Above, far left: Bruce and Nancy Kern turn over the keys to their former home to President Michael T. Victor. Above, left: Sisters (from top) Anne Schaaf Rahner, Mary Schaaf Mulard, Ellen Schaaf Innes, and Katie Schaaf check out the new look of their former family home. Above, right: Betsy Frank shows of renovations to the Kern House to Sheila Dwyer Grove, who lived in the home as a child. Historic ties to Mercyhurst
Judge Dwyer grew up in the home at 3906 State. In 1962, he and his wife, Margaret Quinn Dwyer, bought the family home and moved in with their six children. Attorney Peter Schaaf, who also served as a Mercyhurst trustee, and his wife, Peg, purchased the home in 1970, and the Kerns purchased it from the Schaafs in the late 1980s. Many other familiar Mercyhurst names also have ties to the new presidential residence. For instance, Judge Dwyer’s sister Ruth married prominent Erie builder Bob Baldwin and moved across the street from her childhood home to 3857 State Street. Bob Baldwin and his brother, Art, both later served as Mercyhurst trustees. (Baldwin Hall, a residence for women on the Mercyhurst campus, is named in honor of their aunt, Mabel Baldwin.) Margaret Quinn Dwyer was an early member of the Carpe Diem Society, a group of female graduates and friends of the college formed in 1966 to help with friend-making and fundraising. Like many family members, she had attended Mercyhurst Seminary, which operated in the same building as the college until Mercyhurst Preparatory School opened on Grandview Boulevard in 1963. Family gatherings at the Dwyer house usually included a variety of Quinns and Weschlers, too. Margaret Dwyer’s widowed father, Frank Quinn, had married Florence Weschler. Sister Mary Charles Weschler, the legendary chemistry teacher at Mercyhurst, was one of Florence’s siblings. And Patrick Weschler is the son of their brother, Frank Weschler.
Mercyhurst’s new presidential residence sits several blocks from campus, but fts perfectly with the school’s architectural style. As it turns out, it’s also a great historical ft. When the Kerns’ generous donation was announced, Trustee Patrick Weschler, an Erie history buf, was quick to point out, “I don’t think there is a residence in Erie with more Mercyhurst connections.” The beautiful Tudor Norman home was built in 1928 for James B. and Anna Ryan Dwyer. The Dwyers’ two eldest sons would go on to operate the family business, Firch Baking. Their third son, James B. Dwyer Jr., became a lawyer and later an Erie County judge. Along the way, he became involved at Mercyhurst at a pivotal time in its history. In 1961, Sister Carolyn Herrmann created the school’s frst advisory board of lay people to help guide the college’s future. James B. Dwyer Jr. was one of the frst community leaders appointed to serve. Two years later, Mercyhurst’s trustees – then all Sisters of Mercy – voted to add two laypeople to the board, and James B. Dwyer Jr. and Richard Wehle became the school’s frst lay trustees. As Dr. Roy Strausbaugh noted in his history of Mercyhurst, “The college was no longer the sole province of the Sisters of Mercy. The new board, including these two laymen, appointed Sister Carolyn Herrmann president on Oct. 8, 1963.”
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