The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Inner artists freed at fire co. fundraiser
For Digital First Media
PLYMOUTH» Kate Koch doesn’t consider herself in a league with Leonardo da Vinci or Andrew Wyeth, but on a recent Saturday afternoon, she picked up her paintbrush and decided to try out her inner artist.
Koch was one of 32 individuals who participated in the second annual fundraising event for the family of Fran Thomas, a seven-year-member of Plymouth Fire Company No. 1 who died early in 2016 from multiple myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer.
The event, co-sponsored by Plymouth Fire Company and a national company called Paint
Nite, was held in the fire company’s community hall on Colwell Lane in Plymouth Township. In the course of the three-hour event, participants, most of whom had no artistic training, were assigned the task of painting a lighthouse.
To participate in the event, the aspiring artists each paid $45. Of this, $15, along with proceeds from a raffle and additional donations, was contributed to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. The remaining $30 of the participation fee went to Paint Nite.
Eight round tables, each covered with a green cloth, were placed around the hall. At each table were four participants, each of whom was given a blank canvas. Next to each canvas was an assortment of paint colors on plastic plates and paint brushes in plastic cups.
Holly Giordano, a representative of Paint Nite, stood in the front of the room next to an easel with its own blank painting canvas. After introducing herself, Giordano explained that the day’s assignment was to paint a lighthouse, which is the symbol for multiple myeloma.
“I’m going to take you step by step to show you how the lighthouse is supposed to look,” she said.
It was not so much an artistic challenge, she added, but rather an occasion “for you to have fun and be creative.”
As the aspiring artists labored at their canvases, they were accompanied by a background of country music, broadcast over the hall’s public address system.
Koch, at work on her own canvas, examined her effort and commented to a fellow painter. “This looks pretty close to what we’re supposed to paint,” she acknowledged with satisfaction
Fran Thomas had been a co-worker with Koch at an investment firm in Philadelphia,.
“He was such a dear man,” she recalled. “Always a smile on his face and showed a genuine interest in you.”
On hand and assisting at the event was Andrew Thomas, Fran’s 29-yearold son, who also shared memories of his father. The younger Thomas was a Plymouth firefighter before his father joined the company.
“My Dad would see me race out of the house for a fire call,” Thomas said. “When I came back, he would question me as to the type of emergency, the cause and was anyone injured.”
On one occasion, he continued, “I told him that the fire company was in need of fire police personnel. He asked for an application, filled it out, submitted it and was accepted. He liked it so much—and performed his duties so well — that eventually he was promoted to lieutenant and even found time to take on the additional responsibilities as treasurer. He very much enjoyed his time with the fire company and got great satisfaction from helping people.”