Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Elinor Garrett PENNELL
Elinor Pennell ‘Penny’ Briggs of Kennett Square Elinor Pennell “Penny” Briggs died peacefully in her sleep on July 11, 2017 at the age of 97 at Crosslands Retirement Community in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. She was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years Franklin Humphrey Briggs III in 1990. She is survived by her daughter Barbara Briggs Montabana, of Aldan, PA and her sons Franklin Humphrey Briggs IV of Canberra, Australia and Robert Smedley Briggs of Vashon Island, Washington and by four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Penny was born Elinor Garrett Pennell on June 10, 1920 to Mary Smedley Pennell and James Raymond Pennell. She grew up on their family farm in Wawa, Pennsylvania. She was educated at Media Friends School in Media, Pennsylvania, at Westtown School in Westtown, Pennsylvania, and at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. Penny was a gifted athlete, and enjoyed playing field hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and tennis in high school and college and was also an accomplished equestrian. She enjoyed playing tennis into her eighties, and remained an active gardener into her nineties. At age 95, she decided to stop driving and go car-free, ending her much appreciated informal taxi service for fellow Crosslands residents. Penny taught at Friends School at Wilmington before marrying Franklin Humphrey Briggs III of Greenwich, New York in 1944. They were married under the care of Middletown Friends Meeting in Lima, Pennsylvania. They spent their first year of married life working at the State Mental Hospital at Warren, Pennsylvania. At the end of World War II, they moved to Westtown, Pennsylvania. Penny taught physical education at Westtown School for many years and, after her own children were grown, became a third grade teacher at Westtown Lower School. Penny was a Quaker and was active on many Philadelphia Yearly Meeting committees, including Worship and Ministry, Care and Education of Members, Religious Education, and Property Committees. She served on the Religious Education Committee of Friends General Conference, helping to write curricula for children. Penny was active in the many communities to which she belonged. She served in various committees at Crosslands, including President of the Residents Association, and was for decades a First Day school teacher at her Friends Meeting. She also became a member of the Friends World Committee, and she and husband Franklin enjoyed attending Triennial Meetings of FWC held in other countries. The two travelled extensively to visit their children across the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia. They also visited the Galapagos Islands, reinforcing their concern for wildlife and their interest in the natural world. Penny enjoyed being creative through arts and crafts in various media, including sewing, knitting, and watercolor painting. She is best known for her patchwork embroidery creations (done under her nom d’art “Penni”) in a folk art tradition, mostly depicting local rural landscapes but also scenes from her travels. Her creativity extended to writing. She wrote a series of plays and skits, which were performed at Middletown Friends Meeting over the years. She was an accomplished story teller and had a repertoire of interesting Quaker stories she told in dramatic format. A visit to Quaker historical sites in England helped her bring alive the stories that she enjoyed telling to many. Upon retirement, she taught as a volunteer at West Chester Friends School, teaching a generation of young children about Quakerism through stories. Some of these stories she had published, including a book containing her original watercolor illustrations. Penny acquired a love of plants and flower at an early age through her work at her aunts’ commercial flower garden, Hildemere Gardens, on Baltimore Pike in Wawa. She created beautiful flower gardens at her homes in Wawa, Westtown, and at the Crosslands Retirement Community, where she lived for the past 26 years. A garden at the center of the Crosslands complex, which she maintained for nearly twenty years, has been appreciatively named “Penny’s Garden.” A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 13 at 2 pm, Center Building at Crosslands, 1660 East Street Road, Kennett Square, PA. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Penny’s name to Friends Committee on National Legislation or the American Friends Service Committee.
Published in The Daily Local on Aug. 6, 2017
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