Education Commons^™

Lists Of Oral History Interviews, Barbara C. Allen

All Oral Histories

The main document is a simple list of interviews conducted by History 650 and Honors 122 students of La Salle University faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, neighbors, and Christian Brothers. The supplementary file is a spreadsheet with more details.

Interview Of Fred J. Foley, Jr., Ph.D., Fred J. Foley Ph.D., Jeanmarie Turner

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Dr. Fred Foley, Jr. was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December of 1946. His parents were Fred Joseph Foley and Doris Nelson Foley. He moved to the Philadelphia area with his family when he was four years old. He is married, has three children and four grandchildren. He lived in Delaware County growing up. Dr. Foley attended St. Andrew's Grade School and Monsignor Bonner High School for Boys. He attended St. Joseph’s College as an undergrad majoring in Politics. He graduated with a B.A. in Politics in 1968. He attended Princeton University for his Master’s and Ph.D. programs. He graduated …

Interview Of Margaret Mcguinness, Ph.D., Margaret Mcguinness Ph.D., Stephen Pierce

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Dr. Margaret McGuinness was born in 1953, in Providence, Rhode Island. She went to an all-girls Catholic high school called St. Mary’s Academy Bayview in Providence where she graduated in 1971. McGuinness went on to major in American Studies and Civilization as an undergraduate at Boston University graduating with a B.A in 1975. She continued her work at Boston University where McGuinness earned a master’s of theological studies (M.T.S) focusing on Biblical and Historical Studies in 1979. She would move to New York to work on her dissertation at Union Theological Seminary finishing with her Ph.D. in 1985 concentrating on …

Interview Of Richard Kestler, F.S.C., M.A., Richard Kestler Fsc, Alexandria Moraschi

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Brother Richard Kestler, FSC. was born John Kestler on January 8, 1942 to John and Alice Kestler. He grew up in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Brother Richard attended elementary school at his parish of St. Martin of Tours and went on to La Salle College High School, graduating in 1960. By this time, he made the decision to join the Christian Brothers and began this process for about a year before attending La Salle College. He graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and gained a Master’s in Theology soon after. Brother Richard also has Master’s …

Interview Of Alice L. Hoersch, Ph.D., Alice L. Hoersch Ph.D., Selena Bemak

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Alice Lynn Hoersch was born in 1950 in Abington, PA to Albert and Alice Hoersch. She moved to Honey Brook, located in Chester County, PA at two-years-old. Hoersch lived in Honey Brook until she finished graduate school in 1977. She attended Honey Brook Elementary School. She graduated as valedictorian from Twin Valley High School in 1968. Hoersch studied geology at Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1972. She received both her master’s and Ph.D. in metamorphic petrology from Johns Hopkins University in 1974 and 1977, respectively. The same year she obtained her Ph.D., Hoersch began teaching as an assistant professor of …

Interview Of Stephen Andrilli, Ph.D., Stephen Francis Andrilli Ph.D., Jane Highley

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Stephen Francis Andrilli was born in August 1952 in Bryn Mawr, PA. He was born to Francis and Leatrice Andrilli. Dr. Andrilli is the oldest of four children; his three sisters are Carol (now Carol Strosser), Patricia (now Patricia Kempczynski), and Barbara (now Barbara Parkes). Aside from a few years of living in Gettysburg, Dr. Andrilli has lived in the Philadelphia area for most of his life. He attended St. Jerome School, where he finished 8th grade. He then attended LaSalle College High School, where he graduated in 1969 at age 16. He entered La Salle University (formerly La Salle …

Interview Of Kevin J. Harty, Ph.D., Kevin J. Harty Ph.D., Meghan Skiles

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Dr. Kevin J. Harty was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1948. He grew up in Brooklyn until his family moved to Chicago when he was about twelve years old. His father worked for the telephone company, which spurred the family’s move to Chicago, and his mother stayed home and cared for the family. Dr. Harty attended high school in the suburbs of Chicago, graduating when he was fifteen and a half years old. Between high school and college, he worked for a year in a department store, and briefly considered going into the fashion industry. He attended Marquette University …

Interview Of Richard Mshomba, Ph.D., Richard Mshomba Ph.D., Daniel Miller

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Dr. Richard Mshomba is an economics professor at La Salle University. He was born in Tanzania and spent his early adult life working for the Tanzanian government. When he was 27 he came to the United States to attend school at La Salle College. While attending La Salle he lived with the brother of a local Bishop who helped to get Richard accepted to La Salle. Richard spent three years at La Salle College earning his degree in Economics. After talking with his professor Richard Garrison, he decided to apply to graduate school at the University of Delaware. While he …

