12/28/07

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Priscilla A. Thomas,
Perdue employee
Priscilla A. Thomas, 61, of Millsboro died Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007.
She was born May 3, 1946, in Salisbury, Md., to the late George and Sarah Cottingham.
She loved to be called Ceil. Ceil was employed by Showell/Perdue Farms for 23 years until her health failed her. She loved to work, shop, do puzzle books and dine out.
Ceil leaves to cherish her memory her husband James Thomas of 28 years; adopted mother, Emma Foreman of Berlin, Md.; three daughters, Patricia Sturgis of Salisbury, Md., Christine Johnson of Milton and Josephine Hinmon (Maurice) of Virginia Beach, Va.; one stepdaughter, Mary Collins of Berlin.; two sons, Albert Sturgis and Jeffrey Conners of Salisbury; two stepsons, Quentin Thomas of Millsboro and Billie Thomas (Kathy) of Princess Anne, Md.; a sister, Barbara Bunting of Salisbury; a sister-in-law, Sandy Mumford of Georgetown; an adopted sister, Brenda (Douglas) Showell of Millsboro; a brother-in-law, Larry and Annette Carr of Salisbury, Bruce Drummond of Virginia, Donny & Mary Carr of Oceanside Calif.; adopted brothers, Alvin (Rocky) Jarman of Salisbury, Wayne and Tammy Jarman of Cannon, N.J., and Calvin and Sandy Jarman of Ocean Pines, Md.; one great-aunt, Beatrice Holden of Philadelphia, Pa.; and one great-uncle, Early Hodge of Baltimore, Md. Ceil leaves behind 39 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Ceil was preceded in death by one sister, Elizabeth Parsons; two brothers, George and Elwood Cottingham; one brother-in-law, Homer Mumford; a son, James Watson; a stepson Michael Collins; and a grandson Anthony Watson Jr.
Services will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 29, at Calvary Pentecostal Church, Bishopville, Md., where friends may call at noon. Pastor Douglas Showell will officiate. Burial will be in Curtis United Methodist Church Cemetery, Bishopville.
Arrangements by Watson Funeral Home 211 Washington St. Millsboro, Delaware.

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Maureen Alanna Schab,
devoted teacher
Maureen Alanna Moriarty Schab, math teacher, karate instructor, tennis player, beach lover, wife, mother, grandmother-to-be and one brave, strong, and gutsy lady, on Christmas Eve, the day before her favorite day of the year, Maureen knew when to say when. For more than 15 years and without complaint, she had lived life more fully than it is meant to be lived while engaged in a war with first two, and then finally three diseases for which, in combination, there is no cure.
Born Sept. 25, 1949, in Bayside, Queens, N.Y., and raised not too far from there in Rockville Centre, Maureen spent her youth attending professional sporting events in New York City with her sportswriter father Tim, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and watching her brothers Kevin and Brian, both of whom went to Division I colleges on full scholarships, play basketball. She went to Immaculata College near Philadelphia, where she dabbled in basketball, although even she would admit that she had nothing whatsoever to do with the Mighty Macs’ two consecutive national championships just a few years later. She met her husband Bill at a party (where else?) at St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia in 1968. She began teaching near Annapolis, Md., in 1971, and she married Bill in 1972, while he was in law school.
In 1974, Maureen and Bill moved to Lewes, which, for her, was like moving to another world - a place without bagels, pastrami sandwiches or subways; a place with lots of chickens, dirt roads and a language not known to or understood by a New Yorker. She quickly figured out that the best way to learn the language was to mingle with the natives. Maureen (“Marlene” to Sussex Countians not of the Irish persuasion) soon found herself taking karate lessons, playing tennis and other traditional sports (e.g., skiing, sailing, running, etc.) and some nontraditional ones (e.g., anvil throwing), and then, in the summer after a hard day of fun, sitting on Lewes Beach at Indiana Avenue with her best friend and sidekick, Carol Epifanio.
