Delaware County Daily Times from Chester, Pennsylvania • Page 4

Lady Lawyers Court Success as Ladies and Lawyers And They Win the Case On Both Those Counts By MARY FORD IIANN Daily Times Women's Reporter They might be termed "long hairs" or "blue stockings" but neither name would apply to the small feminine contingent of the Delaware County Bar Assn. Actually, the only "long hair" among them, Rita E. Prescott of Media and Lansdowne, trimmed her French Knot this summer and is now sporting a smart short coiffure. There are only six "lady lawyers" practicing in Delaware County. They are outnumbered by their male counterparts by approximately 63 to 1.

However, if masculine competition becomes too difficult, four could appeal to their lawyer husbands for aid. The fifth member, Mrs. Catherine Gayle Hodge of Swarthmore, is the widow of a well known member of the Bar, and the sixth, Hiss Prescott, has been so busy getting "squared away" she has not had time to seek male "advice, legal or otherwise." Both Mrs. Rosemary C. Me- Munigal and Mrs.

lone T. Ro- meika have been practicing law in the County for a decade. Newer members are Mrs. Esther F. G.

Ciark of Chester and Norwood, who has "adjourned" for a few months, awaiting the arrival of a new member of the family, and Mrs. Patricia B. Henss of Havertown, who is dividing her time between her home and her office while supervising two small boys. What do the sextet think about women in the law "That's a good question," quipped one, who declared, "You don't have to resort to feminine wiles in your practice or in'the court rooms, and I think it is the finest type education a girl can receive. If you do not use it for a livelihood, it prepares one basic for diplomatic service, the for business, banking or as a Government, or in the military services." Queried on whether they would their daughters to follow their example, the reply was that "Law is a demanding mistress, and where there are young children in your home, you have to sacrifice, take fewer cases, in order to keep the home on an even sve recommend law to our daughters or other young women, if they had an aptitude for it." Who makes the better lawyers, a woman or a man The married ones thought their husbands were superior, but then, they said, "It's impossible to generalize; it depends on the individual." All agreed that a woman did not have to be a super-minded individual to qualify as a lawyer She should have intelligence, the ability to work long, hours and take the punishment handed out, especially by women juries, during trials.

All agreed it was challenging. And all love it. IONE TROVAIOLI ROMEIKA MISS RITA E. PRESCOTT MISS PRESCOTT, MRS. CLARK Lady Barristers Are Busy With Duties Related to Job Rita E.

Prescott is the newest feminine member of the Delaware County Bar. She was admitted -last year. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's and master's degree in Education, she taught commercial subjects in Prospect Park High School while studying at Temple University Law School Evening Division. Miss Prescott became a member of the Philadelphia Bar in 1951, where she practiced while serving as law clerk to the late Judge James C. Crumlish of the Court of Common Pleas.

She came to Delaware County in January of last year as law cierk to President Judge Henry G. Swenoy, and is actively cn- gaged in the practice of law from her own office in Media. "I had no intention of boil coming an attorney," said this blond, personable young bnrri.s- ter. "but was interested in acl- ditional education while serving as head counselor at summer camps in the Poconos and read law books, which I found fascinating. The I enrolled in evening law classes, graduated and passed the bar examination." Daughter of Mr.

anci Mrs. William W. Prescott of 21 Ardmore Ave. Lansdowne, Miss Prescott is president of the recently or- ganized Lansdowne Business and Professional Women's Club. Her hobby is sports, with a special interest in bowling.

When Esther Frances Giaccio Clark stepped out of practice this month with her husband and partner, John H. Clark of 8th and Sproul streets, Chester, it was on a temporary basis and for an excellent reason: she'll now spend more lime at home, 235 W. Winona Norwood, to await the arrival of the first new member of the family. Educated at Temple University as a secondary school teacher. Mrs.

Clark received her law degree from Rutgers University and was admitted to both the Delaware County and Philadelphia bars in 1956. She is the first woman to be appointed to the Board of Trustees of Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, and holds memberships in the Delaware County, Pennsylvania and American Bar the Swarthmore League of Women Voters, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Ladies of Marian of Norwood, and the Delaware County Historical Society. Chairman of the public relations committee of the Bar Assn. of the county, Mrs. Clark also is chairman of the Association's Law Day observance committee.

She has served as secretary to the Junior Bar Assn. of the county. Other activities include a directorship on the Glcnoldcn Woman's Club, where she takes care of press relations. Her honorary memberships includes the Norwood Boys Club and the Mothers' Club of St. Gabriel's Church, in which she is looking forward to "regular" membership next year.