Interview Of Jennifer Sipe, M.S.N., R.N., Jennifer Sipe, Anthony Palazzolo

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Jennifer Sipe was born in 1969 at Chestnut Hill Hospital. Jennifer had an unstructured childhood which allowed her time to follow her interests and explore local woods and creeks in Bucks County growing up. Jennifer went to Willow Dale Elementary and also was a graduate of William Tennent High School class of 1987. During high school Jennifer was involved in many activities and took a wide range of classes. At an early age as an aggressive learner after completing high school, Jennifer decided to be the first one in her family to attend college. She started college at Temple University …

Interview Of Stuart Leibiger, Ph.D., Stuart E. Leibiger Ph.D., Gina L. Bixler

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Stuart Eric Leibiger, Ph.D. was born in 1965 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the youngest of four children. He spent all of his life along the northeastern seaboard of the United States. He was raised in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before settling in the Delaware Valley. He joined the La Salle University history department in 1997 after working at Princeton University for a time. Shortly after being hired as assistant professor or history at La Salle, Dr. Leibiger adapted his dissertation into his first book Founding Friendship: …

Interview Of John Mackin, John Mackin, Alex Palma

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John Mackin was born in 1943 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He moved to Longbeach, New York when his father returned home from WWII. Soon after his family moved there, they moved again to Collingswood, New Jersey. Finally, his family moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey when John was 16. John attended public and Catholic school growing up and attended Boston College for his higher education. John hit a rough page after college during which he struggled with alcoholism. At the time of the interview, he worked at the La Salle University Connelly Library. A position he got in 1984 while the …

Interview Of Brian Henderson, F.S.C., M.A., Brian Henderson F.S.C., Rebecca Oviedo

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Brother Brian Henderson was born in 1959 and grew up in Southwest Philadelphia. He graduated from West Catholic High School for Boys in 1977 and La Salle University with a B.A. in Religion and Psychology in 1981, and later earned a Masters Degree in Pastoral Studies in 1992. He has been a De La Salle Christian Brother since 1979, taking final vows in 1987. All of Brother Brian’s apostolic assignments have placed him serving inner city youth. His first assignment was as a youth care worker and religion teacher at Saint Gabriel’s Hall in Audubon, PA, a residential treatment facility …

Interview Of Michael R. Smith, Michael R. Smith, Bradford J. Morith

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Michael R. Smith is an alumnus of La Salle University, Class of 1982, with a degree in accounting. He was born in 1960 at Nazareth Hospital in the Greater Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up along the Roosevelt Boulevard of Northeast Philadelphia in the Holmes Circle neighborhood. He attended and graduated from Father Judge Catholic High School in Philadelphia in 1978. He decided upon La Salle University and attended La Salle as an accounting major from 1978 to 1982, the latter being his graduation year. Legacy wise, Michael is one of many La Salle graduates in his family, …

Interview Of Margaret Mary Markmann, Ph.D., Margaret Mary Markmann Ph.D, Alexander P. Rowan

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Dr. Markmann was born in 1948 at the Anderson Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. She was the fourth of eleven children born into a household of her mother, her father and her grandparents. She grew up in Philadelphia and has lived in the area for her entire life only leaving once after she completed nursing school. During her childhood her extended family lived nearby, her grandmother lived down the street and her Aunt and Uncle lived in the opposite direction. Her father was the direct descendent of Irish immigrants who settled in South West Philadelphia and lived in Southwest Philadelphia …

Interview Of Diana Regan, M.A., Diana Regan M.A., Melissa Nichols

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Diana Regan was born in Philadelphia, on an undisclosed date, and grew up in Bryn Mawr, where she has spent her entire life with the exception of a brief time in the 1960s when she lived in New York City. Her father had his own business distributing home heating fuel oil, and her mother worked with him. She had one brother who is now deceased. Regan attended St. Thomas Aquinas elementary school in South Philadelphia, followed by high school at Mater Misericordiae Academy (now Merion Mercy Academy) in Merion, Pennsylvania. In pursuing her higher education, Regan first attended Immaculata College …

