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where Lynda Rowan with Lawrence Welk
youwere At the age of 20, I was dancing with Lawrence
when you were Welk at the Hollywood Palladium. In May
20? 1966, I had entered a Miss Panorama City contest
sponsored by local businesses in the valley area. I
Somewhere between adolescence and adulthood, we hit our twenties. was selected to be the first Miss Freedom Season
Filled with opportunities, new experiences and life-defining moments, by the Chamber of Commerce of Woodland Hills,
it is a time which varies greatly from person to person. We wanted to California. I went to all the festivities beginning
know: Where were you in your twentieth year? We received an incred- with Flag Day and ending with the parade and
ible range of answers in response to our question, and we are thrilled fireworks on 4th of July.
to share them here with you.
I had begun working at a Universal CIT finance
company just after turning 18, but my home town
paper got confused with the name Universal and
reported me working at Universal Studios - little
did I know in 1966 I would actually be dancing
with Lawrence Welk at the Freedom Season kickoff
party! My parents were big fans of the Welk show
and I was really looking forward to meeting the
Lennon Sisters - Janet was my favorite - but didn’t.
I must confess, I couldn’t slow dance or polka but I
will always remember how gracious and kind Mr.
Welk was to me during the evening’s activities.
LYNDA ROWAN
At 20, my husband and I were stationed in Topeka, Kansas in the
USAF. We had our first son in May and my husband received orders
to go to Vietnam in July. He went to serve his country for a year, leaving
me behind with a new son who was only two months old. As a working
mother, I stayed in Topeka, away from my family, working for the State
of Kansas and raising our new son while my husband was in Vietnam.
Remember, this was a time of no internet, no phone contact, no Skype.
Only letters. Letters “from” Vietnam were scarce, but every day of that
year I would work all day, pick up my son, go home and write my husband
a letter informing him of how our day went. He told me later that those
letters were the only thing that kept him going every day of that year-
long tour. God bless our military and their families!
SHIRLEY CHAPEL
Shirley Chapel
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG APRIL 2016 SUNRAYS | 45
