Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 9, 1995 TAG: 9505090079
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They're packed with fascinating characters and so many intersecting plot lines that you never quite sort them out.
I knew it was going to be an interesting night when I overheard a guest at Ed Mitchell's 55th birthday party Saturday night say, ``I lost weight at the same diet center as Rush Limbaugh.''
It got even better when I found out that the man who said this - Don Beaudreault - is a Unitarian minister who plays the piano professionally, writes murder mysteries and spent 25 years in California.
Among other things, Don officiated at the wedding of Gregory Peck's son at a home right across the street from O.J. Simpson's now very famous estate.
He also reported that a friend recently showed him Timothy McVeigh's picture in a high school yearbook
He also showed us that he can play the piano while lying on his back with his hands crossed.
I live for this stuff!
Here are some other gems from the cast of Ed Mitchell's birthday party:
Maggie Palmieri - who is from Iowa but now lives here and works for North Cross School - explained the difference between a Yankee and a Damn Yankee:
``A Yankee is someone who comes south of the Mason-Dixon line for a visit. A Damn Yankee is one who comes south and won't leave.''
Mick Michaelson - a man who was relatively quiet most of the evening - finally decided to join the name-droppers in the living room and announced that he once got drunk with comedian Dick Gregory.
When Sharon Mitchell recently went to lunch with an old friend, Roger Pommeranke, word got back to her husband that someone had seen ``Sharon going to lunch with Roger topless.''
Roger had taken the top off of his BMW convertible (and shame on anyone who thought it meant something different.)
Ruth Solonevich, whose life is filled with stories that take you from Germany to Poland to Argentina to Uruguay during some very rough times, described herself as a ``German Yankee from New York.''
She has only lived in Roanoke a short time, but has adopted many - including Ed - as surrogate grandchildren.
Ruth lived in Manhattan for 41 years. ``That makes me a New Yorker,'' she declared.
She moved there from Buenos Aires after the death of her husband, Yuri, a Russian journalist.
``When I came to New York from South America, I took a deep breath and felt I was home,'' said Ruth, whom everyone calls ``Oma,'' which is German for grandmother. She worked first as a maid, then on an A&P conveyer belt packing Easter eggs.
``Two green, two yellow, two red,'' recalled Ruth. ``Two green, two yellow, two red.''
This thoroughly charming woman - who was wearing earrings, a bracelet and a necklace THAT SHE MADE HERSELF (she's also a silversmith) - became a practical nurse and later attended Columbia University and became a psychologist.
My favorite story was one Ruth told about living in Argentina. Her stepson had built four houses there and was looking for someone to paint them. He saw a man on a street, leaping around crouched down after a rain and figured he would give this poor man a job.
``He asked the man if he would like to paint his houses,'' explained Ruth. ``And the man showed my stepson that he was collecting frogs to sell to restaurants in Buenos Aires. `Why would I want to paint houses when I can make so much money catching frogs?' he asked my stepson.''
Ed, the birthday boy, nearly brought down the house when he chimed in about the time Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman played tennis at the Arlington Squash and Racquet Club, where he was a member, while the two were filming ``All the President's Men'' in Washington, D.C.
``You mean that guy I just saw nekkid was Robert Redford?" he exclaimed in the locker room after discovering the actors were at the club.
Finally, the people I find most fascinating - Jack and Juanita Stanley - weren't even at this party, even though it was held at their home.
Jack and Juanita are Sharon's parents.
Sharon once threw a party when she was 17 years old and a senior at Cave Spring High School.
``Hundreds of people came,'' she recalled. ``My parents had to call the police.''
Did they know about the party?
``Yes, they were even there,'' she explained. ``They just needed some help ending it.''
Nearly 25 years later, Jack and Juanita still let Sharon throw parties at their house.
``They just don't attend them,'' she said.
On such occasions, Jack and Juanita choose to spend the night at Ed and Sharon's.
by CNB