Maureen was a teacher. She loved her students, she believed that there was something good in all of them (except for, she did admit, one), and she went to extraordinary lengths to try to make them like and understand math and, most importantly, to see its relevance to the real world (while at the same time steadfastly maintaining that calculators, which do not require students to understand the concepts behind the answers, were a curse, not a blessing, for young mathematicians). Long before it was common or mandatory, she insisted that her students and their parents contact her on any day, at any time, with questions or for extra help. Regardless of how poorly students were doing, she would urge, encourage and (some probably felt) harass them into doing better because she truly felt that each one of them was worth the effort. She always taught “the darlings” at the junior high level and, in Delaware, she taught at Milton Junior High, Lewes Middle School, and most recently and for many years, Academic Challenge at Del Tech in Georgetown. While teaching and also while raising a family, she tutored scores of struggling kids who sought her help, who were referred by other teachers, or who she just knew needed help. Hoping to travel more with her family, and in silent acknowledgement of her rapidly declining health, she retired from teaching in June, although she continued to tutor until a few days before going into the hospital for the last time.
It was hard to believe that little, quiet Maureen Schab was a black belt in tae kwon do, who could bring even the biggest of Bill’s friends to their knees in tears with the slightest of effort. She and Lance Marvel, her best karate friend and mentor, thrilled their friends and students with board breaking and other deeds of daring. She loved karate, the spiritual/mental side maybe even more than the physical, and she particularly loved teaching it to little, fledgling Bruce Lees at the Sussex Family YMCA. She was initially devastated when, after she first became ill, her doctors told her to stop karate. However, being Maureen, refusing to let a little thing like a deadly disease affect her life, she interpreted her doctors’ orders as a suggestion that she refrain from the more violent aspects of full contact karate. On Nov. 29, her last good day on earth and almost 16 years after being told that her body could not take the rigors of any strenuous activity, she taught her kids’ class at the Y. There was just no other way she could live life.
Tennis with the girls was Moe’s favorite pastime and she became quite proficient at the game (according to rumor, she once even beat husband Bill in a singles match). After the onset of her illness in the early 1990s, she dedicated herself to doubles. For the last 18 months she was able to persevere and mask her symptoms so well that some of her regulars did not even know she was ill and the many doctors who treated her at the end, except for the one who knew her the best, could not believe that someone in her condition had played tennis just the week before her emergency admission.
Lest one think that she did not have enough to do and worry about, for the last 20 years Maureen also found time to have what was almost a full-time job as Bill’s bookkeeper at the law firm of Schab & Barnett. She had no formal training but, as she quickly proved, her math background was better - there was no estimating or guessing, she had to be exact, and she could not stand having numbers that did not reconcile. This insistence on perfection has been a godsend for two lawyers who think of detail as something you do to your car.
What Maureen loved most was her family - Bill, her husband of 35 years; their son Corey, a biology major and lacrosse player at Whittier College in California; their daughter Kerry, a high school teacher in Salisbury, N.C., Kerry’s husband Chris, also a teacher; the child whom Kerry and Chris are expecting in June; Dodger, the dog she swore she would never like, much less love; and Oscar, the world’s craziest fish. Trips with Bill and the kids were how she wanted to spend her time. Using her persuasive powers and without ever telling her family that she somehow knew that her life was nearing its end, they went on dream trips to Costa Rica and Alaska in the past two years and she and Bill recently took a trip to Carmel, Calif., somewhere Maureen always wanted to go. The immediate and extended Schab families were scheduled to meet this Christmas at Maureen and Bill’s second home in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii, a place that Maureen adored.
Moe’s dad died two years ago. The Moriartys - her mom Laurie, her two brothers, their wives and children, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins - are devastated by the premature death of someone who just seemed too strong to die. Bill’s family - his parents, five brothers and sisters, their spouses and children, and his more than 100 first and second cousins - cannot believe that the person who was always there for everybody is no longer here.
