During quiet moments, on and off the job, Bob Tumulo used to spend his time exploring part-time businesses with which he could supplement his pay as a city firefighter.
Most never got beyond the inquiry stage. They were too complicated, too expensive, or too risky.
Then, in 1984, he thought of water ice, a dessert he learned to love as a youngster in South Philadelphia. And sooner than you can say Rita's (Real Italian) Water Ice, he was in business.
He started out the right way. He bought his equipment from a South Philadelphian who had worked in the business for most of life. And with the equipment came a thorough training course. Then came the name.
Tumulo borrowed his wife's for the "Rita" and relied on his family background for the (Real Italian) part of the company name. The "Water Ice" part came built in.
Equipped, he formed a partnership with his mother, Betty Tumulo, and opened for business on a front porch opposite the Woodhaven Mall. Things went well for the Tumulos. They developed their 13 flavors - "Real fruit flavors made
from real fruit" - improvising as they went.
As the years passed, the mother-son business became a full family affair, with father, mother, brother, wife, daughters, cousins - 35 in all - on the payroll, working at the mall, at a former railroad caboose at Academy and Red Lion Roads, and at Rita's (Real Italian) Water Ice store at 5901 Rising Sun Ave.
Things have gone far enough that Tumulo has decided now to go to the next sensible step, by franchising all 13 flavors and the necessary equipment, plus aid and comfort in site selection.
And, just in case it snows in July, Tumulo, a firefighter for 16 years, is still a firefighter.
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It may have nothing to do with the way cities at opposite ends of the state see each other, but . . .
Checking the personnel files last week, spokesmen for the Ralston Purina Company reported that only four employees made the move to Philadelphia in May when Ralston-Purina closed Pittsburgh's century-old Braun Baking Company.
Ralston-Purina's Continental Baking Co., the maker of Wonder Bread, offered to pay relocation expenses for any of Braun's 110-member production crew that would take jobs in its plant near Roosevelt Boulevard and Northeast Airport.
The Blue Grass Road plant, a facility Continental purchased last year from Acme Markets, was designed for production of bread and baked goods for Horn and Hardart shops. It was acquired by Food Fair and then sold to Acme Markets in 1977.
The Torresdale Post Office will open for business at 10389 Drummond Rd. on July 17, according to Dennis J. Huston, manager of postal station operations.
The new office will offer twice the number of postal boxes of the Morrell Avenue station, as well as an array of services previously not available, Huston said.
Located at about the center of both the 19154 and 19114 ZIP code areas, the new office will offer 24-hour access to postal boxes and stamp machines and easy parking. Hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Sandra Gandsman has been named assistant director of marketing for the Fox Chase Cancer Center. She will be responsible for all marketing activities of the Fox Chase Network, the cancer center subsidiary that is charged with developing community cancer programs in cooperation with area hospitals.
She worked in communications, marketing and public relations before joining Fox Chase.
Officials said she would specialize in work with units such as the Montgomery Cancer Center at Montgomery Hospital in Norristown. Dedicated on June 6, the center is part of a network of community units under development by the Fox Chase Cancer Center.
