Sandra Cowperthwait Cadwallader
Sandy
& her husband Bill.
Sandra
Cowperthwait vamping on the class
trip
Sandra Cowperthwait Cadwallader
Hi. I'm Sandy Cadwallader, formerly Sandra Jean Cowperthwait. I remember being a rather shy and quiet, skinny (Yes, I remember skinny!), girl with big, round glasses! I played some JV hockey, some high school softball (and got my only 'letter') and was in one scene of The Devine Flora standing behind the couch! I had some wonderful friends and we enjoyed some memorable times together. Four more Cowperthwait kids graduated from LAHS after me—perhaps they were in your sibling's classes: Bill (1957-Media & Ocean City, NJ), Barb Heron (1962-West Chester), Ken (1963-Berwyn), and Bev MacMillan (1967-Lansdowne). Our Mother is 91 and still lives on Windermere Ave. in Lansdowne.
After exchanging Christmas cards for many years with the Romano's, I decided (on one of my many visits from Lenhartsville to Lansdowne) to stop and visit Frank and Margaret (Snyder) in West Chester. We spent a couple of hours reminiscing and even discussed having a 'mini-reunion'. Sadly, only months after my visit, Margaret passed away. Because of that visit to Maggie and Frank, I was able to renew friendships with many of my former girlfriends.
After graduation in June 1956, I met Bill (who was to become my husband) at my very first job. As he strolled through the office, my heart went 'pitter-patter'. Three years later we married in August and lived with his parents in Havertown. 'Uncle Sam' sent a letter, and Bill decided to join the USAF. On 1/31/60, my Dad helped me drive our Buick, pulling a U-haul trailer loaded with all of our wedding gifts, to Illinois. Bill met us at the train station in Chicago, and we drove in snowy, zero-degree weather to his training school--Chanute AFB, Illinois, leaving Dad to somehow get to Lakehurst Naval Station to visit my brother Bill. (We have a LOT of 'Bill's' in our family.) We bought a 38'x8' trailer (luckily we were much skinnier then!). After three months of winter finishing 'school' in Illinois, Bill chose to go to Pease AFB (and B-52's) in Portsmouth, NH. He drove that trailer right through Manhattan and up Broadway at 3 AM in the morning. I got a job as a secretary in a bank, and we spent 3˝ years in NH. We bought a larger trailer and enjoyed the delicious seafood, gorgeous mountains and coastline, and making new friends.
Bill was discharged October 1964, and we decided to move to Lenhartsville, PA, in Berks County to a 45-acre farm with a small house. We moved in, added on, and then rented it out after we built a new home in 1972. We lived there until 2001 when we moved to Florida. I had worked as a secretary until we adopted our daughter Holly in 1966. Again in 1968 we adopted our son Bill (of course!). I taught Sunday school for about eight years and was a summer Bible school coordinator. From those experiences, I learned that it was a good thing that I became a secretary and not a teacher! I was able to be a stay-at-home Mom until 1974, when I started working at the Kutztown National Bank as a Customer Service Representative. The country is a great place to have a dog! Over the years we kept large dogs— collies, Irish setters, and two beautiful St. Bernard's. The kids enjoyed after-school activities such as sports, band, plays, and summer baseball leagues. Of course, I was the chauffer. Bill worked in management a few years at W.R. Grace Co. in Reading. In 1974 (remember that awful recession?) he went into business for himself doing electrical and remodeling work. Hmmmm, bad year to start that! He was hired as a Maintenance Mechanic (for 25 yrs) at Stroh Brewery near Allentown. My bank job came to an end after two bank mergers in nine years. I needed to de-stress! So in 1983 I selfishly enjoyed two years of 'retirement' and did what I always wanted to do--watercolor lessons, piano lessons (well, I tried!), and I tried a huge vegetable garden--not my thing!
I missed being 'organized' and I missed being around 'people'. In 1985 I started working at Kutztown University as a secretary--staying 15 years. Loved my job there! Our daughter received a music scholarship to Temple University. She changed her major (sound familiar?), and transferred to West Chester U. Her sophomore year brought her to Kutztown U. (no choice--I worked there, received free tuition, and she could live at home!). She went on for her Master's and Ed.D at Temple U. She's married and living in Shawnee-on-Delaware. Our son had planned to attend Lincoln Technical School in Allentown after graduation, but a severe auto accident put him out of commission for about six months. He recovered, changed his 'major' and decided to build 'pole barns'. In 2001 he moved into our former home in Lenhartsville with his five children, ages 3-12. He still builds pole barns and owns an automotive shop that he hopes to open full time in 2006.
Bill and I have lived in Florida for four years and we love the warm weather, the BIG sky, and our wonderful community of new friends (BUT, not those hurricanes!). We had looked forward to learning to golf, but unfortunately these past years have endowed us both with bad knees! Bill keeps himself occupied by working full time as a Maintenance Mechanic at Disney's MGM Studios on the Tower of Terror. He says it's the easiest job he's ever had. Some of the things I do now are water-walking and water aerobics, clubhouse activities/cards/games, secretary for our community 'Benefit's Association', library volunteer, craft show volunteer (that's a BIG word here), etc., and enjoy outings with our 'Red Hat' ladies group.
Along with life's highlights of love, family and friends, great joy and adventure, along with the sadness and grief that follows loss, we're most grateful that our lives have been so richly blessed! And, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone after fifty long and interesting years!