Namesake

Most Americans know who the patron saint of Ireland is, or given a moment, can figure it out. But the patron saint of Wales? Even though the Main Line was known as Welsh Valley in the days of William Penn, about the only apparent remaining ties to that small nation are place names: Bryn Mawr, Bala Cynwyd and Narberth. To help cement international ties, the mayor from the Welsh Narberth will arrive in the Main Line Narberth Monday for a visit. Mayor Andrew William Walker will be staying "a fortnight," and during his visit hopes to establish a twin cities project between the two towns.

Campbell Soup Co. will continue to raise prices on its namesake soups as appropriate, building on several years of increases, said chairman and chief executive David Johnson. If the company can get consumers interested in new products, they'll buy even as prices go up, he said. Meanwhile, the company yesterday said its earnings rose 7.3 percent in the fiscal second quarter on higher prices, lower costs and better U.S. soup sales. The company said net income rose to $276.3 million, or $1.18 a share, from $257.

SHELTERING UNDER AN UMBRELLA, Benjamin Frank Diamond from Tampa, Fla., waits for the start of a parade in honor of his namesake yesterday. Diamond, 12, got the trip to Philadelphia by winning an essay contest.

LAST FRIDAY, a few dozen people suddenly started following me on Twitter. "Cool," I thought. "All this writing is finally paying off. " I puffed my chest out, grateful that my eight novels and countless columns were earning me recognition where it counts - on Twitter. While silently thumbing my nose at those haughty book reviewers and the elitist snobs who run the New York Times best-sellers list, I began typing a tweet to thank the little people. "At long last, after years of hard work and sacrifice, I've arrived among the giants in my craft.

Friends and families of SS. Cosmas and Damian Church on Fifth Avenue and Maple Street in Conshohocken celebrated its 76th annual festival honoring its two namesake saints Sunday. After a 12:15 p.m. Mass was offered, a procession of saints was held, including the statue of St. Clementine, borne by (from left) Josette Gourdain, Retala S. Jour, Marily St. Ellen and Annesly Orbuthnott, all of Brooklyn. People came from as far away as Canada and the Caribbean to take part in the festivities.

Mace Security International Inc., the Horsham maker of its namesake pepper spray, said it has tendered a rights offering, giving existing shareholders an opportunity to buy additional shares of its penny stock. The offering, effective until July 25, unless extended, permits shareholders to purchase three shares, at 20 cents each, for every share owned as of June 27. Shares were trading Tuesday at 24 cents, down 1 cent. Mace chief executive Dennis Raefield said in a statement that the funds raised would be used to pay debt, fund operations and marketing efforts, and make strategic acquisitions.

Restaurateur Stephen Starr and Talula's Table owner Aimee Olexy say they will open a restaurant in his Washington Square space at 210 W. Washington Square. Neither the name nor a firm concept has been determined. The opening is projected for the spring. Olexy and her then-husband, Bryan Sikora, worked for Starr before they burst onto the BYOB scene in 2001 with Django, which they sold in 2005. She was general manager of Pod and Blue Angel, and briefly was director of Starr restaurants.

THE NEWLY FORMED Philadelphia Comedy Collective will host the first Philadelphia Comedy Month beginning today. Joke's on us: It's only three weeks long. The sorta-month, which lasts until Nov. 21, is meant to be a celebration of all things funny, with the purpose of putting Philly on the map as a comedy town. "It's almost like comedy is this forgotten stepchild," said Alexis Simpson, artistic director of the Philadelphia Joke Initiative, a member of the collective. The schedule is separated into three mini-fests: The Philadelphia Improv Festival goes first and is all about spontaneous, off-the-cuff laughs.

Forty-seven years ago, Stinson Markley bought 60 acres of land in Charlestown Township. The cost of the land was $3,000, but because he had no job, Markley could only offer the finance officer the $31 he carried in his pocket. On Tuesday night, just one month before his 90th birthday, Markley presented plans to the Charletown Township Planning Commission to divide and donate his land on Union Hill Road to the Chester County Historical Society and the Charlestown Nature Center. Of the 54 acres he still owns from his original purchase, a 13-acre lot will be given to the nature center and 10 acres to the historical society, Markley said.

The walls of a vacant house can echo a kind of hollow sadness as if no one has ever lived there. Inhabitants may have moved out yesterday, but with them they've taken the warmth, the intimacy, the personal effects that made the house a home. Another scenario is to enter a house, hoping to make it yours, when all evidence suggests that the seller still calls it home. Either way, the result for a potential home buyer is a blank canvas or, at best, the "remains of the day," both of which challenge all but the most creative eyes to envision their own lives in that setting.

