SPECIAL FRIEND OF IMMACULATE

At the 2008 Reunion, a new reunion tradition was started, the presentation of the Special Friend of Immaculate award.  This is the highest and most prestigious honor bestowed by the Friends of Immaculate and is awarded to an individual/family whose outstanding generosity of time, treasure and talent has truly had a positive impact, and made a difference to our beloved Immaculate Conception Parish.  This special honor will continue to be awarded at all future Friends of Immaculate reunions.

Tom McCreight Sr

2010 HONOREE

Thomas J. McCreight Sr was born on June 6, 1906 to Joseph and Bertha Welsh McCreight.  Later that year, Tom had his first of a lifetime of encounters with Immaculate Conception Parish, his baptism in the parish church, then the seminary church.

 Tom’s father was a Lieutenant for the Philadelphia Police, 17th District in Chestnut Hill.  The family lived at 5708 Boyer St., prior to moving to Stafford St.  Tom attended Immaculate Conception Grade School, graduating in 1922.  One of the first volunteer jobs for IC was in the late 1920's/early 1930s, when he managed IC’s Men’s Basketball Team at the parish hall.  At the time, he was employed by the Reading Railroad as a painter.  After a few years of courtship, he married Mary Martha Meehan.  Mary was originally from St. Stephen’s Parish, but had moved to the 500 block of Chelten Ave, across from the Shrine.  They married at the Immaculate Conception Church on Thanksgiving Day, 1937.

Tom went on to various jobs including a stint as a press setter at the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.  In the 1940's/early 1950's, he sold insurance for Prudential Insurance Co, walking the debit route to collect ten cents to a quarter each week for life insurance policies. Dave White, a reunion committee member, remembers Tom coming to his house to collect the weekly premiums.  Tom and Mary McCreight had 5 children - Tom, Mary Pat, Connie, Jim and Bob.  In the mid 1950's, Tom opened a beer distributorship in the 900 block of Locust Ave., moving the business in 1961 to the corner of Chelten Ave. and Ardleigh St.  His son Jim remembers his father as the greatest one handed driver ever; he would steer and honk the horn of the truck with one hand, while simultaneously waving to someone on the street!  He seemed to know everyone, and everyone seemed to know Tom McCreight.

Tom was a fire buff, and had a radio to monitor fire calls.  Whenever a fire engine roared down Chelten Ave., he was quickly out in the street, directing traffic.  One Sunday night in September 1971, he heard what was to be the saddest fire call of his life.  His family heard him shout, “The school is on fire!”. The McCreight family was in the schoolyard before the first fire engine even arrived.

Tom was never too busy for his beloved Immaculate Conception. Whenever there was a need, he was there.  He was a natural born leader and organizer.  He was active in the Holy Name Society, where he served as president numerous times and ran the annual Holy Name banquets in the Parish Hall.  Later, he served as a Prefect in the Archdiocese Holy Name Society.  He was a fixture at the 10 o'clock Sunday Mass at IC serving as Captain of the Ushers, and was President of the Ushers Society a few times. Some of the other activities he volunteered to do, along with his wife Mary, were District Chairperson for the “5D” (Five Districts) Chance Drawing every Monday, chairperson for the parish Catholic Charities Drive, worked at the Monday Night Bingo games at the hall, and organized & directed the June Lawn Fetes.  At the request of Fr. Rooney, he also took care of the greenhouse (located where the garages were later built) and the greenhouse flowers, as well as, managed the church lawn sprinklers.  

Whenever any of the good Sisters at Immaculate needed a ride somewhere, they knew who to call for help.  Tom never turned down a request for help.  And, he was always delighted to receive a call from priests formerly assigned to Immaculate, wanting to stop over at the house to confabulate about old times over a glass of scotch.  Such visits always seemed to turn into a laugh fest.  

Tom always lived within the parish boundaries, never more than a couple blocks from the church.  After marrying, the family lived at 1100 Price St, within sight of the front of the church.  Next, they lived at 1023 East Chelten Ave, one of three homes attached to the school annex.  It was formerly the Aquinas Lending Library.  When the homes were razed to enlarge the school annex, the family moved to 1037 Chelten Ave, just seven homes down from their old one.  The back of the house faced the massive side of the Church.  So close, but much to his chagrin, the McCreight kids still managed to find a way to be late for Mass!  In the late 1960s, he sold the beer business and went to work for Frank Bryan, the owner of Chelten Hardware.  Eventually, he wound up with his dream job - the “Sexton of the Immaculate Conception Church.”  He was then getting paid for, what he had always been doing.

