The FCBA hosted a Lunch & Learn on Monday, November 4, 2013. "Legal Issues Involved in the Right of Disposition in Pennsylvania" was presented by Kathleen K. Ryan, Esquire. Kathleen K. Ryan is General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and Unichoice Cooperative Inc. 16 FCBA members and 5 area Funeral Directors attended the Lunch  and Learn. 

On a cold, sunny Saturday morning, the County Courthouse planters transformed from  Fall mums to Christmas d�cor in time for the Christmas parade on Nov. 23.  The design was created by Marty Walker and Barbara Townsend.  Greens were provided by Eileen Finucane and Bill Kaminski. David Spang provided assistance in removing the center pots to replace them with miniature spruce trees.  Nancy Myers, Brett Beynon and Theresa Yaukey added the finishing touches with  red and gold balls.  The co-ed team effort resulted in a festive holiday look as evidenced by the pictures.  Barbara and Marty donated the spruce and balls. 

The new FCBA website launched its members' area on November 25th. You now have access to Published Opinions, FCBA Committee Information, our Event Calendar, our Photo Gallery, the Member Directory, Court Contacts, a searchable list of PBI Books at the Law Library and a link to update your Profile information. We look forward to adding more content and useful information for you. If you have any suggestions regarding the website please contact Amelia Ambrose. You can still access the new website using the existing web address www.franklinbar.org. 

          I attended a performance of the Festival Chamber Orchestra this past July at  Shippensburg University.  During the intermission, I saw Joel Zullinger, Esq., and Tom Finucane, Esq., and Tom's wife, Susan and had a chance to chat.  Joel and I had served jointly on the board of directors for the orchestra some years ago, so we promptly exchanged comments on the performance.  In the course of the conversation, Joel let slip that there had been a Franklin Court Orchestra, founded by Judge George Eppinger and directed by Dick 'Mac' McCurdy.  Since I had a vague recollection of the group, I thought it would be fun to highlight the group.

           Joel told me that the late Judge Eppinger would remind members of the orchestra that there was a rehearsal.  He laments that he could never seem to tell Judge Eppinger that he would not come.  Joel played both the violin and the tuba, depending on the particular need of the group. 

          Franklin Court Orchestra was started by Judge Eppinger some time between 1978 and 1980, when he decided to learn to play the cello.  His wife, Ruth Eppinger, and one or both of his daughters, played the violin.  Dick McCurdy, a music teacher in the Tuscarora School District and orchestra director, had become Judge Eppinger's tip staff after retirement.  Another tip staff was Sam Kessinger.  The orchestra began, primarily with attorneys and court house employees.  The group performed at naturalization ceremonies, played during the now defunct annual Franklin County Christmas party thrown for all the employees by the Commissioners, and performed on the square in front of the Court House as the precursor to the First Friday summer lunch time concerts on the square.  While the orchestra continued after Judge Eppinger's retirement, it drifted into oblivion after Mac died.

          Joel is a graduate of Shippensburg High School and Shippensburg University, where he majored in government administration.  To avoid the draft, he enlisted in the ROTC his last year in Shippensburg and spent the summer before law school doing basic training at Ft. Knox.  While he attended Dickinson School of Law, Joel actively participated in the ROTC.  At the time, he says, the students at Dickinson College would pelt the drilling ROTC participants with rocks and eggs.  Joel spent another summer at Fort Indiantown Gap before graduating in 1973.  After law school, Joel began with Mower, Davis and Hoskinson.  He finished eight years service in the reserves while practicing law.  In 1976, he left the firm with Bill Davis.  Currently, Joel practices with Hamilton Davis and Suzanne Trinh.  In June, 2014, Joel and his wife, Sandy, will celebrate forty years of marriage.  They're the proud parents of two children, one of whom is now a choir director in North Carolina.

          Joel mentioned in passing that Judge Carol Van Horn played the keyboard for Franklin Court Orchestra.  I took advantage of a break at an opportune time, and was able to catch up with Judge Van Horn.  Judge Van Horn quickly opened a folder, looking for a picture.  It seems that sometime in the mid 80's a picture of the then members of the group appeared in the Public Opinion, but, so far, we have been unable to locate it.

          Judge Van Horn is actively pursuing the profession she's wanted since Ninth Grade Civic class in Northern Bedford High School.  After high school, she attended Juniata College, getting her degree in pre law in 1979.  After enrolling in Dickinson School of Law, Judge Van Horn began clerking for Judge Keller.  She graduated in 1982, becoming a full time clerk.  Ultimately she worked for LeRoy S. Maxwell, Sr., Esq., and Tucker Maxwell, Esq., before becoming a partner with Martha B. Walker, Esq.  Throughout her clerkship and work in Waynesboro, Judge Van Horn played keyboard for the orchestra.  Marty also played the clarinet in the orchestra.  In addition to Marty, Judge Van Horn noted that Deb Hoff played the flute.

