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PITTSTON — When she was a little girl, Juanita Herrick said, a boy she met at a roller rink gave her a Valentine’s Day present — a bracelet with stones that “looked like diamonds to me.”

But she was only 9 years old, and her mother put a stop to the budding romance. “She was always protective,” Herrick, 78, explained as she and a dozen other women swapped stories about their first romances on Monday afternoon during a Valentine-themed tea at the Pittston Center for Active Adults.

As it turned out, Herrick wasn’t the only person with a protective parent.

Vicki Meckalavage, 81, was a bit older than 9 when her father told a young man, “I will break your legs before you put my daughter on that motorbike.”

And Kate Simyan, 74, was also older when her father objected to her dating an immigrant from Italy. “My dad stood up and grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him out. He said they don’t treat their women good.”

As for Barbara Gelb, 74, of West Pittston, she recalled her dates didn’t just have to pass muster with her family but with her friend Louise.

“In high school, I was very fickle. I had lots of dates,” she said. “I had it. I knew it.”

When she took one special fellow to meet Louise, “He was all polite and gentlemanly with her and said, ‘I hope to see you again’ and she said, ‘I don’t know. Barbara has a new one every weekend.’”

“She made you out to be a tart,” Alyce Allardyce, 68, observed.

“I told her, ‘I really like this guy. I really love this guy. I’m going to marry him,’” Gelb said. “She said, ‘Sure, sure.’”

“When we were married a year,” Gelb continued, “he sent her a card that said, ‘I guess I lasted more than a week.’

“He lasted 52 years,” she concluded with a fond smile.

The Pittston Center for Active Adults hosts a tea time once a month, using fancy china cups that Faye Kacsmar donated, and various members take turn shopping for cookies and candy to serve.

Next month’s theme will be Mardi Gras, and Martha Matthews said she expects people will tell stories.

It remains to be seen whether Mardi Gras stories can top Valentine’s stories.

The women chuckled as Sherry George, 68, of Avoca, recalled a friendship with a neighbor when they were about 5 years old.

“His parents were fussy and didn’t want him to play with mud, so I pushed some under the fence so he could play with us,” George said.

And they nodded with recognition as Martha Matthews, 69, of Dupont, talked about “a 9-month affair” that lasted through sixth grade but did not survive the summer separation. “He lived up on Suscon Road and I was on Everhart Street and that seemed like such a great distance in those days.”

“We used to check each other’s homework,” she said. But when school resumed, “the passion was gone.”

Another relationship was cut short, for Allardyce, when she was in high school and was confronted by her boyfriend’s other girlfriend.

“She approached me and almost beat the (stuffing) out of me,” she said. “He didn’t pick me, so he was an arse.”

“His loss. His loss,” said center director Connie Kokinda.

On a happier note, several women talked about friendships or marriages that lasted for decades.

In Barbara Shock’s case, an 11-year-old boy she noticed at a Valentine’s Day dance — “He was such a good dancer” — and encountered the next week when he rode his bike to the library, was her good friend for the rest of his life.

He became a priest, played the organ at her first wedding and, sadly, died in his early 40s.

Over the years, she said, “When he would call, my husband would tell the kids, ‘Your mother is on the phone with her boyfriend,’ but he was never mad,” she said.

In another tale of a long-lasting relationship, 71-year-old Sharon McAdarra looked back to a time when she was in her early 20s and dancing on a table.

“I was snockered,” she said. “He grabbed my hand, said ‘I think you’ve had enough,’ gave me his arm and walked me home. We’ve been together almost 49 years.”

Vicki Meckalavage laughs as another member of the Pittston Active Adult Center shares a story of her first love on a recent Monday afternoon during a Valentine-themed tea.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL013017teatime1-3.jpg.optimal.jpgVicki Meckalavage laughs as another member of the Pittston Active Adult Center shares a story of her first love on a recent Monday afternoon during a Valentine-themed tea. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

‘One day a month, it’s fun to dress up,’ said Barbara Shock, who sported pearls and a black hat to the tea time event.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL013017teatime2-1.jpg.optimal.jpg‘One day a month, it’s fun to dress up,’ said Barbara Shock, who sported pearls and a black hat to the tea time event. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Tea Time hostess Martha Matthews pours an eggnog tea for Theresa Panunti. Licorice tea and apple spice tea were other flavors available. Next month’s tea-time theme will be Mardi Gras, Matthews said.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL013017teatime3-1.jpg.optimal.jpgTea Time hostess Martha Matthews pours an eggnog tea for Theresa Panunti. Licorice tea and apple spice tea were other flavors available. Next month’s tea-time theme will be Mardi Gras, Matthews said. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

‘I was a flirt,’ Barbara Gelb, of West Pittston, admits as she tells the story of her first love to other ladies during tea time at the Pittston Center for Active Adults.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL013017teatime4-1.jpg.optimal.jpg‘I was a flirt,’ Barbara Gelb, of West Pittston, admits as she tells the story of her first love to other ladies during tea time at the Pittston Center for Active Adults. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
Pittston seniors enjoy monthly tea time

By Mary Therese Biebel

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Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT