WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017
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cried,” Murray said. “He was beginning his fourth term, and the war was still on, and Vice President Truman was untested. We wondered what he knew about running a war. But he stepped up to the plate.” Murray has lived in Chester County since 1949. Her husband was a Dean at Lincoln’s divinity school at the time, and later the chairman of the religion department. When the couple moved in, “we were told that the only important election was the Republican Primary,” Murray said. “It was just a matter of which Republican you wanted, because there was no chance for any Democrat to ever win. I was a registered Republican until Spiro Agnew, and then I could no longer be a Republican.” She remembers “cross burnings just over the state line” in Maryland, as well as the anti-Communist rhetoric of Joseph McCarthy, and the anti-war demonstrations and pro-civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. She served as a Democratic committee person for 35 years, and ran against Sen. Art Hershey in 1990. But the ascendancy of Donald Trump mystifies her. “Oxford went for Trump in the primary,” she said. “I know he was a celebrity from appearing on ‘The Apprentice,’ although I never watched his TV show. So I guess if you watch somebody on TV every week, you might feel like you know them. He had name recognition, and at his rallies, he threatened people. Apparently that appeals to a large number of people. “I don’t understand it,” Murray said. “The things he has said about women, and starting to talk about registering Muslims. Well, I lived through World War II, and I’m well aware of what happened in the 1930s. I’ve never been able to understand how Germany – a country that was educated and sophisticated – would decide that they were going to exterminate a whole segment of their population.” Murray also sees distinct parallels between Trump’s call to register Muslims and the Japanese internment camps of World War II, when an entire group of people was painted as suspect for their ancestry alone. “That is not Democracy,” she said. “I’m not saying that a Holocaust is around the corner in the United States, but I am saying that anything is possible, especially with somebody who admires a strongman like Putin. If that’s Trump’s model, we’re in more trouble than we think.” Murray watched Trump’s campaign rallies and speeches, and was shocked by how he attacked opponents and the press. “On Election Night, I thought Hillary Clinton had it in the bag,” she said. As the inauguration drew nearer, and the internet-led Women’s March in Washington was tak-
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ing shape, “My three nieces – who live in Seattle, Southern California and Colorado -- emailed me about the march and asked if they could stay at my house,” Murray said. “My daughter lives in New York City and asked about me going, but I said I couldn’t stand up that long. She said, ‘What about a wheelchair?’ I said, ‘Well, OK,’” Murray recalled, smiling. Murray, her nieces and her daughter were part of a group aboard a bus to the march that was chartered by the Women’s Rights Coalition of Southern Chester County. “All four of them took turns pushing me, so they’re the heroes,” she said. In Washington, she said, the unexpectedly large crowd struggled to find where the march was taking place. “One of the chants was, ‘This is what Democracy looks like,’” Murray said. “And that is so true. My daughter and my nieces had their phones out and were watching the worldwide protests. It was very moving. Nobody was complaining. There were a lot of signs, a lot of families with young children, and there were men there. I got interesting reactions because I was sitting in a wheelchair. Maybe five different people asked to take my picture. One person touched me on the arm and said, ‘Good for you.’ I didn’t see anything negative. It was incredibly peaceful. There wasn’t a single arrest.” While she didn’t get close enough to the speakers platform to hear what was said, Murray felt that just being in the midst of what many are calling the largest global protest in history was very gratifying. “During the Vietnam War, the demonstrations had a soberness to them,” she said, “because we knew lives were being lost. This one didn’t feel that way, but there was a sense that we’re going in the wrong direction and we need to do a correction.” Murray said she attended her first demonstration in 1966, when her husband was a visiting fellow at Princeton University for a year. “We were members of a peace group there, and George Wallace was running for President and he came to speak at Princeton. So we all got tickets,” she said. “We spread out all over the auditorium, and when he was walking up to speak, we all stood up and
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eral of the departing board detail, and whether or not members referred to as “an they can project ahead,” Walters’ tenure, which inquisition.” said Swett, who had also began on Jan. 9, serves served as chairman of the ‘People of the highest as a final, emphatic exclaChester County Hospital integrity’ mation point to Kennett Foundation and Historic Library’s more than Kennett Square, and led In the resignation letter, fundraising efforts at the year-long search for its definition and, as some would the departing board mem- Po-Mar-Lin Fire Company. say, its survival. Over bers wrote: “We think it is “Soon after we arrived, it that time, the library has time for a completely new became evident that we undergone a name change, library board with people had certain opportunities unveiled a new brand- of the highest integrity to re-orient the community ing campaign, assembled and a real dedication to regarding the library.” a new board, appointed libraries who can work Before Mercomes joined a board president, ham- collaboratively...to focus the board last February, mered out plans for a new on building the best library she received a 45-minute facility, and repaired rela- and services that taxpayers phone call from sometionships, not only with deserve. While there are one who tried to warn her appointed and elected offi- several on the board who about what she was about cials, but with the public it have demonstrated their to jump into. serves in eight surrounding dedication to the library “I served in higher eduand who have strong prin- cation for many years, municipalities. To fully comprehend ciples, the members who so I was used to chaos,” the magnitude of this attacked long-standing she said. “The phone call turnaround, it is essential board members and their didn’t scare me away to dig back to the frac- decisions