Two Met Demands Of Home, Off ice C. McMUNIGAL With her Maureen, 5 When attractive lone Trovaioli Romeika was admited to the Delaware County Bar just a decade ago this month, she was the first member of Her sex to gain the distinction in 20 years. Born in Connellsville, Pa. about 3 years ago, Mrs. Rome- ika attended the Immaculate Conception School there.

Later the family moved to Uniontown where lone, was an honor student at the local high school. She continued her studies at the then Pensylvania State College, receiving her AB degree in June 1944. With a decided twinkle in her brown eyes, the trim Mrs. Rome- ika said, "My understanding artist father and homemaking mother allowed me to study law, so I enrolled in the Law Schol of the University of Pennsylvania, and received an LLB degree in 1947." Returning to her-home town, which is the county seat of Fayette County, she went law practice with a firm there, and was admited to the Fayette County Bar. The next spring she was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Married in September 1948 to Alphonsus R. Romeika, a member of the Philadelphia bar. Extra time from homemaking for her husband and their children, Peter, Mary Ann, 7, and Gloria, 3, is devoted to practicing law from her home at 17 Old Oaks Rosemont. "Later, when the children are in school, I hope to give more time to my work, but comes she says. Catherine Galye Hodge of Swarthmore is the senior member of the "lady lawyers" practicing before the Delaware County Bar.

She is a member of the law firm of Hodge, Hodge and Cramp of 104 W. Front. Media, of which her late husband, D. Malcolm Hodge, who died in December 1956, was the senior partner. Mrs.

Hodge was educated at George Washington University, Washington, D. and admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1922. She was admitted to the Delaware, County Bar in 1929, but took a 25 year "leave" to keep house for her husband, then a rising young attorney, and two daughters, Mrs. Richard C. Smith of Iowa City, Iowa, and Mary Lou, a technologist in a West Coast hospital.

With Mary Lou in college, Mrs. Hodge joined her husband's law firm five years ago. Deeply interested in "little theater" Mrs. Hodge is especially interested in the Swarthmore Players, in which her late husband took an active part. Commenting on women lawyers, Mrs.

Hodge says: "We like to be treated equally, but the place, of women in law depends on the woman. I believe it to the finest type education a woman can receive." MRS. McMUNIGAL, MRS. HENSS Two Attornies-at-Law Are Mothers-at-Home "Rosemary McMunigal, wife of lawyer Philip A. McMunigal does much of her law work from a den on the third floor of their home at 705 E.

20th Chester, where she can "keep an eye" on the children, Philip, 10; Kevin, 8, and Maureen, 5. Mrs. McMunigal is associated with the law firm of Edward D. McLaughlin at 5th and Market streets, Chester. JOHN H.

JR. AND ESTHER F. CLARK A graduate- of Trinity Collage, Washington, D.C., and Temple University aw School, she was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1946, and to the Delaware County Bar three years later. Mrs. McMunigal is the daughter of William F.

Casey, Atlantic City commissioner. Her mother, the former Helen Rilcy, was a secretary to Philadcl- phia's famed lawyer Billy Queried on her philosophy of homemaking career, vs. legal training for women, the definitely feminine Mrs. McMunigal agrees with Mrs. Hodge "that it is the finest type education any girl could receive, because you can use it anywhere.

I have never known anyone to regret it. "We as parents should train our children to respect the law and law enforcement officers, just as we as adults and citizens should be concerned with law enforcement," said the wife of Chester's assistant city solicitor. Not pictured is Patricia Burke Henss of 1209 West Chester Pike, Havertown, a member of the County Bar since 1956. She was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar and the state Supreme Bar in 1954, and practiced law in Philadelphia for two years before coming to Delaware County. A member of a medical family, the attractive Pat Burke took pre-law training at mont College and was graduated from the Law School of Temple University, because "law fascinated me." With her Philadelphia lawyer husband, Norman C.

Henss. and their children, Norman Charles, 3, and -Stephen Michael, 19 months, Mrs. Henss lives in the Bala Apartments. Mrs. Henss thinks that law is "one of the most difficult with an office away from combine with raising a family: each is very specifio in its demands and they do conflict, especially when the children are very young." Mrs.

Mary Stewart Howarth Hewitt of Detand, is dean of the women lawyers listed by the County Bar Assn. Formerly a long-time resident of Chester, where the Howarth business interests are, Mrs. Hewitt was admitted to the Delaware County Bar more than a half century ago. She was active in legal circles at the turn of the century and still retains her Bar membership. She is the mother of three daughters, one of whom is a lawyer practicing in Florida, and the other two physicians practicing in Chester and Philadelphia.

CATHERINE GAYLE HODGE With Judge John V. Diggins.