Page 20 - SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN Romayne Bridgett didn’t want to be a big star Romayne Bridgett Adam and Eve Bumped into each other How do lovers meet? Sometimes they literally collide. It was the fall of 1963. Frechold. N.J., High School was playing their arch-rival, Middletown High School in their annual football game, Feeling between the schools running higher than ever, beeause Middletown had an unusally good team that vear. They had derisive names for each other. The Freehold students called the Middletown students “pumpkin people,’ because of their orange and black colors. The Middletown students called the Freehold students ‘‘Potato pickers,"’ because of all the potato farms near Freehold. It was half-time, and the Middletown team, destined to win the state champion- ship, was running off the field. They were running in the direction of the Frechold Band which was lining up on the sidelines prior to putting on its hali-time show on the field. Captain of the color guard, Lana Ugi, in her short skirt, high boots, high hat, and sword swinging at her side. had her back turned to the oncoming Middletown plays as she was preparing her guard for entering the field. was Down in the mud Suddenly, she was knock- ed to the ground. One of the hated Middletown plavers had run into her from behind. Lana lay in the mud in her elegant uniform before the large crowd in the stands and watched the Middle- town players, and particu- larly that one Middletown player whe had bumped into her, continue running into the gym. Two years went by, and she was attending Newark State College. In order to get to her psychology class that met at eight o'clock in the morning, she used to leave home early to beat the heavy commuting traffic around Newark. A number of other students also arrived early for the same reason. These early arriving students soon got to know each other while waiting for the class to begin. One other student Lana got to know was Dave Applegate. When she found out that he had attended viddletown High School she told him, ‘You'll never guess what happened to me when my school played your school.” “Funny”’ look Dave got a “‘funny’’ look on his face. Soon Lana and Dave were dating. But they had several dates before Dave said to her one evening, ‘‘l have a confession to make.’ He was the Middletown player who had knocked her over. Two years after being knocked down and after she had got to like Dave, Lana's reaction to Dave's confes- sion was not bitter. They both laughed hilariously. In Air Force In 1967 Dave enlisted in the Air Force. After he had finished his training as an electronics technician, Lana and he were married. They had planned to begin their marriage in a trailer near Dave's base camp in Biloxi, Miss. but at the last minute When Romayne Bridgett was a little girl growing up in Mount Joy, her mother made her listen to operas on the radio. Romayne grew up, got married, and had a child, but never considered mak- ing a career of music. Then, as a hobby, she began taking voice lessons from Frederick Robinson in Lancaster. ““This is just for my own pleasure,”’ Mrs. Bridgett told her teacher. ‘‘l don’t ever want to sing for anyone but myself.” In a few years, she would be winning prizes in opera competitions in France. The Bridgetts moved to France when Romayne’s husband, Sydney, became a supply officer for NATO bases in Europe. They settled in Chateau Roux, a quiet village within commuting distance of Par- is. Romayne continued voice lessons with Maud Lauri of the Bourges conservatory and Suzanne Darbans, a contralto with the Paris Opera Company. At their urging she began entering opera competi- tions. Romayne says,‘ ‘Nothing is quite so frightening as competiticn. It’s an unreal experience. Performing is difficult.” There may be hundreds cf singers in a European competition. Contestants spend hours in the waiting room, listening to their rivals perform on stage, and discussing their own chances. Dave and Lana Applegate Dave's orders were changed and he was sent to Austin, Texas. That change in orders probably saved them from tragedy; a couple days after they were in Texas the trailer in which they had planned to live in Biloxi was blown away in hurricane Camille. They were happy in Texas, where they spent 20 months and where their son Toby was born. Greece Then Dave was sent to Athens, Greece, where the Applegates were to stay for the next 22 months. They loved Greece - the beautiful skies and land- scapes, the ancient ruins. Their second son, Todd, was born there. They learned to speak Greek and learned to