Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Adele BIDDLE
Home News Tribune Online 12/31/06
ADELE BIDDLE SCHOETTLE, 82, formerly of BAY HEAD, died Sunday, Dec. 17 at Chestnut Hill Hospital, Pa. after a brain aneurysm. She was a freelance writ er, horticulturist, volunteer and long time resident of Bay Head. A member of one of Philadelphia's oldest families, Adele was the daughter of the late Katharine Hansell Biddle and the late Alexander Mercer Biddle Jr. of "The Dell" in Andalusia, Pa. and the wife of Philip Alden Schoettle of Bay Head. Each summer, Adele could be found tending to her state award-winning, blue ribbon garden at the Schoettle's Bay Head cottage on Howe Street, where strollers among East Avenue's historic homes would stop and admire her unusual varieties of iris and snapdragons blooming late into the fall. Like so many early Philadelphia family members, Adele spent childhood summers in Bay Head with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Mercer Biddle Sr., in the Biddle cottage which stood across the street from the Schoettles on the northeast corner of East Avenue and Howe Street. A member of the Mantoloking Yacht Club, Adele enjoyed sailing on Barnegat Bay almost as much as her favorite pastime of recreating 19th century designs for her custom cut-sculptured lamp shades. Beloved for her unpretentious free spirit, Adele lived her life with the same wit and whimsy with which she wrote poetry and theatre reviews for the Stagecrafters of Chestnut Hill, and articles for The Wissahickon Skating Club Bulletin, for which she served as editor. Her weekly articles in The Chestnut Hill Local chronicled the disappearing lifestyle of early Philadelphia gentlemen and ladies as they ice-boated on the frozen Delaware River and served homemade (terrapin) turtle soup at the "Fish House," the oldest men's club in Philadelphia. An accomplished ice dancer, Adele had a flair for choreographing skating routines for the annual "Wisscapades" carnivals at the Wissahickon skating club, Chestnut Hill, where the whole family - children and grandchildren - learned to skate. In her youth while others of her generation stayed close to home, Adele followed her pioneering heart to San Francisco where she served as a nurse's aid during World War II, later returning to Philadelphia to raise her children in Chestnut Hill where they attended Springside school. Actively involved in her community, Adele was esteemed for her fundraising prowess as publicity chairwoman for galas to benefit the World Affairs Council and the Wistar Institute.
She is survived by her current husband of 42 years, Philip Alden Schoettle of Chestnut Hill and Bay Head; daughters, Marjorie Merritt Robinson of Darien, Conn., Dr. Amar Jane Merritt El-Yacoubi of Fairfax Station, Va., Tessa Merritt LeBaron of Atlanta, Ga.; and 10 grandchildren.
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