Donegal townlively.com
APRIL 16, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Stitching history and genealogy together
Mount Joy breaks ground on new municipal complex
BY CAT SHANNON
while sharing the family history of Ann Frances Breneman,” she hen you’re passionate stated. “We found some very about a hobby, it’s easy interesting history in her family to spend hours and tree! Neither one of us is a genehours pursuing it. Deb Gepfer alogical expert, but we both find and Susan Heydt certainly know the research addicting.” something about that. T he Gepfer and Heydt are both women will offer a story based longtime fans of textile arts. on their own experience when Gepfer, who is the secretary of they present “Don’t Go Down the Maytown Historical Society, the Rabbit Hole: Researching an is a retired preschool director Antique Sampler.” and teacher. The program will be Heydt, a retired held on Thursday, “Neither one of us D o n e g a l H i g h April 24, beginning School teacher, is is a genealogical at 6:30 p.m. at the co-owner of expert, but the East Donegal needlework design Township Municstudio The Old we both find ipal Building, Man and the Bea the research 1 9 0 R o c k Po i n t with her husband, addicting.” Road, Maytown. Bruce. Although they bill The women met their presentation while serving on a as a sort of cautionary tale, both committee to build a community women are proud of the outcome playground. of their research, eager to share “ We or ig inally connected their story and ready to encour- through our love of quilts and age others to consider their own cross-stitch,” Gepfer stated. research. “That connection deepened and A s Gepfer ex plained, the broadened when we joined the program will focus on the pair’s Delaware Valley Historic Sampler acquisition of an antique sam- Guild.” pler - a small piece of cross-stitch For their April presentation, - created by Maytown resident the women will split responAnn Frances Breneman in 1855. sibilities of the program. “I’ve “We’ll explain how to research written the presentation for this someone’s family history, and we’ll meeting because of my Maytown share the tools we used. We’ll pro- connections, and Susan will be vide tips for researching genealogy interjecting throughout. She has
BY CAT SHANNON
W
Inviting people to a presentation about a needlework sampler and genealogy are Deb Gepfer (left) and Susan Heydt.
a wealth of knowledge,” Gepfer said, noting that a version of the program will also be presented to their guild in June via Zoom. “The second presentation will be geared more to samplers than this program, which is geared toward Maytown history.” W hen she says she finds
research addicting, Gepfer is not kidding. She spent hours learning all she could about Breneman and the sampler, which she acquired via a needlework auction a few years ago. “The title of our presentation … is derived from how easy it is to get lost in all of the family
In March, Mount Joy Borou g h Author it y off ici als , project partners and members of the community gathered to break ground on the new Mount Joy Borough Municipal Complex. The project, located at 300 Orchard Road, will address accessibility and space issues facing the current facility at 21 E. Main St. “ T he exist ing b uilding , which houses the borough office, Authority staff and police department, is outdated, u ndersiz e d and no t A DA compliant,” explained Mark Pugliese, borough manager. “The new facility will be fully accessible and include modern meeting spaces for public gatherings and council sessions.” The council chambers at the new site will also double as an emergency operations command center, enhancing the borough’s emergency response capabilities. “The project aims to create a more efficient, accessible and secure environment for municipal operations while strengthening community engagement and resilience,” Pugliese stated. The new complex is set to open in March 2026, and the process of developing the site
See Stitching pg 8
See Municipal complex pg 8
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VOL LXVI • NO 10