love the Greek people whom they got to know. They liked the easy relaxed friendliness of the Greeks, so different from the hustle and bustle they had known in metropo- litan New Jersey. They got accustomed to the siesta in Greece, from 1 to 4 p.m. every day, when all work ceased. When Dave got out of the service in 1972 he took a job in York, which Lana and he had visited and liked before they had gone to Greece. ‘‘Historic Maytown’’ After moving here they got to like Lancaster County even more than York County for the same reasons they had liked Greece. People here were friendly and easy-going. ‘‘Everybody said ‘hello. "" Dave took a job at Grinnell’s in Colum- bia, and the Applegates started looking for a place to live nearby. They were attracted by an ad for Jay Reich's brand new Villager Townhouses, which Jay had described as as located in ‘historic Maytown."’ The Applegates moved in. Both Lana and Dave became active in the May- town Youth Organization and coached softball teams. Lana also started driving a school bus (*‘J-8’") on six routes every day. Ambitions Their life was full. Dave was promoted at Grinell to electrical supervisor. But they had several ambitions still to fulfill. They wanted a house of their own and had one built to their specifications on Charles Drive in Marietta, where they now live. They had another ambi- tion. Ever since she had been a little girl in the country near Freehold. Lana had loved Romayne says, ‘‘Some contestants act so confident you feel that you might as well pack up your bags and go home. Others are so nervous, they give you confidence.” Romayne won the Arts and Letters Award for the interpretation of Debusey, and a first : prize for interpretation of French art songs. Since returning to Mount Joy, Romayne has divided her time between teaching privately and performing. Students whose musical careers began in Mrs. Bridgett’s livingroom are now studying music in college. “The exciting thing about teaching is the promising students you work with,” she says. “You have a hand in what will be the develop- ment of someone’s life- style.” Romayne has taught at the Governor's School of Fine Arts, where she had an animals. (Their house on Charles Drive is sometimes called ‘‘Applegate’s Zoo" with all its cats, dogs, hamsters, lizzards, etc.) Bank St. Aquarium They had got to know Pat and Charlene McDevit, who together operated the Bank Street Aquarium in Mariet- ta. Lana started raising fish as well as her other pets. When Pat and Charlene had to sell their aquarium when Pat took 2 job this fall near Philadelphia, Dave and Lana purchased it. November 26, 1975 opportunity to coach the best young singers in Pennsylvania. Romayne also enjoys per- forming. She does a lot of singing at colleges. “When you perform,” she says, ‘‘you get to work with people from all over the world. People with different backgrounds, ideas and heritages are all drawn together by this incredibly strong bond of music.”’ Her most recent appear- ance was at Harrisburg Area Community College, where she performed art songs last week. Romayne thinks there has been an upswing in popular support for cultural activi- ties in Lancaster County. The Lancaster Cultural Workshop, which produces opera in English, has been operating for 2S years, she points out. ‘‘This indicates a growing audience for opera, she says. The Bridgetts have three grown children; Sydney, Jr., Ramona and Johnathan. Now, most of Dave's and Lana's dreams have come truc. They have each other, Toby and Todd, their own home, and now their own pet and tropical fish busi- ness. If someone had walked up to Lana back in 1963 while she lay in her cute uniform in the mud of the stadium, and told her that she was going to have all this someday with that Middle- town football player whose back she was glaring at — would she have believed it? T hanksgiving means this to Sammy Jacoby Sammy Jacoby, Maytown, a student in Mr. Yohn’s Sth grade class at Maytown school, wrote the following essay. What Thanksgiving Really Means To Me Thanksgiving means to sit down to a table and give thanks to the Lord and all the food you eat. On Thanksgiving Day we eat turkey and pumpkin pie. The pumpkin pie is my favorite food to eat on the thankful day. I'm also thankful for my parents and sisters, but the most very important is that I have food to eat and a house to sleep in. On Thanksgiving Day everybody but a few aunts and uncles come over to eat with us. That's what Thanksgiving means to me. P.S. I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.
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