Alumni
OPC weekend 2016
honorary 1689
Dana Toedtman and Mary Gallagher Dana Toedtman Dana Toedtman and Mary Gallagher received Honorary 1689 diplomas, which are given to “a member of the Penn Charter community who has shown extraordinary commitment to the school by demonstrating pride and excellence in the performance of their duties and by consistently providing encouragement and support to the student body.”
Head of School Darryl J. Ford with the Alumni Society Award of Merit winners for 2016 and 2015: Stephen A. Bonnie OPC ’66 and Shanin Specter OPC ’75.
I got my first teaching job at Lankenau School, formerly a girls’ school, across the street, which had gone coed. Perhaps this was because I could teach English and history as well as coach, or perhaps it was because I had spent so much time there in my youth. My real break came when Buff Weigand hired me to coach Middle School soccer and track and it was – game on. It did, however, take applying for a teaching job at PC four times! But finally Wilbert Braxton and Earl Ball had mercy on me and hired me as a full-time teacher in 1976… And sincerest thanks to both of them. My favorite course to teach was always seventh grade English, but it is also really a joy to presently teach my seniors in the William Penn history course, where they generally seemed amused… or… is it bemused? Penn Charter always taught us to be well-rounded and try different things, and the sports requirement encouraged us to try to be athletes. Somehow this led me to be the varsity track coach for the past 41 years. I cannot mention all the wonderful kids that I had the pleasure of working with, but I am proud of their numerous championships, thrilled with the development of our girls program, thanks to Liz Flemming, and I take great enjoyment in seeing how these track graduates have utilized the life skills that Penn Charter taught them. And thank you to those generous people who funded our beautiful new track. When the great Ralph Palaia retired in 1982, Earl Ball was kind enough to allow me to be Director of Admissions. The Admissions job gave me the opportunity to give young people the same gift from which I had benefitted. I thought about that every day. That period saw the matriculation of girls to Penn Charter and far greater economic and racial diversity. I was most proud that we, as a Quaker school, looked beyond test scores and chose to give opportunity based on a student’s character and Inner Light. The former headmaster and liberator, Anthony Benezet, who supported these same ideas in the 1700s, would be most impressed. When Ralph Palaia had his retirement party, he was asked, “You made many great picks, but did you make any mistakes?” He said after a long pause, “Yes, Steve Bonnie and Rick Mellor.” I will reflect even longer, but then reveal my two picks at the party that follows tonight. Speaking of jokes, I have experienced a lot of them regarding my various “projects” around campus: e.g., refinishing old teachers’ desks, painting the window wells, creating offices out of closets, fixing the Meeting Room benches and generally being annoying. I see this as ‘in school’ community service, and I highly recommend it to everyone.”
Dana Toedtman, retired in 2015, began her long association with Penn Charter 30 years ago as a reading specialist and later learning specialist for grades K-12.
“Dana’s job at Penn Charter was to do the impossible,” Ford said. “Singlehandedly, she was to rescue students who were not finding academic success and help them to turn around their academic performance. As Superwoman, Dana did just this.”
Ford and colleagues considered Toedtman a “friend extraordinaire,” he said. “Dana might cook you a meal, bake you some bread, write an encouraging note or present a gift at the exact right moment of need. Just as she gave professionally to our students, she gave personally to her colleagues, and all of us became her friend.”
Mary Gallagher Denise Haigler Hon. 1689, longtime assistant to the head of school, worked with Mary Gallagher in the front office and described her as “a team player” who supported athletics, the Middle School, college counseling and the assistant head of school. “While Mary has been gone for 15 years,” Haigler said, “her heart has never left Penn Charter, and she will always be part of the Penn Charter community.” With the receipt of the Honorary 1689 degree, Mary joins her husband and children Jennifer OPC ’94, Megan OPC ’93 and William Jr. OPC ’91 as OPC. Mary Gallagher, matriarch of a family with serious Penn Charter roots, came to work at PC when her husband William Gallagher Hon. 1689 became athletic director and football coach.
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