LAST FRIDAY, a few dozen people suddenly started following me on Twitter. "Cool," I thought. "All this writing is finally paying off. " I puffed my chest out, grateful that my eight novels and countless columns were earning me recognition where it counts - on Twitter. While silently thumbing my nose at those haughty book reviewers and the elitist snobs who run the New York Times best-sellers list, I began typing a tweet to thank the little people. "At long last, after years of hard work and sacrifice, I've arrived among the giants in my craft.

With a $100 million donation 20 years ago, Henry Rowan transformed a small Gloucester County college, creating a nationally recognized engineering program at what has become one of New Jersey's major academic research institutions. Rowan University today bears little resemblance to the Glassboro State College that preceded it, thanks to the Inductotherm Corp. founder's gift, at that time the largest ever to a public college or university. The school will celebrate the man who made its metamorphosis possible Thursday at an anniversary event where a bronze statue of Rowan, now 89, will be unveiled.

LIKE MANY PEOPLE, Najee Goode likes to type his name into Google and see what pops up. He was doing exactly that in the fall of 2009 when, surprise, surprise, he discovered a guy named Najee Goode was a promising football player at West Virginia University. "That was pretty exciting. A guy with my name who was good in football," this Najee (pronounced nah-GEE) said. That Najee, a rookie, is now a backup linebacker with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "Oh, yeah. I'm a big fan," this Goode said.

Ford Motor Co. said its namesake brand exceeded two million U.S. sales this year for the first time since 2007, led by gains for small cars such as the Fiesta and the Focus, as well as the revamped Explorer sport-utility vehicle. Smaller cars are on pace for a sales increase of more than 20 percent this year, while light trucks including the Explorer, the Escape SUV, and the F-150 pickup may rise at least 30 percent, Ford said in a statement Friday. The second-largest U.S. automaker is benefiting from a market that through November grew 10 percent from a year earlier.

Financial-sector interests trying to block the stricter rules needed to protect the public from their avarice likely danced a little jig at the news that their ace nemesis, Barney Frank, was retiring. Without the Democratic representative from Massachusetts around, they believe it will be easier for them to repeal or dilute the law he coauthored to rein in the type of money-lending excesses that helped send the nation into recession. They must not succeed. With only a fraction of the Dodd-Frank rules in effect, Wall Street firms are already reverting to their old ways.

Mace Security International Inc., the Horsham maker of its namesake pepper spray, said it has tendered a rights offering, giving existing shareholders an opportunity to buy additional shares of its penny stock. The offering, effective until July 25, unless extended, permits shareholders to purchase three shares, at 20 cents each, for every share owned as of June 27. Shares were trading Tuesday at 24 cents, down 1 cent. Mace chief executive Dennis Raefield said in a statement that the funds raised would be used to pay debt, fund operations and marketing efforts, and make strategic acquisitions.

Restaurateur Stephen Starr and Talula's Table owner Aimee Olexy say they will open a restaurant in his Washington Square space at 210 W. Washington Square. Neither the name nor a firm concept has been determined. The opening is projected for the spring. Olexy and her then-husband, Bryan Sikora, worked for Starr before they burst onto the BYOB scene in 2001 with Django, which they sold in 2005. She was general manager of Pod and Blue Angel, and briefly was director of Starr restaurants.

THE NEWLY FORMED Philadelphia Comedy Collective will host the first Philadelphia Comedy Month beginning today. Joke's on us: It's only three weeks long. The sorta-month, which lasts until Nov. 21, is meant to be a celebration of all things funny, with the purpose of putting Philly on the map as a comedy town. "It's almost like comedy is this forgotten stepchild," said Alexis Simpson, artistic director of the Philadelphia Joke Initiative, a member of the collective. The schedule is separated into three mini-fests: The Philadelphia Improv Festival goes first and is all about spontaneous, off-the-cuff laughs.

Edward Q. Lewis, 34, for whom the Philadelphia program Eddie's House is named, died of renal failure Wednesday, July 21, at his assisted-living home in West Philadelphia. The program does not have a house but is a system designed to care for the unfortunate. "Eddie's House is a safety net and nurturing environment for young people leaving foster care at 18 or 21 and without family or other support system," the program's website states. Its staff and volunteers "assist with the necessities of health, safe housing, education, and employment training," the site states.

The portrait of their grandfather still hangs in the conference room, and the family name remains on the building out front. Yet at the Southampton, Bucks County, headquarters of Oskar Huber Fine Furniture, the Huber brothers are feeling like strangers in their own home. "It doesn't look the same, does it?" Ron Huber asked as he led a visitor familiar with the chain's flagship store through the showroom, downstairs from the corporate offices. Gone were the carefully arranged furniture displays set up to resemble actual rooms of a house.