Florence L. Compaine, 95, volunteer, fund-raiser for many causes

Florence L. Compaine, 95, of Philadelphia, a volunteer and leader for local charities, died Wednesday, Jan. 4, of pneumonia at Saunders House, Wynnewood.

Born in South Philadelphia and reared in Wynnefield, Mrs. Compaine was the first child of Sophie Axler and Philip Litman. She graduated from Overbrook High School in 1938 with a useful business skill - typing and stenography.

She was hired as a secretary by the Civil Service Commission in Philadelphia, where she met Mark Compaine, a transplant from Hartford, Conn.

She told her family that he left her a rose on her desk one day and later asked her out.

The two married in 1941. She accompanied him as a civilian wife on several stateside deployments after he was drafted into the Army during World War II. Later, the couple settled in Overbrook Park and had two children, Benjamin and Suzanne.

Mrs. Compaine's well-developed sense of empathy for the less fortunate, and her drive to become involved in her children's activities, powered her volunteerism. After 1941, she never again held a paid position.

"My father backed her up. He made sure she had a car and learned how to drive. She became very independent," said daughter Suzanne Sussman.

Mrs. Compaine helped lead the Home and School Association at Lamberton Elementary School in Overbrook Park while her children attended classes there.

She also became den mother for her son's Cub Scout pack and leader of her daughter's Brownie troop.

"We would have the den meeting at our house on Monday evenings, and I would often fall asleep Sunday night listening to my mother at the piano downstairs, trying to compose some song for a skit that she had in mind for us," her son said.

Although Mrs. Compaine had no family or friends with mental disabilities, compassion led her to four decades of volunteering with the former Philadelphia Association for Retarded Children, now SpArc Philadelphia.

She was an officer with the local chapter. In the 1970s, she served as the citywide chair or cochair of the annual "canning" drive in which volunteers holding cans stood outside local businesses asking for donations, her daughter said.

Mrs. Compaine also buttonholed celebrities such as singer Tony Orlando, former NBC10 news anchor Ralph Penza, and legendary Phillies sportscaster Harry Kalas, to act as honorary chairmen for her fund-raisers.

At least once a year, she organized a fund-raising bus trip to New York for lunch and a matinee Broadway show for her chapter.

Having learned to play the piano as a young girl, Mrs. Compaine rewrote the lyrics of musical show tunes such as "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy. She performed the songs as skits for volunteers during monthly chapter meetings.

"I have a folder with the manuscripts of the skits she would write for her shows, such as the 'PARC-Aides Frolics of 1962' or 'How to Have a Good Time in New York Without Even Trying,' " said her son.

After a favorite aunt died from breast cancer, Mrs. Compaine became active in the Francis Borowsky Chapter of the American Medical Center in Denver. Along with her sisters, Sylvia Finkel and Mitzi Lertzman, she raised funds and visited the center to see firsthand the research that was being done with the donations.

Her family said she raised "tens of thousands of dollars in small donations" for her charitable causes.

Her husband died in 1986. In addition to her son and daughter, Mrs. Compaine is survived by two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and her sister, Sylvia. Her sister Mitzi died earlier.

Graveside services will be at noon Sunday, Jan. 8, at Har Jehuda Cemetery, 8400 Lansdowne Ave., Upper Darby, followed by a reception at the Quadrangle, 3300 Darby Rd., Haverford.

Contributions may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation via www.jdrf.com, or to the SpArc Philadelphia via http://sparcphilly.org/donate/donate_now/overview.html.

bcook@phillynews.com

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