Newtown Township Couple Presented With Pickering Manor's Yates Award

NEWTOWN, PA — Newtown Township residents Allen and Betty Fidler were honored Saturday night during Pickering Manor’s first Sips N Suds fundraiser held since 2019.

Community Welfare Council board member John Parry presented the Fidler’s with the Sidney T. Yates Award, given to a donor for their many years of vision and support of Pickering Manor, its residents, the people of Newtown and the surrounding communities.

The council, a nonprofit board of directors that oversees Pickering Manor, the Newtown Theatre and the Lighthouse Cemetery, established the award a number of years ago to honor Sidney for all the work he did for Pickering and the Newtown community.

“From time to time we give this award to members of the Newtown community who have assisted Pickering Manor to be the great operation that it is today,” said Parry. “This year it is our pleasure to bestow this award on Betty and Allen Fidler,” he said as the event space inside the Rafters roared with applause.

The Fidler’s are well know in the community for their active involvement with Pickering Manor, the Newtown Rotary Club and the Newtown United Methodist Church.

The lifelong residents of Newtown are graduates of Council Rock High School where they met and fell in love as students. They were married in 1964.

After college, Allen taught history at Pennsbury and also coached football. When Betty finished college, she returned to work in the family business - H. Stanford Roberts Nursery in Newtown.

After two years of teaching, Allen joined his wife on the staff at the nursery.

At the nursery they developed many horticultural practices that were recognized by their peers as being cutting edge.

While raising their family, both were active at the Newtown United Methodist Church serving on many committees. They were Sunday School teachers and youth group counselors.

Allen spent 31 years in various positions in Newtown Township government including serving as chair of the board of supervisors, chair of the planning commission, and as a member of the board of the Newtown, Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority.

While working full time at the nursery, Betty was president of the United Methodist Women. She also co-chaired the CHOP Daisy Days, a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia.

Allen served as president of the Pennsylvania Landscape Nursery Association, a member of the board of directors of The First National Bank of Newtown for more than 25 years and during a part of that time served as secretary of the corporation.

Allen is a member of the Newtown Rotary Club and a former member of the Newtown Exchange Club.

Betty has served on the board of directors at Pickering Manor for more than 25 years. She is currently the corporate secretary and is a member of the executive board.

“As you can see Betty and Allen have contributed greatly to our Newtown community and to Pickering Manor. And they are grateful to the many past community members who were mentors to them,” said Parry.

The fundraising evening also featured live music from The Retrograde Band (Matt Setzer formerly of Bridge Beat Duo), dancing, gourmet food stations, silent auction and a wine pull.

A highlight of the night included a selection of regional craft beers, as well as distillery and wine tastings from a number of guest vendors including the Newtown Brewing Company, Iron Hill Brewery, FitVine Wine, Triple Sun Spirits, Desiato Vineyards and Cardinal Hollow Winery.