No Strings Attached

Kathleen David's weblog

RIP Candy

Posted By on June 15, 2009

First time I met Candy, she scared the poo out of me. It was early in my time at the bowling alley and Ariel had gotten a ball stuck down the lane in front of the sweep. I was going to use another ball to clear the lane. I was getting ready to throw when I hear “STOP! DON’T YOU DARE DO THAT!” And this gray hair woman, who could probably be a linebacker for the Jets, came thundering towards. She admonished me for trying to take care of the problem and told me in no uncertain terms that I was to go to the front desk for problems like this. I said Yes Ma’am and that seems to appease her wrath.

I found out later from another employee that the woman’s name was Candy and she was a formidable indeed.

Over the years I think she forgave my faux pas. We ended up talking about all kinds of subjects. She was impressed with my ability to talk sports and my knowledge of the entertainment industry. I became her go to on questions about films and television. She taught me about the history of women’s bowling which she knew a lot about. I remember how excited she was that a woman had made the cut for the PBA. How disappointed she was when the WPBA seem to be done and gone and how happy she was when it didn’t. She loved bowling and the Mets.

She did a lot of work with the youth in the area. She worked for the LI junior bowling association and the LI women’s bowling association. She was also a presence on teen night at the bowling alley. Too much close dancing or kanoodling and Candy would put the paddle between the steaming couples and tell them to cool it. No one would try to get away with anything when she was around or if they did, they would find themselves out on the rumps from the bowling alley. Many of the teens were the children of people that Candy had put the paddle between when they were teens so they knew that their parents would have little to no sympathy for their plight. She would have made a perfect nun.

The last time we had a chat, she was tending bar at the bowling alley. I sat in the bar and we talked about the Mets so far, her nieces and nephews, Caroline and kindergarten, Ariel and graduating, and a number of other topics. She was in pain because her foot and knee was bothering her again. I knew that she had health problems and that many of her family had predeceased her. We talked about her concerns and that she was looking forward to a Foxwood casino trip with her bowling buddies in a couple of weeks.

The last time I saw her, she was walking or rather shuffling with a cane and her color was not good. I could see she was in a lot of pain. I asked if she was OK and if I could give her a hand. She thanked me for my concern for her and said she would make it. She told me that if things didn’t improve she was looking at surgery again.

That was about a month ago. I haven’t been to the bowling alley as much as I am during the fall and winter because I have only one league I am in and I haven’t been practicing that much. So I hadn’t seen her but I figured it was because she wasn’t working when I was there.

I found out yesterday that she passed away in the hospital. She was in for a couple of things including her heart, which had some sort of a new problem, and they were going to have to deal with her foot. She didn’t make it as they say.

I will miss her. She was one of a kind. I can see her organizing a bowling league in the great beyond.

I am grateful that I knew Candy.


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