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At Dirty Frank's, an outpouring of support for injured bartender

Sheila Modglin, a bartender at the iconic dive on South 13th Street for more than 30 years, was seriously injured when she was hit by a car Thursday night.

Heather Cochran, left, of Philadelphia, and Jenn Griffith, right, wanted to spend a little time at Dirty Franks bar to honor their friend Sheila Modglin, alLongtime Dirty Franks bartender who was struck by a car late Thursday night.
Heather Cochran, left, of Philadelphia, and Jenn Griffith, right, wanted to spend a little time at Dirty Franks bar to honor their friend Sheila Modglin, alLongtime Dirty Franks bartender who was struck by a car late Thursday night.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

When the regulars at Dirty Frank's heard the news, they did the first thing they could think to do: They went to the bar.

Through Facebook and text messages and the regulars' grapevine, word had spread quickly over the weekend: Sheila Modglin, a bartender at the iconic dive on South 13th Street for more than 30 years, had been seriously injured after being struck by a car Thursday night. She was in a medically induced coma in critical condition in the intensive-care unit at Einstein Medical Center, suffering from head trauma and other serious injuries.

To the regulars, to her coworkers, to the strangers stepping into the crowded bar for the first time, Modglin is as much a part of Dirty Frank's as the knickknacks on the wall and the laminate booths and the citywide specials. "Her energy is contagious," said Heather Cochran, who has been coming to the bar for 10 years. "Love and light in a human person," said Jen Griffith, who hadn't been back to Dirty Frank's in a year but showed up as soon as she heard that Modglin had been injured.

"When she got here, right away, she sparkled," said Van Youngman, who was already a 20-year patron of the bar when Modglin started work there. "One of a kind."

As customers sipped beers and reminisced, bartender Abigail Willinborg wiped away tears. A man, headed to the other side of the bar, patted their backs on his way past. "We have to stay positive," he said.

Modglin, 56, had worked a shift for the Eagles' victory parade on Thursday, decked out in green eyeshadow and layers of Eagles gear. Just after 10 p.m., she took a cab to a friend's house in Mount Airy, where she was dog sitting, her brother Rich said. She got out of the taxi early and tried to cross mid-block on Lincoln Drive near Cliveden Street.

A 2015 Kia being driven by a 77-year-old man hit her as she crossed the street, police said. The man called 911 and waited with her until an ambulance arrived. "He did everything he could, and we have prayers for him, as well," Rich Modglin said.

At Einstein, a nurse who used to live above Dirty Frank's recognized Modglin's name on a patient list and called the bar.

"It is amazing how many people know her everywhere. She truly spread love," Rich Modglin said. He had been at the bar with his sister before her shift ended that night, and raced to the hospital when co-owner Jody Sweitzer called him with the news.

He and Modglin's five sisters have spent most of their waking hours at the hospital since Thursday, trading shifts with Sweitzer and the other bartenders, who have been reading to her in hopes that familiar voices will soothe her.

"I'm going to be there until she opens her eyes — and after, of course," Sweitzer said. "I'm going to sit here and read and read and read, and let her know she's not alone. And that's easy."

Sweitzer, who started working at Dirty Frank's about five years after Modglin, is an only child, and considers Modglin the closest thing she's ever had to a sister. Over three decades working together, she said, Modglin won hearts for the way she'd coax stories out of the newcomers who bellied up to the bar, how she'd twirl when a good song came on the jukebox, how excited she got for the special events the bar hosted.

Oscars night was her favorite: Modglin worked as an actress in between shifts, performing in avant-garde theater productions around the city. One or two regulars were usually in the audience.

Her passion for the arts led her to launch Sunshine Arts, an after-school program in Upper Darby that began with impromptu storytelling sessions in her front yard in 2004 and expanded to an artist-in-residence program that has offered art classes to neighborhood kids throughout the year.

"She was the engine," Rich Modglin said.

On Sunday, he was fielding calls from well-wishers around the city and waiting for news from doctors at Episcopal. They'll know more, he said, when the swelling in his sister's brain subsides.

Back at Dirty Frank's, Willinborg handed Cochran a beer and tried to compose herself. She'd been crying on and off since Saturday, when she first realized how badly Modglin had been injured. She was trying to pull together at work but it was hard, she said, with everyone coming in, asking about Sheila. "It's the warmest, most community bar I've ever worked in," Willinborg said. "And everyone's devastated."

Cochran recalled when she'd heard the news on Friday night: She'd immediately texted her boyfriend, who runs the bar's softball team. "He was working, and he was, like, 'OK, I'll meet you at Frank's," she said. "For some people, it's just this dive. But for us, it's family. When something happens, you go home to your family."

Sheila Modglin's family is accepting donations to pay for her medical bills via check made out to Kathy Kalifut, 27 Paper Mill Rd., Springfield, Pa. 19064. The bar is planning a fund-raiser for her on March 4, Oscars night. Donations can also be sent to Sunshine Arts at sunshine-arts.org/giving.