or to Hopewell Hospice Foundation, 525 Rt. 70 West, Suite B-15, Lakewood, NJ 08701.