In the Spotlight

Marilyn is our unofficial “Fun and Games Chairman”. She always comes to our social events armed with fun games and activities. From Bocce Ball to Guesstures, and Catch Phrase, she keeps things moving and the group laughing. Thank goodness she hasn’t found her Twister game yet! Although she takes learning the steps seriously, she often comes up with a funny quip when things get a little tough. I am very happy to name her this month’s Tappers in the spotlight.

Seventy-six years ago I was born in Lansing, Michigan.  When I was in 1^st grade, my mother enrolled me in tap classes.  She nailed tap plates on the bottom of white sandals and I was embarrassed because everyone else had pretty black patent shoes. I only took lessons for 3 months and the only term I remembered was “Shuffle, Bouquet, Step.”   Little did I know that I was saying it wrong for 70 years!

I met my husband, Duane, between our junior and senior years of high school and we married five years later while he was in the navy stationed in San Diego.  Duane’s ship was sent back to Vietnam and I returned to Michigan and had our first daughter by myself.  We moved 7 times, to 6 states, in 11 years, and when we moved to Claremont in 1978 (after having another daughter and son) we decided to remain here until our children graduated from high school. 

I enjoyed being a faculty secretary at Scripps College and The Claremont Graduate University for 13 years in the 1980’s and early 90’s.  The year after I quit work, I contacted Guide Dogs of the Desert near Palm Springs to inquire about being a puppy raiser.  Several months later Cooper (an 8-week old golden retriever) joined our family for 18 months.  It nearly broke my heart to return him for professional training.  Two years later I contacted the school again and Stanley, the most precious black Labrador puppy ever, moved in with us and I began his training.  After his formal training at the school he was matched with a sweet lady from San Diego. 

In the mid 1990’s I contacted Central Casting in Burbank and registered to become an “extra” for the movies and television (today they are called Background Actors).  I worked on Beethoven’s 2^nd, Lois and Clark, Coach, Sister Act 2, Sisters, Melrose Place, and many others.  It was all so much fun but I had 2 main highlights.  During the filming of a cocktail party on Melrose Place with Heather Locklear, the director asked me to stand with Heather and talk with her – oh my, I was so excited!  Talk about the most beautiful person and she was lovely to me.  And lucky for me we had to do the scene 3 times!  But the best day was on the set of Sisters in 1994.  When I called into Central Casting for a job on Sisters (my picture came up on their screen). The casting director said I was “Too Upscale.”  I said I can do “Downscale” easy!  She made me promise to wear no makeup and wear a shoddy coat as I would be attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.  Once in my seat at the meeting on the set, up walked an actor who went up to the podium and started his speech, “Hello, my name is James and I’m an alcoholic.”  He presented his speech perfectly which lasted about 7 minutes and the director yelled, “Cut! That was great, but let’s do it one more time.”  So I got to see this gorgeous actor read his speech one more time!   Afterwards, I was standing on the front steps of this old church on the set where the meeting was held, and the actor walked up to me.  He stretched out his hand to me and said, “Hi, I’m George Clooney, and I just want to thank you for coming out so early on this cold day.”  Wow, so professional and caring. I didn’t know who he was at the time as I hadn’t seen him act in anything. It was years before that handshake meant a whole lot more.

In 2002 I returned to work as Office Manager at Claremont High School.   I never drank wine before that, but each day when I got home my husband would have a glass of wine ready for me and listen to all my stories, as he was the only one I could share with.

A year after I retired, in 2012,  I started volunteering at Pomona Valley Hospital helping the children in pediatrics make crafts.  Many times the playroom was filled with siblings, parents and grandparents who joined in the fun.  Sometimes the nurses smiled and closed the door because we got too loud!  Today I volunteer on the 5^th floor as it was the floor I was on 20 years ago when my appendix burst a week earlier, and I was given a 50-50 chance of recovering.  The entire staff was so good to me and my family that it was easy to know where I’d volunteer after I retired.

In March 2015 I looked on the internet for tap dancing for seniors.  I called my dear friend, Kathy Nauertz, (we’ve been friends since 1979) and asked her if she’d be interested in going with me.   She said, “Yes, let’s give it a try.”  We were both a little hesitant.  We walked into the Beginners class and everyone was so welcoming and gosh, the teacher, Suellen, was so likeable!  Since we had tennis shoes on Suellen let us use tap shoes from the back room.  After class Kathy suggested we buy shoes, so off to Ontario we went.  Later that year at the Christmas party, tappers from the Advanced class went out of their way to greet us and get to know us.  Lifetime friendships have been formed and my doctor says the class is great exercise for my body and mind.

We have 8 grandchildren, raging from 28 – 7 and I have loved doing crafts with them over the years.