In the early 1970's, Tom had heart problems and spent some time in Germantown Hospital.  Even while there, he never missed writing his monthly Holy Name address for the Monthly Parish Calendar.  Upon his discharge in December 1973, family members drove him to his beloved Immaculate Conception Church, where he sat in the doorway of the sacristy and observed Mass for the December 8th Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Anxious to reunite with his friends at the parish, he enlisted a friend to drive him over to the Rectory a few days later.  He was so pleased to see everyone, and everyone was just as pleased to see him.  In leaving, they packed up some goodies for him to take along.  Later that day, his son Bob arrived home to find Dad at the top of the steps; he had succumbed to a heart attack.

Tom’s viewing was in Immaculate Conception Church.  Considering how much he loved the Immaculate, he would have been extremely proud to know the place he loved and cherished so much was the site of his final viewing, one of the first to be granted this special honor.  He was buried in his red sports coat, the one he was so smitten with.

Tom McCreight was born, raised, served and died in the Parish.  Many parishioners affectionately called him, “Mr. Immaculate.”.   That is a title he earned, and lived, and there is no one more deserving of it then Tom McCreight.  The Friends of Immaculate community is proud to honor the late Tom McCreight Sr as Special Friend of Immaculate, in recognition of a lifetime of dedicated service, leadership, unwavering support and love of the Immaculate Conception Parish.

From the McCreight Family

Our family wishes to sincerely thank you for this special tribute to our father, Tom McCreight.  It has given all of us time to once again reflect on what a truly special man and father he was.  Compared to today’s lifestyle, Dad was not one who was preoccupied with the material world; he lived his life true to his own code of caring and sharing. Our parents both worked excessively hard to provide the real necessities for a family of seven while managing to find all the time they could to serve their Church and community.  Although our parents never managed to strike it rich, the wealth they developed together over forty years was priceless. 

May God rest his soul.

 

Tom McCreight ('55)

Mary Pat McCreight Palmer ('56)

Connie McCreight D'Esposito ('58)

James McCreight ('63)

Bob McCreight ('67)

BILL MAGARITY

2008 HONOREE

Bill Magarity, who was  born and raised in Immaculate Conception Parish, never left any doubt  about his special feelings for Immaculate and East Germantown.  He often spoke of his many fond memories of the parish, including viewing firsthand the construction of the Upper Church and the special class and self-confidence that the Vincentian Fathers inspired in the Immaculate altar boys.  A total of 9 of Bill’s children and step-children attended Immaculate.

Bill consistently stepped up to the leadership role, in both playing and coaching Immaculate’s teams, most notably their 1945 championship season.  He graduated from the former St. John the Baptist High School in Manayunk, where he played football, baseball and basketball, and was named to the 1939 All-Catholic Basketball Team.   He graduated from LaSalle College, where he was the quarterback in 1941, when the school discontinued the football program.  When the program was re-established in 1997, 56 years later, he was duly honored by throwing out the first ball.

Bill also coached the LaSalle College High School baseball team in 1944, leading them to an undefeated season and a city championship.  He later coached the Stenton Rams, a semipro team in the Pop Warner football conference, to five city championships from 1943 to 1948.

Bill, deservedly, received many honors in his lifetime, including induction into the Philadelphia Basketball Old Timers Hall of Fame in 1995 and the 21^st Ward (Roxborough) Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.  As a local businessman, he sponsored and supported many Little League and other sports teams. 

Bill led the committee for the 75^th Anniversary of Immaculate Conception and continued to work with a group of former parishioners in their efforts to financially assist the parish well into the 1990s.  His own special contribution to this effort was a 15-seat passenger van that the parish still uses to this day.

Bill’s respect for those in need inspired him to support many charities, including “ Inn Dwelling”, a Germantown organization that provides housing for the needy and scholarships to young people.  Bill established a tournament at Whitemarsh Country Club that benefits Chestnut Hill College.  

Sadly, Bill passed away on September 18, 2006.  He is survived by his wife, Kathleen; sons Bill, Greg, Joe, Mark, Mike & John; daughters Lizanne Pando & Maureen; stepdaughters Reen Ginty, Joan Nolen, Nancy Siefert & Patricia Salmon; 28 grandchildren & seven great grandchildren.

With his love of Immaculate Conception, his unwavering generosity and the outspoken leadership that he consistently demonstrated, no one is more deserving to be duly honored as the first-ever recipient of the Special Friend of Immaculate award than Bill Magarity!  Please join us in honoring this wonderful man’s memory!