and actions have because I wasn’t doing this tured—some would say done little to engage in for me. I was interested in ugly—story of its recent effective, constructive dia- the library as an entity, and logue or to work toward in growing it and making past. In the spring of 2015, consensus. We think there it what I thought it could representatives from the is a real lack of moral be.” eight municipalities who leadership on this board. annually fund the library The communities whose Punch list began to express concern constituents support the about how the revenue library deserve better from During the first nine derived from them, as well the board members who months of 2016, the board as from state and county serve and govern.” completed a punch list that The words stuck. On helped refocus the library’s funding, was being managed. On top of that, there Jan. 19, 2016, by a vote direction. It carefully was growing frustration of 8-0, the board voted reviewed and increased from both local officials in a new board mem- the transparency of the and the general public bership and stepped up library’s financial picture; about the lack of expe- a commitment to a new adopted a long-term vision diency in finalizing ideas building. Thomas Swett that sets goals to better for the selection and con- was appointed by East position the library as struction of a new library Marlborough Township an information resource; site. Back and forth it in 2015 and became the kicked off a campaign went, in meetings and in board’s president again, to increase funding; and newspaper editorials and after serving in the same developed its first annual petitions. Some wanted to position from 1988 to report in the 120-year hiseventually break ground 1992. Bill McLachlan and tory of the library. on Waywood Road in Jeff Yetter from Kennett Last April, the board hired Kennett Township, while Township were appointed consultant Carl Francis others argued that the new as the new board’s trea- from EnvisianStrategic location needed to remain surer and vice president. to engineer a 17-step reThe board also includes branding campaign that led in the borough. The board held several Karen Ammon from to the adoption of “Kennett public forums, mostly to Newlin Township; Jim Library at the Bayard help dispel the widespread DiLuzio from New Garden Taylor Commons,” which belief that it was incapa- Township; Margaret Egli Francis said connects the ble of making decisions, from East Marlborough library to a community, but Mercomes; also incorporates, and honas well as respond to the Township; criticism that it chose to Carolyn Nicander-Mohr ors, its history. rename the Bayard Taylor of Pennsbury Township; Throughout his May 3 Memorial Library as “The Dr. Loren Pearson from presentation at Kennett Township; Township, Francis stressed Kennett Public Library,” Newlin with no community input. Bradley Peiper from the importance of incorpoTownship; rating the Taylor name as Where was the respect Pocospson owed to our history? and at-large members Dr. part of the library’s brand. People asked. What hap- Barry Tomasetti, super- Those who are in a rush to intendent of the Kennett drop the library’s reference pened to Bayard Taylor? School to Taylor in its name comWhen three board Consolidated members resigned, that District; Chris Larsen of mitted a big mistake, he confirmed to some that the Pocopson Township; Chris said, because it wiped out board was in the throes Britt of Kennett Township; a connection to an area that of complete dysfunc- and Henry Brown of is steeped in history, one tion. In fact, there were Newlin Township. that connected Taylor’s “If you’re going to turn name as a symbol of that even accusations that some of the board mem- a situation around, you history. Incorporating the bers were being bullied have to know some people Taylor name in the official Continued on Page 5B To contact Staff Writer and harassed, particularly very well, their attention to John Chambless, email former library board presijchambless@chestercounty. dent Barbara Cairns, who Free Estimates resigned after what sevcom. walked out.” That same year, Murray took part in a protest at the Kodak headquarters in New Jersey. “They had a policy of not hiring African Americans,” she said. “They were having their annual meeting. This group rented a bus and we went there. I wanted to show that I was not a hippie, so I wore pumps, a skirt, a blue coat, a purse on my arm, and little white gloves. All we did was walk in a circle, holding some signs. I was told somebody took a photo and it appeared in print – nameless, thankfully.” Murray said Donald Trump’s inauguration speech was chilling. “It was dark,” she said. “An inauguration speech should be one about working together. There was none of that. It was just dark. It was like one of his rally speeches.” But the thing that frightens her the most is Trump’s stated willingness to place nuclear weapons on the table in his international negotiations. “He said during an interview, ‘What’s the use of having weapons if you’re not going to use them?’” she said. “He said that. On television.” In her many years of Presidents coming and going, Murray said Trump is the worst. “Right now, I believe that,” she said. “He’s so negative on every front. … I don’t think he can identify with people’s feelings. He’s all strategy. The least little thing that is said against him, he cannot bear. It’s almost like a child. I watched him during the primary, when he would destroy his opposition, insult other candidates and denigrate the media. And he lies so easily.” Murray said vigilance is going to be called for, along with support for groups working for justice, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU. “Both of them are very tuned in to all of the abuses that will occur,” she said. “We all have to find our mark, and say, ‘No, this is not acceptable,’ The main thing is to vote. Be aware locally, and support any elected person who is trying to do the right thing. Let your representatives know what you want them to do. Do not back down. Everybody needs to pay attention. It’s too important not to.”
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Does Someone You Know Have a Drug or Alcohol Problem? If you want help there is a program for you. Chester County Government Center hosts the Pro Act Family Education Program, Weds 7 -9 in West Chester, starting Jan 4th. Staffed by trained volunteers, this free and confidential program can help your family deal with addiction. Learn how to help yourself and advocate for your loved one. Sponsored by PRO ACT. Please call the Council of SouthEast Pennsylvania at 1-800-221-6333 to register.
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