FORTY-NINE YEARS AFTER SOPHOMORE HOMEROOM
A Story of Love & Marriage, Art, Crafts & Shop and Florida
JACKIE LUMBATIS and SCOTT LUDWIG
As I drove up and down and around the hills to arrive in Carrollton, I felt a bit uneasy about agreeing to attend Jackie Ludwig's craft shop open-house. After all, the leaden sky was threatening to let down the most snow predicted so far in the month of December 2013. But then, a long and winding road of five months' time had brought me there, so it seemed
cowardly to turn back now. And then a sweet young man Jim (boyfriend of Jackie's daughter Chrissy) met me and offered to park my car. Scott ambled out and greeted me, and as I entered the shop, Jackie handed me a cup of wine, and everything was going to be okay.
I warmed up in the shop awhile and found a million things I could have bought. And I am not much of a shopper. A wooden box of firewood sat next to the fireplace with teeny white lights highlighting knotholes and bark. The stockings were hung by the proverbial chimney with care, while a comfy chair stood nearby from whence one could snuggle and gaze at the sled and poinsettias and trees and the angels and owls that Jackie has made, decorated, and populated the place with. I finally latched onto what I wanted and held in my open palm the white-glittery circus elephant on a red wagon whose wheels were made of old wooden thread spools, the perfect gift for my husband's aunt who collects elephants.
By then, the crowd had dissipated, the shop emptied out, and Jackie invited me inside to get the rest of the backstory. Since we barely knew each other until September, and even then only on Facebook, there was oh, about 49 years of backstory to get straight. While she was closing up, Scott gave me his, reminding me what a ruffian he was. He told me that he was suspended once for three days for punching out a '67 classmates whose name is here redacted, but I will tell you, if I had known he had punched that guy--the meanest kid on my bus--I would have given Scott a medal!
Meanwhile, here is my backstory: in spring, I assigned myself the PHS '68 reunion task of finding classmates on our UTL (Unable to Locate List), and I took to the task like... (in Greg Lintner's depiction:) a bloodhound. I got sort of obsessed by the end and almost knocked at the door of a neighbor two blocks over to ask if he knew how we could find his ex-son-in-law. (I didn't, but there is still some regret there. We never were able to find him.)
Women tend to be the hardest. They get married and change their name and divorced and remarried and change their name. I mean really, girls. Decide who you are going to be and call us on the clue phone. But with Facebook, a lot of them are including their birth name along with their most recent married name. So when I went to look for "Jacqueline Lumbatis," I actually found a "Jacqueline Lumbatis Ludwig," I felt that thrill that P.I.'s must feel. (And I have noticed that she has since changed her page to "Jackie Ludwig," perhaps with regret that she didn't change it six months earlier.) I emailed her and said she was on our UTL list, but if she sent me an address, I would see that she got an invitation to the 45th reunion. She replied that that was okay, she got the invitation through Scott. Scott? Scott Ludwig! It was beginning to add up. It wouldn't be the first or last relationship to come out of PHS homerooms: in the great PHS '68 roll call, Ludwig is followed by Lumbatis.
So the first question I asked her was, "So did you and Scott get married right out of high school?"
She laughed. "Oh, no. A year or two after we graduated, he showed up in Florida, where I was living, and I thought, 'Oh, no. I am not interested.'" And then, eventually, she was. Or, as Lintner again so well puts it, "Scott won that battle."
Greg Lintner has since revealed that more than one guy was interested in Jackie, who was very elusive. I don't remember seeing her very often. She explained to me that while she was in high school, her parents lived half the year in the Perry District, half the year in the wilds of Florida, where she experienced a much more multi-cultural set of classmates, including Native Americans. And she didn't find Perry kids very friendly, of all the schools she had been in and out of. She noted that her academic life was difficult because she had to take the exact same courses at both the Florida and the Ohio school in order to have her transcript even out at the end of each year, not an easy task since she had to leave mid-semester each year. "I spent hours with the guidance counselor," she said. So perhaps it is no accident that the only encounter Jackie and I recall having together was my signing her in when I was working in the high school office.
