W.M. Danson, circulation supervisor for newspapers
William M. Danson Jr. "hung out at Shibe Park a lot" when he was growing up, his wife, Edith, said.
William M. Danson Jr. "hung out at Shibe Park a lot" when he was growing up, his wife, Edith, said.
Living in the Paradise neighborhood, near 26th Street and Lehigh Avenue, before Shibe became Connie Mack Stadium in 1953, Mr. Danson and friends were always on the lookout for a free ticket from a fan.
Besides, his wife said, "he passed Shibe Park every single day" at 21st and Lehigh, walking to classes at Northeast High School when it was at Eighth and Lehigh.
"One day, he was thumbing a ride home," she said, "and Robin Roberts picked him up and gave him a ride home." And, she said, the Phillies pitcher gave him a pass to the game that night.
Just two neighborhood guys.
On Saturday, April 16, Mr. Danson, 79, of Brigantine, N.J., who retired in 2000 as a circulation supervisor for the Inquirer and the Daily News, died of sepsis at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Danson graduated from Northeast High School in 1954, and worked in the Sears, Roebuck & Co. warehouse on Roosevelt Boulevard, his wife said, while "he got up every morning at 4 o'clock" to deliver the newspapers door-to-door from his car.
In the 1960s, she said, Mr. Danson began his full-time career with the papers, "throwing them up on people's porches" all over Philadelphia.
Though it still meant getting up at 4, "he was thrilled to get the job."
When he became a supervisor, she said, it got better.
"He was a great advocate of keeping young men busy," she said, and when there were still paperboys, some in elementary school, "he would go to a young man's home," for a family interview.
And because a youngster was getting up at 4 a.m., she said, "he wouldn't be hanging out at night."
While the Dansons lived near Second and Godfrey Streets, he was a board member, manager, and coach in the 1960s and 1970s for the former Olney Midget Teen League.
The league's teams, playing only baseball, were open to boys from when they were 8 years old until they were high school seniors, she said.
"He did keep a lot of young men out of trouble," she said. "They were busy boys."
Peggy McGrath knew Mr. Danson for 51 years, beginning as a near neighbor in Philadelphia.
"Neighbors were like family," McGrath said. Neighbors "knew everybody and took care of everybody."
Mr. Danson, McGrath said, "was a gentle man, a very family-oriented man."
After the family moved to the Jersey Shore 14 years ago, his wife said, Mr. Danson became a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Somers Point, where for the last two years he was a volunteer at its soup kitchen.
And for the last four years, she said, he was a prayer group member of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, the website for which describes it as a "worldwide ministry to men and boys in the Episcopal-Anglican Communion."
Besides his wife, Mr. Danson is survived by sons William M. III and Richard, daughter Jane Burke, a brother, a sister, six granddaughters, and a great-grandson.
A visitation was set from 9 a.m. Saturday, April 23, at Christ Episcopal Church, 157 Shore Rd., Somers Point, before a 10 a.m. memorial service there.
Donations may be sent to the church at the above address.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.ghwimberg.com.
610-313-8134@WNaedele