The Deacon's Bench
Members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church and the adjoining Our Lady of Angels Regional School had the great fortune to have the late Deacon David Fosbenner in their midst for the four years he served the parish before his death this past fall of lung cancer.
“He just lit up the room,” recalled OLA Principal Sister Debbie, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. “The students knew him from attending the First Friday Mass every month.”
And now those students found a perfect way to honor the memory of Deacon Fosbenner. They collected nonperishable food items for donation to radio station WMMR’s “Camp Out for Hunger” campaign. In addition to individual donations, food was also collected at the school’s dance-a-thon.
“When I would say prayers on the intercom I would remind the students to donate to the food drive,” said Ashley Sweeney, an eighth-grader at OLA and student council president. “When we would have mass we would always see Deacon Fosbenner. It is very sad, people who are hungry, and we wanted to help them out.”
Fosbenner, who died the day before his 70th birthday, owned DNF Trucking Co. in Sharon Hill. He and his wife, Jo-Ann, were married 47 years and had three sons and a daughter and 11 grandchildren.
“He was a member of this parish for 40 years,” Jodi Evert said of her father. “If he weren’t home, he was here.”
Jodi’s brother, Casey, is a producer at WMMR, thus the involvement in the “Camp Our for Hunger” campaign. In additon to OLA’s food collection project, students at St. Pius X, St. Dorothy’s School in Upper Darby and St. Mary Magdalen in Upper Providence also collected nonperishable items in memory of Deacon Fosbenner.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him…
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