When someone dies, it is usually said that the survivors are the family members. However, Maureen’s survivors are also the thousands of former students who benefited from her caring and concern and her many dear and close friends from St. Agnes High School, from Immaculata and St. Joe’s, from Bill’s law school days, from Sussex County, and from Hawaii. She was loved by all who knew her. The intensity of the sadness felt by her family and friends cannot be expressed in words.
Maureen loved her students, her friends and her family. She loved planning good times for family and friends and she could absolutely be counted on to succeed, regardless of the personal cost to her or how she felt. Nothing was too good for those she loved and her generosity was boundless, whether in terms of money, time or effort. She loved life so much and she fought so hard to hold on to it, a struggle that has been an inspiration to all. While everyone has to let go eventually, for Maureen and the rest of us, her time came way too soon.
A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 29, at St. Jude the Apostle Church, on the east side of Route 1, just north of Five Points, near Lewes. There will be a reception immediately following at the Officer’s Club at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes. Many have celebrated with Maureen many, many times. All who know and love her are invited to celebrate her life one more time.
Maureen really loves flowers. However, it is her wish that the money spent on flowers instead be donated to charity. The Maureen Schab Fund for Education has been established in her honor through the Greater Lewes Foundation. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to the fund at P.O. Box 110, Lewes, DE 19958. Cards may be sent to the family at 109 Madison Ave., Lewes, DE 19958.
Maureen’s two favorite places in the world are Lewes Beach at Indiana Avenue and the banyan tree beach at Kailua Beach Park. Her ashes will be buried at sea off of these two beaches. Aloha is a word which means both hello and farewell, particularly to a loved one.
To Maureen and from Maureen, aloha.
Arrangements by Short Funeral Services, Milton.

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Warren H. ‘Mac’ MacDonald
Sussex County historian
Warren H. “Mac” MacDonald, 86, died Monday, Dec. 17, 2007, at Beebe Medical Center, Lewes.
Warren was born on the family farm near Minnieville in Prince William County, Va. on March 31, 1921.
He was a 1939 graduate of Western High School in Washington, D.C., and married his high school sweetheart, Martina Connors, in 1944.
Warren had an interesting and varied career. Before World War II, he studied geology, a lifelong interest, at George Washington University. In the early days of the war, Warren drove a truck helping with the construction of the Pentagon, while waiting to be inducted into the Army’s pilot training program. “Mac” earned his wings in 1943 and continued training as a B-24 pilot. In December 1944, while assigned to the 464th Bomber Group stationed in Foggia, Italy, Warren’s plane was shot down near Bratislava, Czechoslovakia by German ME-109s. Two members of his 10-man crew were killed in the strafing attack which set the plane afire, but the remaining eight crew members bailed out successfully, were taken prisoner and subsequently made it back to the United States. Warren spent the remainder of the war in Stalag Luft One, a prison camp for aviators on the Baltic Sea. His letter to his parents reporting his capture begins “Well, I always wanted to see Europe.”
Mac worked at the Washington office of the American Legion from 1946 to 1969, specializing in veterans legislative affairs. He was active in organizing the national conventions for Boys Nation for many years. In 1954, he graduated cum laude with a degree in psychology from American University. Warren left the Legion in 1969 to become the Executive Assistant to Donald Johnson, the Director of Veterans Affairs during the Nixon administration.
Warren and Martina purchased a vacation cottage on Head of Bay Cove in Dewey Beach in 1963, and shared this retreat with family and friends. After Martina’s death in 1975, Mac retired from government service and became a year-round resident of Rehoboth Beach. Retirement provided the time to indulge his interests in history and civic affairs. Mac was considered an authority on the history of Sussex County, and had several articles published in the prestigious Journal of the Lewes Historical Society. He was also a frequent contributor to local newspapers, and published both the YMCA and Kiwanis newsletters for a number of years. Warren was very active in the Rehoboth Beach Kiwanis organization, and served as its president for several terms. He especially enjoyed working with the Kiwanis hippotherapy program for children with handicaps.
