Havertown

HARRISBURG - Since West Philadelphia resident David Pride lost his job selling cable service 18 months ago, he hasn't exactly been loafing. He has attended job fairs and enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia, where he received an associate's degree as a paralegal. And he's fighting City Hall to get blighted buildings removed from his neighborhood. "I'm not sitting at home collecting checks," said Pride, whose unemployment insurance ran out last week. Ditto Larry McGee of Bucks County, who said he had sent out 150 resumés since being laid off from a plumbing-supply company in May 2009.

Edward Bogosian, 82, longtime owner of the Camera Shop of Bryn Mawr, died Saturday, May 11, of bone cancer at his home in Villanova. The Camera Shop was established by Sarkis Bogosian, Mr. Bogosian's father, in 1920, making it among the state's oldest family-run camera stores, his family said. The onset of the Internet, the change to digital photography, the prevalence of big-box stores carrying photo equipment, and poor economic conditions combined to defeat many of the store's competitors.

Dean S. Miller, 79, a high school graduate who worked his way through the ranks to become circulation manager and then vice president of a Philadelphia publishing company, died Dec. 5 at Lankenau Hospital in Lower Merion. He lived in Havertown. "He said he had to work twice as hard because he didn't have a college education," said his daughter, Pam Zeich. Mr. Miller worked for the Curtis Publishing Co. on Independence Square for 42 years before retiring in 1972. The company was absorbed into Review Publishing Co. of Indianapolis that same year.

Living on the Edge, a musical by Michael W. Smith, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Union United Methodist Church, 200 Brookline Blvd., Havertown. The performance features the New Horizons Youth Choir of the Trinity United Methodist church in Warner Robins, Ga. A free-will offering will be accepted. Events "The Beatitudes for Today: Be Glad and Rejoice" will be presented from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. next Tuesday at The Marianist Center, 901 Morton Ave., Folsom. The presenter will be Sister Beatrice Balletta.

Robert James Spence Sr., 66, a plumbing contractor who helped raise money for crippled children, died Monday at Lankenau Hospital. Mr. Spence lived in Havertown for 15 years and had lived in Drexel Hill. Before his retirement in 1984, Mr. Spence worked for almost 40 years as a plumbing contractor in the family business, George E. Spence & Sons Co. Inc., which was started by his father. Mr. Spence was a Mason for 40 years. He was a member of the Shriners and for many years was active in fund-raising for Shriners Hospital For Crippled Children in Philadelphia.

Federal and state environmental officials are to begin collecting soil from 28 Haverford Township yards today after finding traces of dioxin in a nearby wood-preserving plant. Officials said yesterday that they doubted that the dioxin spread outside the National Wood Preservers plant in Havertown. But they said they would secure the plant and fence off a creek in case any of the toxic substance escaped through air or water. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources discovered low levels of dioxin last week while analyzing routine soil tests taken from the plant, which has been given federal priority for cleanup because it contains pentachlorophenol (PCP)

Haverford students who looked forward to starting class in the brand-new wing of Chatham Park Elementary School in Havertown this week were disappointed. But probably not nearly as much as district administrators and teachers. The eight-classroom addition was supposed to be completed by yesterday when school opened, but early problems with a crane and steel fittings and a recent delay in the arrival of custom windows have set the project back more than a month. "The target date from the general contractor is Oct. 25, but the district anticipates it taking longer," said Joe Anderson, district spokesman.

It is a throwback, a store that caters to children whose ideas of play have not been formed by television or computers. A big rack just inside the front door carries coloring books of Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. Dusty sets of Parcheesi sit piled above the Game of the Flags. There are boxes of Buster Brown socks, magnetic Scotties, Popeye lunch boxes, rubber snakes, model airplane kits, and bottles of goo waiting to be transformed by a child's breath into bubbles.

Havertown native Brendan Hansen captured the 200-yard breaststroke, besting Michael Phelps last night at the Southern California Grand Prix of Swimming in Long Beach, Calif. The meet was contested in yards instead of Olympic meters. Hansen won in 1 minute, 53.78 seconds. Phelps finished in 1:56.90, a personal best in an event he has not raced in three years. "I could see him pretty much the whole time," Phelps said. "I was like, 'Maybe I can catch him,' and then I was like, 'What am I thinking?

Merton B. Frye, 96, who devoted his life to music, died Monday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. He lived at Bryn Mawr Terrace for 2 1/2 years, and previously lived in Havertown. Mr. Frye was choirmaster and church organist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Ardmore for more than 50 years. He taught organ, piano and voice for more than 70 years to students in New England and the Delaware County-Main Line area. Bill Conron, a choir singer and friend who knew Mr. Frye for more than 40 years, recalled that a small party was held at Bryn Mawr Terrace in March to celebrate Mr. Frye's birthday.