Interview Of Margaret "Peggy" Emme, Margaret Emme, Carlos M. Contente

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Margaret “Peggy” Walsh Emme was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1957 at Nazareth Hospital. Her parents are Marita A. Dunphy and Richard J. Walsh. They both owned business while Mrs. Emme was a child. Her mother owned a small boutique in the basement of her parents’ house (Mrs. Emme’s maternal grandparents) and her father owned a local tavern. Mrs. Emme would help out at both of these businesses. Mrs. Emme is the oldest of five children. Her four younger brothers are: Richard, Michael, Brian, and John. She attended Catholic school as a child, first attending St. Bernard’s Parochial School and …

Interview Of Ruth Jenkinson, Ruth Jenkinson, Kevin W. Lynch

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Ruth Jenkinson was born in West Philadelphia, one of eight siblings, four boys and four girls. Her family moved to Roxborough in 1952, and she and her siblings were soon enrolled in Catholic Schools, the boys going to Roman and the girls attending Hallahan. After graduating High School in 1964, Mrs. Jenkinson worked briefly in electronics, building and testing circuit boards before marrying in 1968. She has two children. In 1981 she accepted a position as Cataloguing Library Technician at La Salle University. After working briefly as a Payroll Clerk in the Human Resources Department she became Secretary to the …

Interview Of Margaret Mccoey, M.S., Margaret M. Mccoey, Matthew Riffe

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Margaret “Peggy” McCoey is the Director of Graduate Programs in Computer Information Science, Information Technology, and Economic Crime Forensics at La Salle University. Born in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia in 1957, Peggy grew up in St. Martin of Tours parish attending their grade school before going to Little Flower High School. After graduation in 1975, Peggy entered La Salle University an undergraduate where she received a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. Peggy received a master’s degree from Villanova in 1984. Beginning in 1982, Peggy McCoey has taught at La Salle University in some capacity. Throughout the 1990’s, Peggy …

Interview Of Mary Butler, Mary Butler, Zach Bower

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Mary (King) Butler was born in 1942 in King and Queen County, Virginia. Her parents are Hayes and Blanche King. Her father’s parents were Archie King, Sr. and Rossie King. Her mother’s parents were Joshua and Peggie Whiting. Mary is the oldest of four children. Her two brothers were born in 1943 and 1951, and her sister was born in 1961. Her nuclear family lived close to her father’s parent’s farm in Plainview, VA. Her family was active in both Union Prospect Baptist Church and First Baptist Church.

Butler worked often on her grandparent’s farm as a child. Butler and …

Interview Of Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., M.A., M.Ed., M.L.S., Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., Wesley Schwenk

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Brother Joseph Grabenstein is the Head Archivist of the La Salle University Archives and also manages the Brothers of the Christian School, District of Eastern North America Archives that are housed here at La Salle. He worked as an assistant archivist from 1992 until 1994 and was made head archivist January 1, 1994. Grabenstein was born in 1950 in Cumberland, Maryland to Herman and Irene Grabenstein. He is a 1968 graduate of Bishop Walsh High School and received his Bachelor of Arts in History in 1973 from La Salle College. He taught a variety of classes including history, geography, religion …

Interview Of John Lukacs, Ph.D., John Lukacs Ph.D., Leo Wong

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John Lukacs was born in 1924 in Budapest Hungary. He grew up in a middle class family raised by a Roman Catholic Father, and a Jewish mother. While he received most of his education in Hungary, he went to high school in Great Britain during his teenage years. During the Second World War, he was drafted into a forced labor battalion for much of the war. When German troops occupied Hungary in late 1944, he had to avoid getting sent to death camps by avoiding German patrols. In addition, he had to avoid being caught in the crossfire during the …

Interview Of Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Charles D. Muzyczek

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Thomas J. Wurtenberger was born and raised in the Lower Olney (Feltonville) section of Philadelphia in 1935. He was raised primarily by his mother after the death of his father in 1944. Tom attended North Catholic High School where he took business courses. He did not have aspirations to attend college right out of high school. He was encouraged by a former employer to better himself by going to college and earning a degree. One year after graduation Tom enrolled at La Salle College. He chose La Salle because of its reasonable tuition and proximity to home. Originally Tom desired …

Interview Of Frederick Van Fleteren, Ph.D., Frederick Van Fleteren Ph.D., Leo Wong