In October 2006, Mac received the George H. Hickson Fellow Award, one of the highest honors in the Kiwanis organization. He was also a recipient of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce Mae Hall McCabe Citizen of the Year Award in 2001.
Mac served as a Rehoboth Beach planning commissioner and then as a city commissioner from 1992 to 1995. He considered his work on the revision of the Rehoboth Beach codes to be his most important contribution during his terms of elected office.
In recent years, Warren was a founder and president of the Rehoboth Beach Historic Society. He was especially proud to be at the dedication ceremony for the new Historic Society Museum on Rehoboth Avenue this past November.
Mac had been instrumental in envisioning the old ice house as a museum, convincing the commissioners to purchase it, and helping to raise the funds to convert it into a building to suitably display the history of the area.
Warren is survived by his beloved companion of 30 years, Laura Dick. In addition, he leaves brother Jerry; nephews Larry, Scott and Richard MacDonald; niece Susan MacDonald Wroble; and many friends in the community and the organizations in which he enjoyed the years of his retirement.
Funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery are pending. A memorial service is planned for late March in Rehoboth Beach. Memorial gifts if desired can be made to the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society (302-841-0162) or the Kiwanis Club of Rehoboth Beach, P.O. Box 786, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.
Arrangements by Parsell Funeral Homes & Crematorium, Lewes.

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Doris Eleanor West,
loved ballroom dancing
Doris Eleanor West, 90, of Dover, died Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, at Westminster Village, Dover.
Mrs. West was born Dec. 15, 1917, in Philadelphia, to the late Frank E. Yhost and Hortense Dean Yhost.
She worked for Manufactures Insurance Co. in Philadelphia for 15 years and also helped her mother operate a dance studio, The Dean School of Dance. Mrs. West then spent 25 years working as a manager in a savings and loan which eventually became the Hamilton Reliance Savings and Loan in Germantown, Pa., and near King of Prussia, Pa.
Mrs. West loved ballroom dancing and reading and was a member of the Oaklane Review Club. Mrs. West is survived by her husband of 65 years, Robert M. West Jr. of Dover; her sister, Jane Brooks of Dover; her niece, Wendy Lynch of Dover; and two nephews, Tom Brooks of Lewes and Robert Brooks of New Martinsville, W.Va.
Memorial services will be 11 a.m., Monday, Dec. 31, in Westminster Village Community Center, 1175 McKee Road, Dover.

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Laura B. Anderson,
retired teacher
Laura B. Anderson, 85, of Elkton, Md., passed away peacefully Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007, at the home of her son and daughter-in-law in Milton with her family by her side.
Mrs. Anderson was an English teacher who taught for many years at Tower Hill School in Wilmington. Her passions included cooking, collecting cookbooks, gardening, music, traveling and visiting with her family.
Mrs. Anderson was predeceased by her husband of 27 years, AJ Anderson; and her sister, Norma Hoy. She leaves behind her daughter, Marcia Gregory of Wilmington; her son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Sharon Anderson of Milton; her brother, Donald Bouton of Massachusetts; two stepsons, Daniel Anderson of Wilmington and Peter Anderson of Hillsboro, N.D.; five stepdaughters, Nancy DiGicacomo of Newark, Christine Coffman of Elkton, Md., Kathleen Anderson of Audubon, N.J., Julie DiEmedio of Lincoln University, Pa., and Patrice Brunskill of Lincoln; along with 19 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
A funeral service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, 2106 St. James Church Road, Wilmington, at 11 a.m., Monday, Dec. 31. Friends may call from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 30, at the McCrery Memorial Chapel, 3710 Kirkwood Highway at Duncan Road. Interment will be in the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Bear.

