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.
Old Brick Tavern
it
od
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Restoring the Great Fireplace
ak beak A bebe
BR famed’ 2 ab ZR
Pl pe by of a of BOF FN eh rn be PN
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