Friends from JT 'golden'

By Scott Deininger
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS

Initially, the assignment didn't sound that interesting.

"How about interviewing some ladies from JT's Class of 1953?" asked my editor, Jan Larsen. "I have some information right here to start on. This year is their 50th reunion."

And with that began many games of phone tag with six ladies from the Class of '53 and one from '52.

"What kind of questions will I ask them?" I thought. "It's not like they're the cast of 'The Golden Girls,' easily one the funniest sitcoms of all time."

The story ran on April 27 as the cover of the Our Town section. Their reunion was held the weekend of June 21.

The first call was to Beverly (Purnell) von Winckler. More than an hour later, I knew her like she and I were classmates. I quickly strayed away from my planned line of questioning, letting Beverly run with whatever was on her mind. And trust me, there was a lot. From her travels and personal business success to her family and relationships with the girls, there wasn't a dull moment.

Actually none of the "girls," as I refer to them (a way to endear yourself to your subject matter), had lived a dull life. And there was no sign of them starting to slow down any time soon.

Now that I had begun talking with them, I wanted to know the faces behind the names and voices. Beverly had sent some pictures of the girls from their gathering over the years, which helped out.

"I wonder what they looked like in high school?" I mumbled as my mom and I passed in the kitchen.

"What is the story about?" she asked. I told her, and in the true fashion that only my mother would possess, she had something I could use for the story.

"Most of them graduated from JT the year after you were born," I told Mom. "What could you possibly have?"

Since my mom's junk collecting or curbside shopping, as she likes to call it, makes Fred Sanford look neat and organized, I could only imagine what treasure she would have in store.

"Down in that box (usually indicating a search team may be needed to find exactly which box), there is a yearbook from JT. I think it may be from the '50s."

I have mixed emotions for Mom's affinity for junk, usually the emotion of shock in how something fit in her vehicle or why on earth she would see the need for 13 lamps without shades. But sometimes the stuff can be useful. This was one of those times. The yearbook was in fact from the graduating Joliet Township Class of 1953.

I put the girls' nearly 70-year-old voices with their 17- and 18-year-old pictures. Once again, Mom had amazed me.

"You're never going to believe this," I said to Jan Larsen. "In one of my mom's boxes of junk, I found a JT yearbook from '53. We can use those pics and the current ones of the girls and make the story a then-and-now piece."

The girls — (Purnell) von Winckler, Diane (Klafter) Simpson, Marjo (Seron) Kraft, Nancy (Fellman) Vincent, Margie (Turley) Grohne, Ida (Colonna) Porter and 1952's Sally (Davis) Schoch — really made the story more of an adventure than an assignment. They were gracious with their time and memories and told me to call if I needed anything else. And I did just that.

You see something was missing for me. I knew what they sounded like and looked like, but now I wanted to meet them. And what better opportunity to do so than at their reunion.

(Reminder: Our Joliet Catholic Academy Class of '93 reunion is Sept. 26-28.)

I worked all day at Wrigley Field, so I walked in late Friday night, June 20. The reunion was held in the ballroom at the Empress casino. A video montage of Joliet's rich history and tradition was being shown as I stood in the back of the room waiting for the lights to be lifted.

Sure I may have been the youngest in attendance, but I was also the baldest, freshly shaven that day.

I guess I blended in with the other — and older — bald guys. I had butterflies, which was unusual for me. You'd think trying to make strangers laugh would create nervousness I was accustomed to. This was different.

I walked around, glancing at name tags and trying to recognize faces. Then finally there was a name tag I knew. Then another and yet another. The girls were at the same table, but most had gotten up to visit with others. I finally managed to corral one of them, Nancy Vincent.

"Hello, Nancy. I'm Scott Deininger with The Herald News. I wrote ..." There was no need to finish, as she knew who I was at that point. It was like meeting a long-lost friend for the first time in decades.

Nancy went to find the other girls. Only Sally Schoch and Ida Porter were missing as we visited and laughed, even taking some pictures together. Beverly had a copy of the article and held it in a group photo with me like a trophy our team had just won. After all, it was a team effort. And my story was now complete. I had written about "The Golden Boys" from Bob Lusciatti's Amoco, and now I had "The Golden Girls" from JT.

Like fine wine, friends do get better with age. And more interesting. Thanks, girls.

 

Scott Deininger is a standup comedian from Shorewood. More of his work can be found via his Web site, www.ShaveYourHead.com

08/10/03