She and Scott married, moved out into the country on 240 acres where they raised about 40 head of cattle and had two children, a son and a daughter. They ran a bowling alley together in Salineville all the while Scott worked at Smith Dairy. ("Yes," Jackie says, "I slept with the milkman.") And together they built the darling rustic house they live in today with several cats, who are the true owners of the place. All along Jackie has painted and crafted. She wrote two books on painting for a series titled Everything Under the Moon. In their airy, open front room, filled with windows where light pours in even on dark days, Jackie teaches painting classes. Now they are both retired.
Originally, this was to be a story only of Jackie, but it is impossible not to include her other half, so I asked Fred Saylor what he remembered of Scott. This was his memory:
So as I drove away that December day, I wasn't sure if I would ever see Jackie again. For one thing, the BIG snow storm I had to drive home through threatened to send my car right off into a ravine, where, I figured, I'd die of hypothermia. But I've been driving in winters on back country roads since my first teaching job in 1972 and then for twelve years in the ice of New England streets, so I finally reached home, most alive.
And since then, Jackie and I have stayed in touch on Facebook, and I have to admit that Jackie, Scott, and Greg make me laugh most days when I check in on them there. Jackie has uploaded a few photos of the wonderful breakfasts Scott cooks for her now that he is home weekdays (while Greg up in Cuyahoga Falls critiques them, based on their appearance) and this winter, Jackie posted a humorous account of painting a table this year. Previously, she had always just layered the table with another coat of paint, but this year, Scott insisted on disassembling it, painting each piece, then reassembling it, a production that took days while Jackie was preparing a big birthday dinner, hoping she'd have a table to serve it on. Scott is trustworthy as well as thorough, though, and the table was painted, dried, and reassembled on time.
And on March 1st, Scott and Jackie made it to Fred Saylor's big PHS Alumni Dance to raise money for PHS student scholarships. I wasn't able to make it as I hosted a birthday party that night. But somehow, somewhere, we are all going to get together again. You don't have to have been high school friends in high school to be friends now. For me, it's easier now. There aren't so many bells ringing, no tests, no Mr. Beatty, no clubs, no cliques, and everyone is cool.
Afterward:
***If you are interested in shopping or just stopping in at Jackie's shop, she will have her next open house this fall and will announce it on the facebook page of her shop, "Silver Moon Silver Moon:"
https://www.facebook.com/silvermoon.silvermoon.71?fref=ts
***While you are at it, if you are not yet signed on at our Perry HS '68 site on Facebook, consider signing on. It's just for class members so we don't get any spam, but Jamie Clinger Voican or I will buzz you in right away:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/perryhs68/
I warmed up in the shop awhile and found a million things I could have bought. And I am not much of a shopper. A wooden box of firewood sat next to the fireplace with teeny white lights highlighting knotholes and bark. The stockings were hung by the proverbial chimney with care, while a comfy chair stood nearby from whence one could snuggle and gaze at the sled and poinsettias and trees and the angels and owls that Jackie has made, decorated, and populated the place with. I finally latched onto what I wanted and held in my open palm the white-glittery circus elephant on a red wagon whose wheels were made of old wooden thread spools, the perfect gift for my husband's aunt who collects elephants.
Meanwhile, here is my backstory: in spring, I assigned myself the PHS '68 reunion task of finding classmates on our UTL (Unable to Locate List), and I took to the task like... (in Greg Lintner's depiction:) a bloodhound. I got sort of obsessed by the end and almost knocked at the door of a neighbor two blocks over to ask if he knew how we could find his ex-son-in-law. (I didn't, but there is still some regret there. We never were able to find him.)
Women tend to be the hardest. They get married and change their name and divorced and remarried and change their name. I mean really, girls. Decide who you are going to be and call us on the clue phone. But with Facebook, a lot of them are including their birth name along with their most recent married name. So when I went to look for "Jacqueline Lumbatis," I actually found a "Jacqueline Lumbatis Ludwig," I felt that thrill that P.I.'s must feel. (And I have noticed that she has since changed her page to "Jackie Ludwig," perhaps with regret that she didn't change it six months earlier.) I emailed her and said she was on our UTL list, but if she sent me an address, I would see that she got an invitation to the 45th reunion. She replied that that was okay, she got the invitation through Scott. Scott? Scott Ludwig! It was beginning to add up. It wouldn't be the first or last relationship to come out of PHS homerooms: in the great PHS '68 roll call, Ludwig is followed by Lumbatis.
