Virginia Merion DeNenno
Ginny developed a passion for our local history, and through the years collected books, photos and other artifacts with a vision of a museum where these could be shared with the public.
Ginny was born January 18, 1933 as the fourth generation of Merions who farmed in Concord Township and went to the #5 one-room school on Kirk Road where her father had attended. She graduated from Media High School in 1951 as Concord had no high school at that time. She married her high school sweetheart in 1953 and she and Harold made their home on the dairy farm next to the one room school on Kirk Road.
She developed an interest in our local history, becoming one of the founders of the Concord Township Historical Society in 1967. Through the years, Ginny amassed a vast collection of documents, photos, memorabilia, furnishings and other objects of local interest, which forms the basis of our museum on Smithbridge Road, named The Virginia Merion DeNenno History and Educational Center at the Pierce-Willits House in 2009 in her honor. This was the culmination of what she envisioned as she began to collect items that represented our historic legacy.
She was a contributor to Prosperity and Progress: Concord Township Volume 1 the Colonial Legacy published in 1983, and co-author of Concord Township: Progress and Prosperity in the Nineteenth Century published in 1998.
In the early 1980’s, she surveyed almost 200 historic properties in our township, which became the basis of our Historic Preservation Ordinance, enacted in 1997, which included her appointment to the Concord Township Historical Commission.
She was a member of the Concord Township Planning Commission for 34 years, as well as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Delaware and Chester County Historical Societies, The Red Hats, Concord Seniors, Pony Club Mothers, and a Board member of the Newlin Grist Mill.
She retired to Maryland in 2013 but her legacy lives on.
