City Council honors retired teacher and business with long-standing Germantown

City Council unanimously approved a pair of resolutions introduced Thursday by Eighth District Councilwoman Cindy Bass to honor a retiring teacher and 123-year-old business from Germantown.

Betty Jean Nobles, who taught a portion of her 34-year career at John B. Kelly Public School on Pulaski Street, and Germantown Avenue mainstay Cunningham Pianos, will be honored at a future council session.

The resolution honoring Cunningham Piano (PDF) notes that it “continues the tradition of its founder with outstanding craftsmanship. … Cunningham’s workmanship and extraordinary technical expertise caught the eye of the Science Channel’s program How Its Made, which is airing two shows on piano manufacturing and reconstruction.”

According to the resolution honoring Nobles (PDF), the one-time Teacher of the Year nominee “created a space where her students could acquire strong writing skills and explore their creativity.”

It also cited her work with the William Penn Scholarship Fund which raised $40,000 “to help support higher education for students” and in founding the KandleLight Productions Inc. “non-profit aimed at decreasing violence among African-American males.”

Having taught at the Germantown school for nine years, she retired in February, according to the School District of Philadelphia.