Once was a lady from my past,
whose memory will forever last.
Was a thief you see,
stole my heart from me,
thus into her debt I was cast.

This women of mine was my first wife, Jeannine Snyder. No middle name, her first name said it all, Jeannine.............

Our's was not always a match made in Heaven, often we felt Hell had alot to do with the match making.

During our 23 years together we knew the wrath of each other, never physical but often loud with many jestures of anger aimed toward each of us, inwardly as well as outwordly. We quite often were our oun worst enemies when it came time for one of us to give in to the other. For that is really what married life and often life in general is about, giving in, compromising, hoping that, "If I give in now, perhaps she will give in next time". The give and take of life in general. "If I say yes to her now, perhaps she will say yes to me tonight", type of a situation.

I knew her at about the age of innocence, 12 perhaps. I started to date her sister, her cousins, her girl friends, everyone except her. I would go with the family often on trips from Albany, NY to Saratogo Springs, NY for her treatments of the "springs of life". The smell of decaying eggs brings back the stench of the waters of Saratogo Springs. Thousands of people yearly were going there for these soakings in the baths of mineral waters, for healing of a variety of illness.

Jeannine's was a childhood case of rheumatic fever, perhaps casued by a streptococcal infection she may have had. Her swellen joints and fever were very painfull and the waters seemed to help quite a bit, making the pain bearable. As she grew, her limbs seem to adapt quite well and she did get better over time. It was this illness that led doctors to advise us (later as we anticipated marriage) that she might be unable to conceive children. As it was, she would "come around" only a few times a year and we never knew when that would be so we never used protection of any kind during our marriage.

As children we saw each other quite often since I lived only a block and a half away, on Hall Place, she at 28 First Street. I saw only this skinny girl that wanted nothing to do with me at any time, ever. When I would come by to take her sister to the movies, Jeannine would be sure to say some snide remark, like, "Why are you going with him?". All along I knew she was just jealous that I had not asked her, I never would have. What, me and that skinny girl ? no way, never.

That is until I was back home from 6 weeks basic training at Fort Dix, NJ. Now 18, in the Army, on my way to getting some edumacation in communication at the one any only Army Security Agency, a prestigious branch of Amry Intellagence at Carlisle Barricks in Pa......... Iam now top dog, uniform and all, look out women of the world here I come..................UNTIL!!!! (dum de dum dum), I just happened to be walking past her house when out of the basement apartment she came, now a full grown 17 year old lady, ( O K !!!!! she sure looked hot to me).

I stopped dead in my tracks, stammered a, "Well, hello there, is your daughter home?". She too was showing a big surprise look, taken aback for just a second, until she reconized me and came back with, "Well, yes she is, but she is to young for you", then walked right pass me on down the street. She confessed years later that once she was several steps ahead of me she started laughing so hard at herself for having gotten one up on me, she was so proud of herself.

She had gotten about 20 feet ahead of me when I said to myself, "Hey! wait a minuet, she can't be Jeannine, a new girl must have moved in", and off I ran to catch up to this vision. The rest of our lives together she always remained a few feet ahead of me in most things. Just slowed down when she wanted me to catch up to her, share some of life's experiences and off she would go again, with me chasing, chasing and catching up when she wanted me to.

About a year later, at my tender age of 19, she let me catch up to her, at the alter. She now being a full grown women of 18, still skinny at 98 pounds, 5' 4" tall, all covering a heart that would not quit giving for the balance of her life. Her of brown hair, eyes to match.

Iam sure one of the several things that attracted her to me was my having spent several years as a teenager in one form of entertainment or the other, from my radio show, to appearing in several stage shows, many local radio talent shows and local tv talent shows. During our "courting days", she always talked about her desire to perform as a singer. She did have a plesant speaking voice, soft, soft yet demanding to be heard. But the singing voice was a bit tough to control and although she tried, only when she was doing a character type style did it come over quite well. Later in our marriage, while being involved in the PTA in Schenectady, NY , where we did a yearly stage show to raise funds for the students, did she really come through with her talent, in comedy mostly. The two of us were really quite good at that type of performance and she was really in rare form then, loving the giving of her talent and reaching out with both hands to accept the applause of the auidience.

