According to local historian Chuck Langerman, Anita Kelley Pearson (above left) and Dr. William Wolgin (above right) served as commencement speakers for their 1940 Cheltenham High School graduating class, and both lived to be centenarians.
Pearson was the Treasurer of Student Council, captain of the field hockey team, a member of the National Honor Society, served on the editorial board of the yearbook, and was voted “Outstanding Girl” by her graduating class at Cheltenham. After graduating from Swarthmore College, she became a biologist and small mammal researcher, and was married for 58 years to Oliver Payne Pearson, former director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley.
She passed away on January 10 in Orinda, California, two months from her 101st birthday. From a comment on her obituary:
My father, John Kamholz, passed away on February 2 this year. He left me two boxes of photos and documents from his mother, Bobbette Sondheim, including her diary from 1939. Bobbette talks extensively about her friends in the diary. Imagine my surprise to learn that her old friend Anita Kelley, with whom she edited the Cheltenham High School yearbook, had been active at UC Berkeley when I was a student there and passed away just 3 days prior to my father.
Dr. Wolgin was involved in all the theatrical plays at Cheltenham High and was active in Student Council. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann Medical College and went on to serve his country as a doctor during WWII and the Korean War.
Dr. Wolgin became a respected urologist in Philadelphia, serving as the Chairman of the Department of Urology at Albert Einstein Medical Center. From his obituary:
A lifelong art collector and enthusiast, Bill was active with the Boca Raton Museum of Art for decades serving as a Trustee and twice as Chairman of the Board. In recognition of his long service and achievements he was awarded the Jean Spence Lifetime Achievement Award by the Boca Raton Museum of Art in 2010. Continuing his philanthropic efforts in the art community, Bill became a Trustee and member of the Advisory committee of Woodmere Art Museum in 2012.
He was married to wife Acey, a Trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for 67 years. He passed away on April 12, 2023, in Philadelphia and was born in 1922.
For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.
Photo: legacy.com