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Tuesday Social Club still meets every week
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Jul 04, 2009
They're endured their share of life's big storms. Like the rain of tears that threatened never to end when their husbands died.
Yet, through it all, they managed to take anchor in their faith and the magic Tuesdays always held.
Dwindling in numbers, the Tuesday Social Club — women friends who are well into their 80s — still get together every week for lunch, cards and camaraderie.
But mostly for raucous laughter — the great panacea, they long ago discovered, for pain of any kind, physical or emotional.
''They have been together through thick and thin and sickness and health, '' was how Akron's Angela Saniat described this unique sisterhood, which includes her grandmother, Angela (Apollonio) Patris.
''Nearly 70 years of friendship these womenhave . . .
'' It's been difficult to meet for card club lately because of illness. But they still manage. Every Tuesday for as long as I can remember. I have been accompanying my grandma for the past few years, but the other girls still drive.''
''My grandma [who is 88] is nearly blind and deaf, so the other ladies help her. In fact, she usually ends up winning.''
I looked in on the surprisingly animated crew of seven last week.
In addition to Mrs. Patris, members are Verona (Nagy) Dizdar of Green; Jo (Lauretta) Hafner, Nancy Lauretta, and Jennie (Lauretta) Borak — all of Akron; Irene (Buck) Simone of Cuyahoga Falls; and Ann (Suchka) Rittman of Munroe Falls.
Mrs. Hafner, Mrs. Borak and Nancy Lauretta are sisters.
Three members — Pauline (Miljac) Donofrio, Mary (Kenna) Nagy and the Laurettas' other sister, Adeline Bechter, are deceased.
The remaining seven carry them in their hearts and their mission of having fun.
''We do a lot of laughing,'' Mrs. Dizdar insisted, as if reciting an unbreakable rule.
''And we never talk about politics or religion,'' Mrs. Hafner added.
This gregarious bunch — while playing cards every Tuesday for 40 years and counting — actually dates back some 70 years.
''Most of them went to school together at South High School,'' Saniat said of her grandmother's BFFs — Best Friends Forever.
''Many of them grew up together on Milhoff Court, which is no longer there due to the highway.''
The women joked that the apartment buildings where they lived as children in the 1930s were the forerunner of modern-day condos.
''We were poor and didn't know it,'' Mrs. Borak said. ''We were all on relief.''
But they were rich in other ways: friendship and respect. ''We listened to all the mothers,'' she said.
''I went to [Akron's]
Lincoln Elementary School, where there was a swimming pool. That's where I learned to swim,'' Mrs. Rittman journeyed back. ''Money was scarce then, too; but we had everything we needed. There was never talk of schools' cutting back on programs then like it is now. . . . ''
It was a close-knit community of friends even then.
Childhood memories
''Our family got the Akron Times Press newspaper, and Jo's got the Beacon Journal, and we exchanged them later in the day,'' Mrs. Dizdar recalled.
Mrs. Patris, who moved around a lot as a child, attending seven grade schools, was warmly welcomed into the group.
''We lived in the Children's Home for a while,'' she said as she journeyed back.
''She lived there with her mother and four other siblings while her father looked for work,'' said Saniat, who helped fill in the blanks.
Mrs. Borak recalled going to her prom ''on the bus.''
Staying in touch
The women — many standing up for each other when they married — stayed in touch despite being busy raising their own families and working outside the home.
Verona Dizdar worked 47 years for Roberts Express and FedEx; Nancy Lauretta, 49 years for Roadway; Jennie Borak — in addition to being a secretary — made pontoons during World War II at General Tire and served as secretary at St. Martha's Church; Irene Simone worked at Polsky's department store; and Ann Rittman worked in the Firestone district office and later in her husband's insurance office.
Angela Patris worked at the Ravenna Arsenal and at Firestone. Jo Hafner retired from St. Thomas Hospital after a 491/2-year career as a nurse. In fact, she capped her long career by ''admitting the last baby born there before the hospital closed its maternity ward.''
''Before cards, they had a sewing club,'' Saniat said of her grandmother's pals.
Mrs. Borak laughed, remembering the Italian cut-work project and embroidery long since relegated to her basement. ''I'll finish them someday,'' she threatened.
Cards are their game
These days, the friends are just much too busy, catching up and playing cards. Mostly Michigan rummy and poker and Mexican train (Dominoes) and Right, Left, Center (with dice).
They still come with their own cans of pennies.
Bridge, they contend, is much too serious. ''It requires too much concentration,'' insisted Mrs. Hafner, who was recently released from the hospital. ''We're much too busy talking and giggling for that.''
Pam Pazura — Mrs. Patris' daughter and Saniat's mother — recalled the long hours the ladies would spend together at the card table. ''They were at my house one night. My dog had 11 puppies while they were busy playing cards,'' Pazura recalled.
Many of the women also bowled at the old Grand Lanes. Angela Patris — who has the trophies to prove it — talked about carrying her 16-pound bowling ball several blocks to catch the bus to the alley. She didn't retire from the sport until she was 80.
Jo Hafner not only bowled, but also worked when she was in high school setting pins at the bowling alley. ''I was the only girl doing that,'' she took pride in saying.
Nancy Lauretta bowled and golfed.
Jennie Borak has made friends with the computer and calls that her hobby.
Verona Dizdar, who formerly enjoyed square dancing, still likes to ride here and there on the back of the Harley motorcycle, as long as daughter Carol Dizdar is in the driver's seat.
''All of their husbands [except for Nancy Lauretta, who never married] have died,'' Saniat noted. ''Three of the husbands, including my grandfather, passed away within the same year.''
''All of our husbands were veterans,'' Mrs. Rittman was proud to say.
The husbands, many of whom grew up in the same neighborhood, often took bus trips with the girlfriends.
Indeed, they were loved by all and always welcome.
Just not at the card table.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
They're endured their share of life's big storms. Like the rain of tears that threatened never to end when their husbands died.
Get the full article here.
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