So the first question I asked her was, "So did you and Scott get married right out of high school?"
She laughed. "Oh, no. A year or two after we graduated, he showed up in Florida, where I was living, and I thought, 'Oh, no. I am not interested.'" And then, eventually, she was. Or, as Lintner again so well puts it, "Scott won that battle."
Greg Lintner has since revealed that more than one guy was interested in Jackie, who was very elusive. I don't remember seeing her very often. She explained to me that while she was in high school, her parents lived half the year in the Perry District, half the year in the wilds of Florida, where she experienced a much more multi-cultural set of classmates, including Native Americans. And she didn't find Perry kids very friendly, of all the schools she had been in and out of. She noted that her academic life was difficult because she had to take the exact same courses at both the Florida and the Ohio school in order to have her transcript even out at the end of each year, not an easy task since she had to leave mid-semester each year. "I spent hours with the guidance counselor," she said. So perhaps it is no accident that the only encounter Jackie and I recall having together was my signing her in when I was working in the high school office.
She and Scott married, moved out into the country on 240 acres where they raised about 40 head of cattle and had two children, a son and a daughter. They ran a bowling alley together in Salineville all the while Scott worked at Smith Dairy. ("Yes," Jackie says, "I slept with the milkman.") And together they built the darling rustic house they live in today with several cats, who are the true owners of the place. All along Jackie has painted and crafted. She wrote two books on painting for a series titled Everything Under the Moon. In their airy, open front room, filled with windows where light pours in even on dark days, Jackie teaches painting classes. Now they are both retired.
Originally, this was to be a story only of Jackie, but it is impossible not to include her other half, so I asked Fred Saylor what he remembered of Scott. This was his memory:
All through September, I held out hope that Jackie and Scott could attend our 45th high school reunion, but they weren't able because they have long-standing reservations to stay in Key West in October-- the lure of that crazy island!Scott and I knew all the comedians on TV and radio, and we did their bits together in machine shop class. We didn't just discuss how the comedians spoke or talk about them, WE DID THEM: Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Tim Conway and Jonathan Winters and many others. Scott was very funny and he and I together had fun. We were still able to learn a bit during our metal shop class too. I liked Scott a lot and he had a Yamaha motorcycle. I had to get a bike. (motorcycle) ... other guys had them too. However my parents were not able to buy me a NEW bike. I ended up with a used German bike, a Zundapp. it even sounds funny doesn't it? I went to Scott's house the very minute I got that bike to show it to him. He was not home and soon thereafter i wrecked the bike almost killing myself...and I had so wanted to show that bike to Scotty.
So as I drove away that December day, I wasn't sure if I would ever see Jackie again. For one thing, the BIG snow storm I had to drive home through threatened to send my car right off into a ravine, where, I figured, I'd die of hypothermia. But I've been driving in winters on back country roads since my first teaching job in 1972 and then for twelve years in the ice of New England streets, so I finally reached home, most alive.
 |
| "My husband spoils me...don't get me wrong I deserve it. But he is womderful.". |
And on March 1st, Scott and Jackie made it to Fred Saylor's big PHS Alumni Dance to raise money for PHS student scholarships. I wasn't able to make it as I hosted a birthday party that night. But somehow, somewhere, we are all going to get together again. You don't have to have been high school friends in high school to be friends now. For me, it's easier now. There aren't so many bells ringing, no tests, no Mr. Beatty, no clubs, no cliques, and everyone is cool.
Afterward:
***If you are interested in shopping or just stopping in at Jackie's shop, she will have her next open house this fall and will announce it on the facebook page of her shop, "Silver Moon Silver Moon:"
https://www.facebook.com/silvermoon.silvermoon.71?fref=ts
***While you are at it, if you are not yet signed on at our Perry HS '68 site on Facebook, consider signing on. It's just for class members so we don't get any spam, but Jamie Clinger Voican or I will buzz you in right away:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/perryhs68/
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