It all began at the Cameo Waffle Shop on the boardwalk of Ocean City, NJ in 1953. There Don Semisch, short order cook, met Kathleen Robb, waitress. By the end of the summer, they knew they were in love.
Don transferred from Drexel to Wheaton College to be near his girl. He worked in the kitchen there to finance his education, making time every morning to look up to see Kathleen come up the walk to breakfast.
They graduated, got married, and drove east with everything they owned—it fit in 2 suitcases. They lived in an apartment above a garage, near the post office in Willow Grove.
Don went to law school at the University of Pennsylvania and Kathleen taught music in three elementary schools in Willow Grove, giving piano lessons to promising students.
When Don graduated from law school, they were expecting Mark, and Kathleen gave up her teaching to be a full-time mother. Don secured a clerkship with a judge. He had one suit, which he wore every day. After a month, the judge told him he should buy another one.
Two years later, Scot was born. Don began practicing out of his home, with Kathleen helping out with typing, answering the telephone, and other secretarial work (between tending babies).
Soon, Shirley joined the practice as part of her business program at Upper Moreland High School. She was sixteen years old. Shirley worked for Don full time after she finished school in 1966 until 1979, when she had her first child.
The four Semisches moved to Rydal in 1966 and their old home became the expanded office. Don took a number of partners and secretaries, each one moving on in turn.
In 1986, both Mark and Scot graduated from law school and joined their father-- and a year later, Shirley, having raised her two children, came back on board.
Don retired, opting for the sunny climate of Florida in 2003. He and Kathleen remember the early days with fondness, and still enjoy visiting the house that was once their home and then their business.
Shirley retired in 2016 to spend more time with her grandchildren.
Mark and Scot continue the legacy of commitment, loyalty, integrity, and honor that has distinguished Semisch Law in all its more than fifty years.
