Eileen Regan, 81, artist and beach-lover

A TRIP TO THE SHORE for the family of Eileen McKenna Regan was both an adventure and a challenge.

Pack nine kids and a dog into a Volkswagen beetle. Sometimes in all that crowd, the dog, Emily, would disappear and a search had to be made among bodies and limbs to pull the little mutt to safety.

The occupants of the car would include Eileen's six children, two or three friends, and, oh yes: the driver.

In addition to being a devoted mother and grandmother, Eileen was a consummate artist whose drawings and much-coveted caricatures hang in homes from Philly to Wildwood.

She did courtroom sketches for local TV stations, taught art at the Spring Garden School, and was still doing substitute art teaching in public schools up to her death.

She died of natural causes Sunday at the age of 81. She had lived in Mayfair for six decades.

Eileen was still attending Saturday morning art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where she not only honed her own skills but helped and encouraged young artists.

"Eileen was a true great artist," said Kitty Caparella, Daily News reporter and 2003 graduate of the academy.

"She loved to draw the figure for drawing's sake, but rarely exhibited. On Saturday mornings, she would show up at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to draw from a live model. She once showed me her portfolio, which was massive.

"In court, we sometimes covered the same trials; she would draw the defendants, witnesses, judges and lawyers, and I would report what they said for the newspaper."

"She gave us the gift of the Shore," said her daughter, Eileen Kennedy, who worked in promotion for the Daily News and Inquirer for 13 years. "People are saying North Wildwood will not be the same without Mrs. Regan."

Her summer home at 7th and Central was the gathering place not only for family members, but for friends from Philly and Wildwood.

Eileen was a fixture on the beach with her ever-present sketchbook. She signed her work with a seagull and a plane towing a banner, on which she would write a personal note.

"Get in the car," Kennedy recalled her mother saying at the start of their beach sojourns. "We're going to the Shore. We're going to find a place to rent and everybody will get jobs."

Eileen was a devoted reader whose tastes tended to the classics and poetry. The children had to memorize poetry, and the aforementioned family dog was named after Emily Dickinson.

That was an embarrassment to son Timothy. "How could he tell his friends the dog was named after a poet?" Kennedy said.

Eileen Regan was born in Philadelphia and graduated from John W. Hallahan High School in 1944.

She married Joseph A. Regan in April 1948. He died in 1974.

While raising her children, Eileen attended evening art classes at the Fleisher Art Memorial and graduated from Temple University's Tyler School of Art in 1980.

"Quick-witted and owner of a keen sense of humor, Eileen was creative, independent and a master at finding treasures in thrift shops," her family wrote.

Besides her daughter and son, she is survived by three other sons, Joseph, Michael John and Dennis; another daughter, Kathleen Duke; a sister, Margaret Murphy; a brother, Jack McKenna, and 16 grandchildren. She was predeceased by a grandson, Sean Reynolds.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Leo's Church, Keystone Street at Unruh Avenue. Friends may call at 7 this evening at the Walter J. Meyers Funeral Home, 6643 Torresdale Ave. Burial will be in St. Dominic Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sean Reynolds Scholarship Fund at St. Joseph's Prep, 1733 W. Girard Ave., Philadelphia PA 19130. *