James F. McDonnell, retired sales manager
James Francis McDonnell, 81, of Bryn Mawr, a retired sales manager, died of cancer Saturday, July 30, at home. Mr. McDonnell grew up in Wayne and graduated from Radnor High School. In his teens, he was a soda jerk at Sigmund's Drug Store in Strafford, where he courted his high school sweetheart and future wife, Patricia Furey. They married in 1953 and raised seven children in Betzwood, Montgomery County.
James Francis McDonnell, 81, of Bryn Mawr, a retired sales manager, died of cancer Saturday, July 30, at home.
Mr. McDonnell grew up in Wayne and graduated from Radnor High School. In his teens, he was a soda jerk at Sigmund's Drug Store in Strafford, where he courted his high school sweetheart and future wife, Patricia Furey. They married in 1953 and raised seven children in Betzwood, Montgomery County.
He served in the Army at Fort Devens, Mass. After his discharge, he was a salesman for Breyers Ice Cream for 15 years and remained a discriminating ice cream consumer, his family said.
For 22 years, Mr. McDonnell worked for Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company, eventually becoming a regional sales manager.
After he retired in 1989, the couple moved to Albrightsville in the Poconos, and for the last 15 years, wintered in Cape Coral, Fla. They recently moved to Bryn Mawr.
Mr. McDonnell was a passionate fisherman and a competitive card player, a daughter, Colleen Caffery, said. He enjoyed gardening and puttering in his workshop. An avid hunter in his youth, he preferred to be an observer of wildlife in recent years.
He and his wife sang in a choir at St. Peter the Fisherman Church in Lake Harmony, Pa., for 18 years. At family gatherings, he would sing his favorite songs, "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town " and "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman," his daughter said, and even after becoming ill, he presided over impromptu sing-alongs from his bed.
In addition to his wife of 58 years and daughter, Mr. McDonnell is survived by sons Jim, Jeff, Kevin, and Brian; daughters Kathy Elsea and Pamela Snow; 11 grandchildren; and two brothers.
A Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, 31 Pennswood Rd., Bryn Mawr. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.
Donations may be made to the Cure Alzheimer's Fund at www.curealzfund.org. Mr. McDonnell strongly supported his son-in-law Glenn Caffery's current cross-country run to benefit the fund.