Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 25, 1995 TAG: 9507250051
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The morning the article ran, WROV-FM rock jock Sam Giles asked women to call up and try to explain to men just what pantyhose felt like. I challenged Sam to wear pantyhose for a day to raise money for charity.
V magazine editor Jim Cubby let me write about our pantyhose shopping excursion for V.
Former Roanoke Times Features Editor Wendy Zomparelli read the article. And she called me up one day and asked if I'd like to go to parties on weekends, write about it, and the newspaper would pay me for it.
That is the answer to the question I have been asked the most: How in the heck did you get such a great job?
It's been nearly four years now. Four years since I first mingled, celebrating Hanukkah at Beth Israel Synagogue with 9-year-old Jessica Trompeter. (I last saw Jessica at the farewell do for Marlen Grisso, Roanoke's Peach Lady. Jessica is now nearing 14.)
A couple weeks back, the Powers That Be and I decided it was time to put Mingling to rest. After four years of professionally socializing just about every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, I am relieved to say the least.
I am not, however, retiring from the newspaper. (Hey, I'm only thirtysomething.) I'm looking forward to writing more offbeat features and other interesting late-breaking fluff.
Back in 1991, when Mingling debuted, we described the column as ``wherever people get together, there you'll find Mingling.''
In four years, I have partied with doctors, drag queens, lawyers, artists, bikers, Marines, pre-schoolers, punk rockers, and gone backstage with Garth Brooks and Guns `N' Roses.
I have had a blast. A lot of fun. I've had a great time. I've loved it.
In fact, I have run my thesaurus ragged finding different ways to say ``blast,'' ``fun,'' ``great'' and ``loved it.''
Thanks to the column, I have mingled with thousands of people in four years and have managed to squeeze many of their names into the paper.
What was the best party I've ever been to?
The worst is easier to answer. I have never had a good time at Affair in the Square. Refer to Mingling Rule Number 1: The more dressed up you are, the less fun you are likely to have.
I regret I never hung out with the thrifty guys at the bars across the street from Center in the Square, who don't attend, but wait for the little black dress-clad women to arrive when Affair is over.
I had a disgusting time judging a bikini contest at Smith Mountain Lake. And we all know how I feel about that darned Hooker's Ball. ...
But back to the best ones...
Among the most memorable were camping in the woods on the He Man Woman Haters Getaway Weekend, with four guys I'd never met before. In January. I still haven't forgiven them for taking pictures of me while I was asleep, though.
I took my first motorcycle ride with 600 bikers on Harleys on a 65-mile odyssey that raised a bunch of money for Muscular Dystrophy.
The Valentine's Day dance at Cave Spring Junior High, where I hung out in the girls bathroom to hear teen-speak about boy angst brought back a lot of memories. And I watched women practically do physical battle at a bachelor auction in Blacksburg.
I've worn surgical booties and STAYED OFF OF THE RUG! at the Smith Mountain Lake Home Tour.
I have met the three most charming men in this area:
nAdam Cicero, now 16, was only 14 when he showed off his one-month-old sister wearing her first dress at a garden party.
nElmer Ridenhour, now past 80, can party heartier than anyone. Elmer writes to me regularly and who wouldn't love a man whose letters start with ``Aloha Beautiful Kathy!''?
nAnd veteran Charlie Clatterbuck. Charlie - who lost both of his legs and is near 70 - always makes me smile.
But my three favorites were very personal events, where I was honored to have been invited to share the joy:
n At John and Betty LeDoux's when their eight children ate dinner together for the first time in 21 years.
nWhen Mildred Crawford, 71, married Vince Humphries in New Castle. (Vince had a crush on Mildred since elementary school.)
n And when Bill Wingfield asked me to go to the airport with him to welcome his wife, Nancy, home from England. She'd been gone several months tending to her sick mother.
And finally, I have mingled in cyberspace and found romance with Bob344, prompting people to stop me just about everywhere to ask ``What about Bob?''
Just like Mingling, all good things eventually come to an end.
Sorry, Roanoke. I know everybody loves a love story, but Bob and I decided to torpedo this one. Too complicated.
What I am really looking forward to is a lot of the things I've mingled at, only without the notebook.
I hope Nannie Barbara will still invite me to come to her annual Easter egg hunt. I still want to make apple butter with the folks at the Peters Creek Church of the Brethren. And I want to go Christmas caroling in Buchanan where we all ride around on bales of hay in a pickup truck to sing carols to the town's shut-ins.
So thanks to Tracie Fellers. Sam Giles. Jim Cubby. And Wendy Zomparelli.
Thanks so much to anyone who ever called or wrote to ask me to come meet some neat people and have a GREAT time.
But if I never see another ham biscuit or have to listen to Mayor David Bowers' ``When you wish upon a star'' speech ever again, I will die a very happy lady.
Kathleen Wilson hopes you will still let her know what you are up to as she searches for interesting stories. You can reach her at 981-3351.
by CNB