Good News and Bad News

[L Verge]

I received the current issue of the Tudor Hall newsletter yesterday and was saddened to learn of the recent death of Elwin Penski, one of the driving forces behind saving and restoring the Booths' ancestral home, Tudor Hall, in Harford County, Maryland. I first met Elwin in the 1990s and recognized the fire that so many of us had at that time for preserving our heritage. Elwin never lost that fire, despite a long fight with ALS. He will truly be missed.

In the same newsletter, it was announced that James Wollon, a restoration architect (for Surratt House and many other sites in the late-20th century), has donated several pieces of china and silverware that belonged to the Booths during their residency at Tudor Hall. Jim is also the great-grandson of Ella Mahoney, who many of you recognize as an owner of the Booth farm in later years and the author of Sketches of Tudor Hall. Jim has also donated some of his family's pieces that were at Tudor Hall under Ella's ownership.