Emily Brittain school dedicates bench in memory of longtime Rotarian
Friends and family members of the late Al McGrath gathered in front of Emily Brittain Elementary School for the unveiling of an art installation dedicated to McGrath’s memory — a memorial bench built in the shape of an open book.
“He did a wonderful job with the community,” said Doug McClaine, McGrath’s nephew. “He was a tireless worker, and he always had a positive attitude.”
The installation was designed to commemorate McGrath’s decades of contributions to the students of Emily Brittain. McGrath, a longtime member of the Butler Rotary Club PM, spearheaded an effort to provide every third-grader at the school with a dictionary, free of charge. In addition, McGrath was a former president of the Butler Rotary Club PM and was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow for contributing more than $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.
“The dictionary program was a particular passion of his,” said Paul Zechman, a fellow Rotarian who spoke on McGrath’s behalf. “He really enjoyed going into the schools and giving dictionaries to the third-graders. He especially enjoyed seeing the kids in their classrooms.”
Tom Panei — whose son, Luca, is a student at the school — was the artist in charge of bringing the installation to life. However, he had plenty of help from the students of Emily Brittain, who were given the opportunity to offer feedback on what they wanted to see Panei put on the bench.
“We surveyed students because of the involvement with the school district. We wanted to make sure that students were involved in this process,” said school principal Joshua Hundertmark. “The artwork that you see in the bench is a direct reflection of what students are passionate about, and Tom was able to put that into a beautiful piece of artwork.”
The students’ contributions went beyond offering feedback, as each student also was given the chance to add at least one brushstroke to the bench.
“Everything came together so perfectly, and it accurately represents what Al McGrath did for the Rotary and the Butler Area School District,” Hundertmark said.
On hand for the ceremony was Butler County commissioner and Butler Rotary Club PM member Leslie Osche, who spoke and unveiled the plaque that accompanied the memorial bench. Osche contributed to the club’s effort to distribute dictionaries to students.
“We all enjoyed going into the schools, getting a chance to meet the students and talk to them about the importance of reading and understanding their words,” Osche said. “Al had the cheat sheet that we all used.”
In addition to being a new fixture at the elementary school, the bench is the first stop on Butler’s in-progress Inspiration Trail, a project of Butler Rotary Club PM’s Cultural District.
“The idea is to try to get people encouraged to walk and be healthy,” Osche said. “They’ll walk from bench to bench and be able to take an opportunity to enjoy whatever happens to be at each one of those sites.”
While not all of the stops on the Inspiration Trail have been determined yet, Osche said that future stops will be added at Ritts Park and the old Butler Armory on North Washington Street.