          Judge Van Horn married her high school sweetheart, John Van Horn, after they both graduated from Juniata.  John currently is with the Letterkenny Industrial Development Authority.  The couple are the proud parents of three women, Lindsay, a school teacher in Chambersburg, Allison, who's at Drexel Law School, and Rebecca who teaches high school English.

          All mentioned Jan Sulcove, Esq., as a principal in the orchestra, so I called Jan.  Jan plays the trumpet.  He freely acknowledged that there were 'ringers' in the orchestra (people who had no connection to Franklin County Court House other than friendship or relationship).  For example, Jan mentioned his friend John Winslow, another trumpeter who works at Letterkenny.  Then he mentioned Wib Arnold on the trombone,  Wib's wife on percussion, Sherry Rosenberry on the tenor sax and Ray DePuy on the violin.  [Sherry's not exactly a 'ringer', having been the first and only enforcement officer for Domestic Relations for a few years until she left to work for Rick Bushman].

           Jan added to the history of performances by telling of performances from the tower on the Court House, directly under the statue of Benjamin Franklin.  The brasses would climb the old bell tower and play Christmas carols during the annual Christmas parade.  [The stairs to the tower are behind the door in what has been chambers for Judge Van Horn, Tim Wilmot, Judge Krom and now Central Court Administration over the past several years.  Because of security concerns, access has been lost].  Jan tells of having to be very careful with timing because the bells were deafening.

          Jan's a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.  He graduated from Dickinson School of Law in 1971.  He then came to Chambersburg to work for George Black and Charles Davidson with Bob Schollaert.  Jan's two sons, Elliott and Jerrold, have joined him as attorneys in Franklin County.  Jan's son Elliott is rumored to have been one of the ringers when he was in high school.

          During a lapse when a client failed to show, I called Sherry Rosenberry.  I asked her who she remembered in the orchestra and she recalled David C. Wertime, Esq.  Naturally, a follow up call to Dave was in order.  While he did not own the gig, Dave acknowledged that he played French horn.  He was sure he'd given it up after high school, but confessed that, while a student at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, he occasionally came home and helped his father and J. Dennis Guyer, Esq., do title searches in the old vault in the Court House.  After he graduated in 1980 with a degree in economics and political science, he took off a year to clerk for Rudolph Wertime, Esq., and Denny.  Then he headed out to Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law.  He noted that, before Weidner came to Harrisburg, the second most popular law school producing practicing attorneys in Franklin County was Ohio Northern, pointing to George Glenn, Courtney Graham, Fred Anton, Bill Cramer and Kathy Cramer.  He graduated in 1984, but claims he couldn't have played during school breaks.  Yet, Sherry remembers his French horn, and he did clerk during school breaks.

          George Glenn played clarinet in the orchestra.  He's a graduate of Chambersburg High School and headed to Lebanon Valley College to study political science.  He graduated in 1970 and took employment at the Chambersburg YMCA for a year.  He then headed off to Ohio Northern for law school and took his decree in 1974, returning to Chambersburg to work with his uncle, Jay Stewart Glenn, Jr., Esq.

           George would also play saxophone as the need required.  George's wife, Nancy, a retired learning support teacher, also played keyboard on the rare occasion.  George and Nancy have two sons and three grandchildren.  George said the climb up to the tower to play carols was an event.  If the night were cool, crisp and clear, the music from the Court House tower was a musical experience to be savored and remembered. Then George begged off to join Ed Wenger and Don Kornfield for their annual luncheon celebrating their admission to the bar.

          I mentioned Deborah K. Hoff, Esq., played flute.  She began playing in grammar school in Cleveland, Ohio.  Take note, all members of the various boards of education, and keep a music program in the elementary schools.  Deb did high school in Waynesboro, PA, where she currently has a general practice of law including criminal law.  Deb graduated from Connecticut College and then Temple School of Law, getting her degree in 1977.  She served for twenty-nine years as a part time attorney in the Public Defender's office.

          Deb confirmed that the orchestra instituted the Friday lunchtime concert series on the square, First Fridays and recalled a few church appearances.  When it came to the orchestra, she recalls that Judge Eppinger would send either Dick McCurdy or Sam Kessinger to her office to remind her that she had practice.  It's a little hard to miss practice with a verbal reminder instead of a beep on the smart phone.

          Along the way, I learned that Magistrate David Hawbaker also played the tuba and the former Clerk of Courts, Glenn Shadle, contributed his son's abilities on the saxophone. 

          So, why don't we still have a band, orchestra or other group of musicians?

From Jay L. Benedict, II, Esq., 2008 notes.  He opened a board of directors' meeting at F & M Trust Company with the following:

          A frog goes into the F & M Trust Building on the square to see Patty Mack, a loan officer, about a loan.  She asks if he has any collateral.  He produces a small vase.  Patty is confused as to the identity of the object and, more importantly, its value.  She takes the object to Chuck Bender, the chief loan officer, and asks for advise.  Chuck examines the object and says: "It's a knick-knack, Patty Mack. Give the Frog a loan."