The DeRitas: Deep Roots in Marple

By Craig Whitney

Several generations of Joe and Diane DeRita’s family have lived in Marple for decades. While living so long in their neighborhood, they’ve started many wonderful traditions, the most recent being Diane DeRita’s annual perennial plant sale. It’s now a community-wide event that celebrates artistic creativity of all kinds and involves friends and neighbors all over Marple. Like the DeRitas themselves, their many traditions were born and raised in the Marple community.

Joe and Diane met at Cardinal O’Hara High School. Joe fondly remembers the History class they shared together. Joe was a senior, close to graduating; Diane was still a junior. They didn’t start dating until after Joe had graduated and Diane was only months away from graduating. They got very close to their lives going in different directions. But with perseverance and a trust in each other, they quickly hit it off, and an entirely new and shared path was set ahead of them.

Joe and Diane dated for five years before they got married in 1983. After their wedding, they got a small apartment in Lansdowne. When their first child, Stephanie, was one year old, the house next to where Joe grew up became available. He and Diane reached out to the seller, and shortly thereafter, that home was theirs. They felt very fortunate to have found what right away felt like the perfect Marple home for them. It was right next door to Joe’s mother and down the street from his siblings.

Joe and his five siblings had grown up in Marple. Four of them still live nearby. Joe’s brother Mark lives down the street, in Newtown Square, and visits often. (Sometimes, they all joke that Joe and Diane’s house is Mark’s second home.)

Joe and Diane’s family enjoyed 16 happy years living next door to his mother before she passed away. Joe’s family then moved into his mother’s home. Since then, several of Joe’s siblings have lived in what had been Joe and Diane’s first home on that street.

Joe and Diane’s grown children, Stephanie and Angela, both live nearby. Stephanie, 31, is pursuing her Master’s in Education at Grand Canyon University while she works as an ELL Specialist in a northeast Philly charter school.

Angela, 29, is the more-sensitive and quiet daughter. She loves writing, singing, and gardening with her mother Diane. She is currently continuing her liberal arts studies while doing freelance jobs.

Joe works in Philadelphia for a refinery. He started there right after high school, and over the past 37 years, he has had several different job titles. He shows up every day, with an attitude that conveys he’s ready to work hard and eagerly contribute his skills and expertise.

Diane has had quite a varied career. She worked for awhile as an Aide in a Special Education classroom. Then she worked in the Surgical Technology Department at Lankenau Hospital. Now, Diane works as an Instructor of several East Asian meditative martial arts such as Qigong.

When Diane isn’t working or looking after her three-year-old grandson Nico, she gardens. Several years ago, Diane’s love of gardening culminated in a backyard event that has grown every year since. That event started when Diane began growing perennials in her backyard.

When that dividing time came, Diane invited friends over and handed perennials out by the bunches. “At first, I just had an abundance of plants and had to start giving them away. Pretty soon, friends would know the time of year to come over and get perennials. And it naturally grew from there,” Diane said, laughing at the irony.

Now, many years into the tradition of a perennial plant sale, the event has grown into an all-day craft fair that includes many different kinds of artistic goods and vendors from all over Marple. One of Diane’s friends sells beautiful scented soaps she creates herself. Several other friends, including Diane’s neighbor down the street, bring their paintings and drawings for display and sale. Another group of friends who are all potters put their homemade pots for sale and also put some of their pieces on display holding some perennials that people can buy and take home.

Another tradition that has been in the DeRita family much longer has become a community tradition in many ways. The DeRitas have always been ice hockey fans, something Joe’s mother instilled in the family. Joe’s brother Mark had originally come up with the idea of making an ice rink in the backyard when his daughter was young, just for some fun but also to learn some things about skating. The tradition grew from there: Eventually, the rink was nearly full-size, essentially taking up the whole backyard! People from all over the neighborhood would come with their skates and hockey sticks, and games would often last entire days.

Mark’s children are all in college or older now, and there isn’t a need for the ice rink like there used to be. This was the first winter without the rink, a sign of one tradition wilting while another blossoms. The DeRitas hope that when new children begin showing interest, as Stephanie’s son Nico now seems to, their backyard ice hockey tradition can return and continue for many more generations.

As a replacement for the backyard rink, the annual backyard plants and crafts sale has also been able to promote a communal spirit in Marple. This social outlet for creativity has fostered a shared passion for art and nature, and has also encouraged artistic expression. As each year attracts new artists and new neighbors, Diane’s dream is to spread that love of creative expression and use it to strengthen the bonds in Marple’s creative community.

Joe has spent nearly his entire life in Marple with his close family. They have created many wonderful traditions like the backyard ice rink so important to his mother. When he sits in the backyard on a warm day, with the whole community gathered around artwork and home-grown perennials, Joe can smile with a certainty that his mother would love what his family has continued.

The event will be held at their home at 201 Media Line Rd, Broomall. All are welcome to come appreciate the arts, check out and take home freshly divided perennials, and meet some familiar and new neighbors in Marple.

The DeRitas are truly a Marple family, with roots that are deep in the soil and continue spreading every year. Many of their family traditions have already spanned several generations. Other traditions, although new, are already beginning to positively influence the Marple community and show signs of taking root, with the potential to last for many years to come. All the big decisions in their lives, from where they went to school to what they did for a living to the relationships they’ve formed as a family and with their neighbors, have all been based on a love of their community and a commitment to stay local and support Marple.

You can nominate a neighbor whose family might like to be featured in an upcoming issue by contacting us at cwhitney@bestversionmedia.com.