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| Babe D'Ignazio - Chester/Media |
One of Delaware County's most generous and colorful citizens was Silvio "Babe" D'Ignazio. He was born to Italian immigrants in Chester in 1918, graduated from Media High School and eventually would run and own one of Delaware County's most successful and longest lasting restaurants, The Towne House in Media.
A true humanitarian, Babe was well known for his annual Sword of Hope dinner dance, where he has raised $200,000 for the Delaware County unit of the American Cancer Society.
Babe was an all-star football player at Pennsylvania Military College and was a World War II veteran with the U.S. Air Corps. He was called back into action during the Korean conflict. His most endearing qualities were his sense of humor, altruism and humility.
A favorite family story is about a hitchhiker Babe picked up on Rt. 202. The man pulled a gun on Babe and car-jacked him. When he was asked to identify the man later at the State Police station, Babe dropped all charges and offered the man a job and a place to stay at his farm in Oxford.
According to his daughter-in-law Janet, Babe never held a grudge