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John Henry Terry,
military veteran
John Henry “Pookie” Terry, 48, of Lincoln departed this life Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007, in Beebe Medical Center, Lewes.
Mr. Terry, affectionately known as “Pookie,” was born in Belle Glade, Fla., on May 10, 1959, to Willie Mae Midgett.
John obtained his elementary and secondary education in the Milford School District, graduating from Milford Senior High School in 1977.
He later served in the U.S. military until 1979. As a young adult, John worked as a laborer in the agriculture, poultry and Brown and Rooted Construction industries.
In addition to loving his family, John was an avid sports fan; he enjoyed playing football, wrestling, basketball and baseball.
John leaves to cherish his memories one son, Jason Terry of Millsboro; one daughter, Johnmika Daniels of Laurel; his mother and stepfather, Willie Mae and James Midgett of Lincoln; two sisters, Wanda Midgett of Lincoln and Pamela Midgett, who is currently serving her nation and stationed in Iraq; one brother, James D. Midgett of Lincoln; one granddaughter, Jasmine of Alexandria, La.; four great-aunts; one great-uncle; his grandmother, Georgia Boone of Lincoln; two maternal aunts, Gloria Woods and Willie Dean Rivers (Joe) of Belle Glade; two maternal uncles, Johnny Terry of Pahokee, Fla., and Leroy Terry of Miami, Fla.; five paternal aunts, Yolanda Phillips (Dallas), and Jennifer Boone of Lincoln, Bonnie McCloud (Willie) of Mitchellville, Md., Charlotte Boone of Georgetown, and Jacqueline Young of Viola; four paternal uncles, Calvin Manuel (Virginia), Anthony Williams (Michelle) of Columbia, Md., Eddie Banks (Loretta) of Millsboro, and Johnny Boone of Lincoln; two nieces; and a host of cousins and friends.
Services will be 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 29, at Welcome Full Gospel Holiness Church, Slaughter Neck, where friends may call two hours prior.
Interment will be in the Milford Community Cemetery.
Arrangements by Young & McPherson Funeral Home, Milford.

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Russell M.L. Hershey III,
Vietnam veteran
Russell Martin Luther Hershey III, of Millsboro, and formerly of Lebanon, Pa., passed away Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, at the Harbor Healthcare Center in Lewes.
He was born in Harrisburg, Pa., son of the late Russell Martin Luther Hershey Jr. and Agnes Look Hershey. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State.
Russell was a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving with the U.S. Army. He enjoyed gardening and taking care of his cats. He was a member of Conley’s United Methodist Church in Lewes. He was also a member of the A.A. and C.D.A. Association.
Russell is survived by his loving wife of seven years, Dixie Sheeler Hershey.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec. 31, at the chapel of the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Millsboro. Arrangements by Melson Funeral Services of Millsboro.

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Rosario Pirrone,
retired restaurant cook
Rosario Pirrone, 67, of Lincoln, passed away Friday, Dec. 21, 2007, at Bayhealth/Milford Memorial Hospital, Milford.
Mr. Pirrone was born in Italy, the son of the late Liborio and Rosaria Anile Pirrone.
He worked as a cook in many area restaurants for over 40 years retiring in 1997. He was a member of the Word of Hope Church, Rehoboth. He enjoyed gardening, baking and cooking and was known as a regular “Mr. Fix-It. “ He loved and enjoyed spending time with his family.
He is preceded in by his parents, and is survived by his wife of 43 years, Piera Olinda Pirrone; three daughters, Rose Smith and her husband Arron of York, Pa., Agnes Boothman and her husband Rev. Greg Boothman of Lincoln, and Daniela Marchione and her husband John of Townsend; four sisters; two brothers; and seven grandchildren, Jonathan, Breana and Sarah Boothman, Kayla Fenton, Chelsea Smith and Alissa and Claudia Marchione.
Services were held in the chapel of Berry-Short Funeral Home, Milford, with interment at the Milford Community Cemetery.