Local Life

by Len Lear Barbara Wybar, 70-ish, left a comfortable life in Chestnut Hill retirement in 2004 to spend a portion of each year in the village of Bududa in Uganda, East Africa, where she managed to open a school, the Bududa Learning Center, where none had existed before. As a result, hundreds of area residents […]

by Len Lear Many of us have family members or even ancestors with which we are not too proud. But for Katrina Browne, it goes way beyond that. Browne, 50, graduated from Springside School (now Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) in 1985. Her mother, Elizabeth (“Libby”) Sturges Browne, grew up in Chestnut Hill, as did Libby’s […]

by Elizabeth Coady Some history never disappears. It just recedes into the soil and between the crevices of topography, waiting to be recovered and reorganized by a good detective. In Philadelphia, that’s where Rick Spector comes in. Spector is the owner and founder of Moviehouse Productions, where he produces video vignettes and live presentations on […]

by Barbara Sherf Who doesn’t need a little spiritual grounding to go along with their social activism? Interfaith Minister Rhetta Morgan will provide that in a free talk titled “Centering the Power of Love” this Sunday, Oct. 7, 2 p.m., at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill. Rev. Morgan, 61, will veer from the […]

by Barbara Wybar (Ed. note: Barbara Wybar, a longtime Chestnut Hill resident, spends part of every year in Bududa, an impoverished village in Uganda, East Africa. She started a school in the village in 2004, which did not have one before that, and numerous graduates of the school have secured full-time jobs.) The best thing […]

by Barbara Sherf As Americans recognize National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (September) and many wear teal blue ribbons to raise awareness and honor those who have been lost, one local woman shared with us her eight-year journey and fervent belief in the family motto, “Face the wind.” “‘Face the wind’ came from my mother’s side […]

by Jane Von Bergen A paint gallery, a bakery, a beauty salon, an eyeglass store, a craft tea business and a handcraft studio – block by block, owners of these nearby businesses, all graduates of Power Up Your Business, a small business development program, are building a stronger community along Germantown Avenue in Northwest Philadelphia. […]

by Len Lear Betsy Wenzel Marple is a lifelong resident of the Chestnut Hill area who also makes periodic visits to a vacation home in Longboat Key, a town on the central west coast of Florida on a barrier island of the same name, between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Betsy was herself […]

by Roz Warren At the airport recently, I fell into a conversation with a fellow my age as we waited for our plane to board. Within two minutes we’d pulled out our smartphones and were showing each other photos of our grandchildren. Actually, I’m surprised that it took two minutes. Why? It is a truth […]

by Len Lear Members of the Chestnut Hill Rotary Club may have still been in Philadelphia on June 20, but they were able to travel deep into the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador and Peru vicariously with Yasmin Goodman, a resident of Chestnut Hill for 22 years, to one of the most biodiverse regions of the […]