Finding Treasures in Places Unexpected

I was truly blessed yesterday, when visiting a church member in an Assisted Living facility near my house, to meet an old gentleman named "Rudy" (Rudolph).  At first, he appeared sad and lonely, but when we invited him over to our table in the dinner hall, he brightened up immediately!  Not too long after, the story of Rudy began to unfold.  There I sat in the midst of a man with such a wonderful heritage and legacy!  In brief, Rudy is 84 years old, he is Polish but was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. when he was 14 to the Detroit area.  He graduated HS with honors and then went to WSU where he got an engineering degree.  He married his HS sweetheart and they had children (not sure how many, but his daughter apparently followed in his footsteps by graduating 3 years early from HS, and from college by the age of 19).   He worked at Dupont, and was a Christian.  He taught Sunday School for many years, and gave each of us a copy of his compiled and published writings from all those years of teaching!  He truly had an evangelist heart and a desire for all to know his Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ!

This encounter took me back to another "chance" meeting I had at the Nursing Home right next door to my condos a few years back.  I was rollerblading in their parking lot and "Sarah" was sitting on a bench outside, so I sat down next to her and started to talk.  As it turns out, she was Sarah Lonetto.

You may not recognize that name, but Sarah Lonetto (June 9, 1922 – April 24, 2009) played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League between 1947 and 1949.  She was born in Detroit, MI.  As a professional baseball player for the league, Lonetto threw right-handed and batted both right and left-handed.  Her nickname was “Tomato”.  Lonetto started playing amateur ball at around 15 years old.  She was taken to ball games in Fairview with her brothers.  At 24 years old, she began playing for the league.  In 1943 she was approached by Philip Wrigley who she remembers as “really nice.”  Four years later she started playing for the Racine Belles.  The two other teams Lonetto played for were the Muskegan Lassies (in 1948, 1949), with manager Bill Warnbsganss and the Rockford Peaches.  She believes she herself the nickname Tomato from a friend who started calling her that.  Although she thought all the teams she played in were great, Lonetto had a particular fondness for the Racine Belles.  But overall, all the girls were great.  In 1988 she attended an AAGPBL reunion that took place at the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY.

Then came the movie made about them: “A League of Their Own” – Lonetto was pleased with how the movie came out.  They stayed with Penny Marshall and her brother Gary and the girls explained everything their experience to them.

After talking with her, I had to go home and investigate!  Sure enough, I not only found out her history, but was even able to find the yearbook and roster, and printed her a copy.

This only fuels my desire to make sure these old 'treasures" are not forgotten.  There is so much we could learn about people if we would only take the time to talk to them!  

Who did you meet today?  Just a thought....l!