We did one show a year, variety type with me as director using many of the talented parents of our school. One bit involving Jeannine was a scene of a Minstral Show. The set was simple, a bowed line of chairs from stage left leading to stage right. Each chair being occupied by a male dressed in black face wearing a tux type of clothing. Except in Jeannine's case, oh! she was wearing a tux type dressing outfit but she was no man, far from it, she was always female, except in this case, she was the only women I ever heard of being on stage during a Minstral show. As I said before, I had to say "Yes" from time to time, just so she would say "Yes" to me at a later date. She wanted to be part of that skit, so she was.

My character was that of "Mr. Interlocketer", the person that was a go between the men and the auidence, they would relate to me and I to them, thus a form of introduction for them to begin their specialty, dance, song, quartet, instrument or what ever they would perform. Her bit went like this. (her playing the character, "Mr. Bones".

Mr. Bones: "Mr. Interlocketer"
Me: "Why, yes Mr. Bones"
MB: "Your know I have not been feeling well lateley"
Me: "Yes, Mr Bones, I understand you were in the hospital last week"
MB: "I surly was, Mr. Interlocketer. Every day that doctor would come into my room, reach down at the foot of my bed, pick up my informational sheet, take his pencil and poke a row of holes in it.
Me: "That was strange Mr. Bones, what did you do about it?"
MB: "After 5 days of him doing that I gets up, grab that sheet of paper and ran home. As soon as I got there I placed that sheet of paper with them holes in it onto my player piano and do you know what song it played?"
Me: "Well no, Mr. Bones, what song did it play?"
MB: "It played, I'll be glad when you are dead, you rascal you".

At this point Jeannine was up on her feet saying the last words, almost yelling the "You rascal you" part, as she began to dance around in a circle, jumping up and down, repeating, "You rascal you, Your rascal you". Half of the audience did likewise, laughing out loud, all singing, "You rascal you, You rascal you". She sure had them going that time. It took me, as Mr. Interlocketer, several minuets to bring to skit back into order and continue with the set, fantastic, and she loved every moment of it.

Another show for the PTA the two of us did was a take off, pantomime style, of Spike Jone's song. "Cocktails for Two". With this one she "Played" what is called a "Boom base". Kind of a tall, heavy, stick, which has a one foot long bottom part that with the aid of a spring inside, slides up and down as the stick is pushed up and down onto the floor. It also has a rubber foot pad to avoid the sound of the wood hitting the stage. Upon top of the instrument is a tambourine with it's loose metal rings clanging against the top and bottom of it's holder. Strung from top to bottom is a single cat gut type of a string which is plucked in rythum with the music. I was "Playing" a contraption with bells, whisles, thingamajigies, horns etc. We were quite a site to see as we pantomimed that song. All of this sillyness was eaten up by the audience and the greatest enjoyment of it all was to watch Jeannine's face show the fun that she was having each time we hit the mark on stage.

Moments of her enjoyments were many. I was teaching ballroom dancing with the Arthur Murray Studios in Albany, NY when I was transferred to West Palm Beach, Florida. So I packed Jeannine, our son Bruce was now 5, would be 6 in Nov. 1959 and off we went to a new adventure. Upon trying to place Bruce into the kindergarden class we learn that he must be 6 before he could go there, so we had him fly back to Albany and spend some time with my parents so he could begin school, NY law allowed him to enter as long as he would be 6 prior to the end of the year.

So with time on her hands, Jeannine thought about becomming an instructor. Again her desire to perform in one way or another came forth and I was able to get her on as a "Junior", learning the steps and instruction technique needed. During our time there we formed, with two other guys, a four person dance group we called. "The 3 Hits and a Miss".

Her most favorite routine that we did for dance gigs was an adajeo dance. A take off on the French dance where the man tosses the woman around and she seems to love it. Except this of course was Jeannine and ain't no man made that can toss her around. She and I began the dance in the usual way, but it turns into a comedy as the other 2 guys get into the act, Jeannine begins to see to it that we are knocking each other around and she stands victorious with us laying on the floor and she declares herself a winner with her hands held high in victory as the last sound of the song ends, of course to the applause of a happy audience ringing in her ears.

© Kitty Roach


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