Connelly Speaks On American Flags
Hamilton, Friend Of Williamson’ s Horticulture Program, Passes Away
Carr’ s New Book Praises Williamson’ s Unique Mission
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Connelly Speaks On American Flags
Thomas Connelly, the retired chief executive of Connelly Container Inc. and a trustee of the Connelly Foundation, shared his knowledge of American flags at the student’ s General Assembly in the Clara Schrenk Memorial Chapel in April.
Connelly, a recognized expert on the history of the American flag, began collecting flags in the early 1980s. His collection grew at one point to 120 flags, many of which are rare. During his talk he said,“ There are only 17 flags left from the 18th century and three of them are on this stage.”
Connelly considers flags to be works of art and opened his presentation saying,“ I don’ t collect flags, I collect American artwork at its best.”
Among the many historical curiosities he shared were: Betsy Ross did sew the first flag; George Washington was our ninth president, not the first; we became an independent country in 1783 after winning the Revolution, not 1776; our government is the longest running government in the world; and there have been 37 versions of our flag, but only 25 official versions.
At the conclusion of his talk, Connelly presented President Michael Rounds with a flag from 1888, the year Williamson was founded. The flag contains 38 stars and was hand-sewn.
The talk was also attended by Josephine Mandeville, the foundation’ s president, and Lewis Bluemle, M. D., the foundation’ s senior vice president, Board Chairman William Bonenberger 7W9 and his wife Janet, James Tevebaugh, president of Tevebaugh Associates and an expert on Frank Furness, and the alumni who were there for the“ 5W4 and Friends Luncheon.”
Holding a 38-star flag from 1888, the year Isaiah Williamson founded Williamson College of the Trades are( from left to right): Thomas Connelly, a Connelly Foundation trustee; Josephine Mandeville, the foundation’ s president; Lewis Bluemle, M. D., the foundation’ s senior vice president; and President Michael Rounds.
Award Nominations Are Being Accepted
Nominations are now being accepted for the Alumnus of the Year Award, which is given in recognition of service that promotes the welfare of the Association and supports its objective of advancing the interests of Williamson College of the Trades.
Nominations should be mailed to: Mark Specht, Williamson College of the Trades, 106 S. New Middletown Road, Media, PA 19063, or mspecht @ williamson. edu.
Nominations are now being accepted for the Distinguished Alumnus Award, which is given to an alumnus for outstanding achievement in his field, service to his community or Williamson, and meeting Williamson’ s standard of character.
Nominations should be mailed to: Bill Goodworth 8W2, 622 Delaware Ave., Norwood, PA 19074, or bgoodworth50 @ gmail. com.
The deadline for both awards is Dec. 31. Nominations should include a description of why you think your nominee is worthwhile.
The awards will be presented at the Alumni Banquet on Saturday, June 2.
Hamilton, Friend Of Williamson’ s Horticulture Program, Passes Away
Continued from page 1 horticulture program and its students. She especially liked that character development was included with the teaching of horticulture skills. It wasn’ t long after becoming familiar with the school that she began offering generous financial support on a regular basis from herself and the Hamilton Family Foundation.
Her generosity benefitted not only the horticulture program, but enabled Williamson to exhibit in the Philadelphia Flower Show and to exhibit in the Chelsea Flower Show in London, England, in 1998.
In 1996 she was given the Williamson
Carr’ s New Book Praises Williamson’ s Unique Mission
Award for Excellence in Community Service and in September 2000 the Dorrance H. Hamilton Horticulture Center was dedicated in her honor.
Mrs. Hamilton was honored not only for her generous gifts to the horticulture program, but for being a person who set an outstanding example of community service for others to follow. From thrift shops to hospitals to universities, Mrs. Hamilton set a very high standard for viewing life as an opportunity to“ lift others up.”
Mrs. Hamilton was the granddaughter of John T. Dorrance, the inventor of condensed soup who went on to become president of Campbell Soup Co.
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Williamson College of the Trades received great praise for its unique mission in a recently published book by Robert Carr, Working Class to College,
Working Class to College offers praise for Williamson’ s mission.
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The Promise and Peril Facing Blue-Collar America.
The book examines the distress among low-income students who suffer with the ever widening financial gap associated with college costs. The book highlights ways to manage student loans and provides stories of hope and heartbreak of students who are coping with hardship while struggling to get a college degree.
Carr discusses his own blue-collar background as a teenager without much money who received a lucky break 50 years ago, allowing him to earn a college degree. He went on to found Heartland Payment Systems, a debit and credit card transaction company recently acquired by Global Payments.
After achieving great success in business, his next mission was founding the Give Something Back Foundation( Give Back), which provides mentors and scholarships to give Pell Grant-eligible students the opportunity to go to college and graduate debt-free. The charity
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has already prepaid for over 1,000 students to go to 14 colleges in five states, and continues to grow.
Williamson recently became the first college in Pennsylvania to become a Give Back partner college. Carr personally presented Williamson president Michael Rounds with a check for $ 250,000 from Give Back, which was matched by Williamson trustee Richard Clemens. The gifts will allow 40 high school students to receive a free education at Williamson.
Carr said,“ From the day I walked onto Williamson’ s campus, I knew this institution would serve as an extraordinary option for the scholars in our program who wish to pursue an academic, trade, or technical career. It’ s hard not to be impressed with the values-based environment here that fosters faith, integrity, diligence, excellence, and service.”
Rounds said,“ Bob Carr’ s book is compulsory reading for everyone concerned about the disparity of education in America, the high cost of college that
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leads to enormous student debt, and the need for clarity in career pathways for working class students. Bob’ s inclusion of nontraditional vocational colleges like Williamson College of the Trades as a pathway to a successful career for students is another example of the innovative thinking that will provide our future workforce with talented young people. Bob Carr is truly a champion for the future of the working class.”
The book is available from the University of Illinois Press in a cloth cover edition for $ 19.99 at http:// www. press. uillinois. edu / books / catalog / 53ykd4bm9780252041105. html. Orders can be made by phone at 800-621-2736.
It is available on Amazon. com in a hardcover edition for $ 19.99 at: https:// www. amazon. com / Working- Class-College-Promise-Blue-Collar / dp / 0252041100 / ref = sr _ 1 _ 1? ie = UTF8 & qid = 1489584922 & sr = 8-1 & keywords = working + class + to + college.
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