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Frederick Van Fleteren was born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan in 1941. He was raised by two devout Catholic parents who valued his education. He went to Catholic grade schools and colleges in the United States, as well as two Irish universities when he was getting his Ph.D. in philosophy. His interest in philosophy would guide his academic and professional career from his undergraduate years to his time as a Philosophy professor at La Salle University. From 1967 until 1978, he was an ordained priest with the Augustinians. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Villanova in 1964 and 1968 …

Interview Of John P. Rossi, Ph.D., John Patrick Rossi Ph.D., Kevin N. Bretz

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This interview examines Dr. John Rossi’s life since his formal retirement in 2006. Major topics in the interview include Dr. Rossi’s publication of the La Salle history book, Living the Promise. Rossi details the archival experience, the research, drafts, and publication of the book. He also discusses the book’s reception at the school, as well as the community. Another major topic that was explored was Dr. Rossi’s travels and experience in Great Britain while he was researching his doctoral dissertation in the 1960s. Other topics include his analysis of history and his perspective on how technology has affected the …

Interview Of Charles A. Desnoyers, Ph.D., Charles A. Desnoyers Ph.D., Remus Lee

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Dr. Charles Albert Desnoyers (b. 1952) was born and raised in North Plainfield, New Jersey with his parents and five younger siblings. He attended St. Joseph’s Parochial School and North Plainfield High School for the duration of his primary school education; it was in North Plainfield High School where he began showing an interest in history, due to the influences of his history teachers. He later attended Villanova University, changing to a sociology major after a year of general sciences. His graduation from Villanova University with a minor in history led him down the path to getting a Ph.D. and …

Interview Of Richard Monastra, Richard J. Monastra, Pamela Johnson

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Richard Monastra is of the “baby boom” generation, having been born in 1946 in Philadelphia. He is the eldest of two children. He remains very close to his sister to this day. Mr. Monastra grew up in South Philadelphia in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He describes South Philly at the time as “magical”. He described his neighborhood as being made up of Euro-Americans who settled in South Philly after the Civil War. He attended St. Edmond’s Parochial Elementary School where there were as many as 60 kids in a class. After elementary school, he attended Bishop Neumann High School. While …

Interview Of Dominic Galante, Dominic Galante, Lewis T. Mladjen

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Mr. Dominic Galante was born in 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The youngest of three children and a first-generation Italian-American, the majority of his life, both professional and private, was spent in Philadelphia. As a child Mr. Galante was raised in a devout Catholic home and attended Catholic grade school in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia. Upon graduating from Northeast Catholic High School in 1962 he planned on joining the workforce, as attending college was not financially possible. In the fall of 1962, with the help of his high school typing teacher, he was interviewed and hired at LaSalle College …

Interview Of John J. Mcgoldrick, F.S.C., Ph.D., John J. Mcgoldrick F.S.C., Ph.D., Christine M. Thieme

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Brother John Joseph McGoldrick (b. 1948), grew up in Southwest Philadelphia with his parents and older brother. Attending Most Blessed Sacrament School and later West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, Brother John was part of a strong Catholic community. It was here at West Philadelphia Catholic High School, where Brother John was introduced to the Christian Brotherhood. It was at this time that he realized that the life of service with the Brotherhood was the type of life he’d like to lead. At the age of fifteen, Brother John attended the junior novitiate and after graduating high school entered …

Interview Of Michael R. Dillon, Ph.D., J.D., Michael R. Dillon, Ph.D., J.D., John A. Prendergast

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Dr. Michael Richard Dillon (1942-2020) was a Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department at La Salle University in Philadelphia. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb just outside of Chicago, where he spent many years before opting to attend the University of Notre Dame for his undergraduate and, later, his graduate and doctoral degrees. Dr. Dillon first came to La Salle in 1968, where he spent 17 years as a member of the Political Science Department under the Chair at the time, Robert Courtney. After obtaining a J.D. from Temple University, Dr. Dillon left La Salle in …

Interview Of Sidney J. Macleod, Jr., M.F.A., Sidney J. Macleod Jr., M.F.A., Amy E. Brooks

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Sidney MacLeod (often called Sid) was born in 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the oldest of three children and the only boy. He earned his M.S.S. at Saint Mary’s College in Winona, Minnesota and his M.F.A. at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. After graduate school he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he served two years on several domestic military bases. He began working at La Salle in 1959. In 1961 he married his wife, Mary Jane. They have four children (three sons and one daughter). He continues to work at La Salle full-time. When he retires he …