For information on submitting an obituary, please contact Reading Eagle by phone at 610-371-5018, or email at obituaries@readingeagle.com or fax at 610-371-5193.
Most obituaries published in the Reading Eagle are submitted through funeral homes and cremation services, but we will accept submissions from families. Obituaries can be emailed to obituaries@readingeagle.com.
In addition to the text of the obituary, any photographs that you wish to include can be attached to this email. Please put the text of the obituary in a Word document, a Google document or in the body of the email. The Reading Eagle also requires a way to verify the death, so please include either the phone number of the funeral home or cremation service that is in charge of the deceased’s care or a photo of his/her death certificate. We also request that your full name, phone number and address are all included in this email.
All payments by families must be made with a credit card. We will send a proof of the completed obituary before we require payment. The obituary cannot run, however, until we receive payment in full.
Obituaries can be submitted for any future date, but they must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. the day prior to its running for it to be published.
Please call the obituary desk, at 610-371-5018, for information on pricing.
By Jim Gerlach and Joe Hoeffel
PA Civics
As our nation heads toward its 250th anniversary celebration next July Fourth, it is time we take a hard look at how well our young people are being prepared for their future roles as citizen-leaders after they leave school. Unfortunately, recent data does not paint a rosy picture and, as a result, much work needs done in Pennsylvania and other states to raise the bar.
Every two years, the National Assessment on Educational Progress — the nation’s “report card” — is published. Its most recent findings are troubling. As of 2024, it appears the rates of student proficiency in math, reading and all other subjects are below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. And the gaps between high-achieving and low-achieving students are continuing to widen.
For a nation that must compete globally in science, technology and manufacturing innovation, these are troubling signs indeed. But beyond the challenges preparing our students with math and reading skills that will allow them to compete and succeed in adult life, there is a deficit in the civic knowledge and skills that will allow them to be engaged and active adult citizens.
According to that NAEP report, only 22% of eighth-grade students were found to be proficient in civics and history. That was the lowest history score ever and the first drop in the civics score in 30 years. Reasons abound for this decline, from schools’ laser focus on science, technology, engineering and math. to the lack of robust teacher training and resources, to a diminishing focus on our nation’s founding and the basic understanding of citizen rights versus responsibilities. In sum, we appear to be in a state of crisis in civics and history education.
In response, organizations in Pennsylvania and across the country are collaborating on ways to raise the profile and importance of civics and history education. iCivics is a national organization founded by the late Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2009 to promote civics education and engaged citizenship, and it provides excellent programming to train civics teachers and undertake innovative curricula.
Here in Pennsylvania we co-chair a nonpartisan statewide coalition called PA Civics (pacivics.org) to likewise promote civics education. Along with 25 partners including the Committee of Seventy, the National Constitution Center, the Rendell Center for Civic Engagement, the PA Chamber and the PA Bar Association, PA Civics is actively pursuing a number of initiatives to strengthen civics and history education in the state.
These efforts include:
• Working with state legislators to modernize our state civics and history academic standards, which unfortunately haven’t been updated in 20 years. Without clear, uniform and grade-appropriate standards, civics and history will simply not be taught at a consistently high level across the state.
• Improve the state’s current Act 35 to establish more consistency and uniformity around when students’ civics and history proficiency is tested, along with the actual test used to do the assessment, which will thereby provide our teachers, government officials and the general public — on a year-to-year basis — a greater understanding into how well we are preparing our future citizen-leaders.
• Promote greater public awareness of high-achieving civics students and schools through local and state recognition initiatives.
• With better and more consistent yearly information from our schools on how well our students are performing, our partners can continue to work with our educators to provide them with the best-in-nation teacher training and resources.
Of course, these initiatives cannot be undertaken overnight. However, as we head into our nation’s 250th celebration , we have a tremendous opportunity to continue these collective efforts to build great citizens in our commonwealth.
As philosopher Baruch Spinoza once observed, “Great citizens are not born, they are made!” And we can all agree that our schools have and will play a pivotal role in the making of great citizens.
In fact, our fellow citizens recognize the role of schools in this endeavor. In a 2022 Cyngal survey, 79% of those surveyed agreed that teaching civics and history is important, and more than two-thirds said it is more important today than it was five years ago. We agree. That’s why our PA Civics partners are singularly engaged in this important work.
The future of America is closely tied to how well we prepare our children here to be the knowledgeable and engaged leaders we will need them to be.
Jim Gerlach, a Republican, and Joe Hoeffel, a Democrat, are former members of Congress who serve as co-chairs of PA Civics.