Page 16 — SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN It was a mistake and then almost an accident that brought Tom and Janet Pur- cell together. They had been fellow students at Penn Manor High School but had never met, when a few months before Tom’s graduation in 1970 he was greeted with a very friendly “Hi” from a pretty girl passing in the hall. Tom, startled, but pleas- ed, thought “I don’t know you.” (It was a case of mistaken identity. Janet thought he was a tall handsome fellow she had met at a basketball game the night before.) Went thru stop sign A week or so later Janet was driving with a friend who went through a stop sign and almost collided with a car driven by Tom. Everyone got out and start- ed talking around the stop sign. Janet and Tom got acquainted. Janet was a junior but attended Tom’s graduation on the excuse that her friend’s boyfriend was also graduating. That summer they start- ed dating but not very ser- iously. They were just very, good, and getting to be bet- ter friends. A separation But at the end of the summer Janet went away on a vacation to Maine. When she came back she didn’t feel the same interest in her relationship with Tom. ADAM & EVE Tom was very under- stnading, said he did not want to interfere with the freedom of her life in any way. He was so understanding and so stoical that right away, Janet had a painful feeling that she was doing the wrong thing by cooling their relationship. Months went by that fall and winter when they did not see each other. Janet missed him terribly. She’d send her friend into Weis Market at the Manor Shopp- Bicentennial seeks support in Mt. Joy by Vera Gingrich The Mount Joy Borough Bicentennial Committee has attempted to gain interest and support of Mount Joy residents concerning a local celebration for the Bicen- tennial Year 1976. In September, 1974 a town meeting was scheduled and held in the Florin Fire Company Hall. Approxi- mately thirty people attend- ed this meeting. In January a committee meeting was held in the borough hall, and interested people were invited to attend. Ten peo- ple responded to that invi- tation. In February another meeting was held, and three people attended that one. There is definitely a lack of interest, and the com- mittee now proposes to get a concensus of opinion from the public as to the feasibility of planning any- thing for the Bicentennial Year. Please fill out question- naire and mail to: Bicen- tennial Committee, Box 24, Mount Joy, Pa. 17552. 1. Shall Mount Joy have a celebration in 1976? Yes No 2. Shall we celebrate the 125th anniversary of Mount Joy Borough in 1976? Yes No 3. Are you willing to active- ly assist the committee? Yes No Name - Address - Phone - The next meeting of the committee will be held on Sunday, April 6, 1975 at 1:00 p.m. in the Mount Joy Borough Hall. The public is invited to attend. Tom and Janet Purcell ing Center where Tom was now working, to talk to him, and bring reports out to her where she had been waiting in a car in the park- ing lot. Tom showed no emotion when Janet’s name was brought up. Got together again Fall passed, then winter. Spring came. Janet could stand it no longer. She went into Weis Markets and talked to Tom herself. They talked for two hours. Near the end of the two hours, Janet blurted out, “Will you take me to the Prom?” Tom took her to the Prom. The long separation was over. Tom, who had attended York College for a while af- ter high school, started studying accounting at Eli- zabethtown College, a school recommended by Janet’s father, also an ac- countant. Janet went away to study German at Indi- ana University. Most week- New li fe for old houses New life is not confined to animals and people. People bring new life to the inanimate things they create. Houses, for example, built centuries before, that have started falling into de- cay, can be restored. The old Brick Tavern on Route 23 is being brought back to life by Ellie Aurand and Ed Shroeder. Before they started work on it, it had been uninhabited by people for years. For a while it housed chickens. All last fall and winter Ellie and Ed spent their weekends and evenings working to restore this grand old house. They welcome the balmy weather of spring to come, when they will bring new life to an old house. ends she came home to see Tom. Went to Germany Then in the fall of 1973 she transferred to Millers- ville State College to con- - tinue her study of German. She had a wonderful op- portunity to go to Germany for a year and study at the University of Marburg as part of her curriculum at Millersville. During the six weeks of her orientation in Germany she saw a lot of beautiful sights including the Alps. But everything beautiful that she saw made her wish that Tom were with her to see it too. At the end of the six weeks she made a very long distance call to Tom from Germany and told him she wanted to come home. Tom advised her to stay. It was a very bad connection with lots of static from the Atlantic Ocean that lay be- tween them. Reunion In a week she was home. At the airport in Philadel- phia she burst through a crowd of people at customs, said, “Hi Mom,” and flew into Tom’s arms. They were engaged the following January, planning a wedding for Tom’s gradu- ‘ation from E-town, this year. But, again, it was too long to wait. They were married at the Catholic March 19, 1975 Church in Millersville that May, 1974. Hid car at wedding Tom did a good job of hiding their get-away car from the wedding. He also happened to select a new motel that was still unlisted in the phone book for their first night. Friends and re- latives called every motel in Lancaster County but could not locate the happy, peace- ful couple. They honey- mooned in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. They live now in a cozy apartment in Elizabethtown. Tom will graduate from Elizabethtown this May, Janet from Millersville in August. Janet is practice teaching this spring at Eli- zabethtown High School. In addition to studying and teaching they work to- gether at Willis and Martha Herr’s Fruit Stand on Route 441 near Marietta. (Martha is Janet’s sister.) They enjoy working there. In their busy schedule it is precious time together. As recreation they often take Willis’ and Martha’s children, Bobby, 11, Becky, 10, Martha, 9, and Fred, 4, and Tom’s brother Jeff, 6, to amusement parks and other fascinating places. So young, Tom and Jan- et notice a lot of raised eye- brows as they get on the rides with their five ‘““child- bh] ren. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers