Published in the Baldwin
Press Register
Friday, February 27, 1998
Story by Joni Plomp, Correspondent
Profile
Get to Know ANNE ROMAN
| Birthplace: |
Czechoslovakia |
| Hometown: |
Perdido |
| Family: |
Daughter Marianne and son-in-law Jim Eddins |
| Occupation: |
Receptionist, tour guide at Perdido Vineyards |
| Hobbies: |
Singing in church choirs, line dancing |
|
PERDIDO - After Anne Roman's father
was recruited from Europe to work in the coal mines of eastern
Pennsylvania around 1920, he raised enough money to bring his wife
and two small children to America.
Six years old at the time, Mrs. Roman remembers her first year
at school in her new country.
"I had quite an experience," she said. "They
threw me into the first grade and I studied and learned to read,
add, subtract and you name it."
Soon to be 85 years young in April, this naturalized citizen
still speaks her two native tongues - her mother's Czechoslovakian
and her father's Russian.
"When the war came, the part where I was born became
Czechoslovakia. It was chopped away from Hungary and close to the
Russian border," she said with a chuckle. "I often tell
people 'What does that make me?'"
When this new American turned 14, a new state law allowed the
children of miners to do factory work to help support their
families.
When she was 18, when, along with many of her friends, left
the factory work and headed to New York City to find more
interesting employment. After she married Clarence Roman, the couple
moved to Long Island and reared a son and a daughter.
"He was also from the coal-mining region," she said
of her husband. "The young men, too, took off to look for work
in New York and Brooklyn. He started off in the automobile repair
business and, eventually, he bought them and rented them. He was
always in business for himself. I was fortunate to be able to stay
at home with my two children when they came along."
|
. |
The couple also lived in Port Jervis,
N.Y., for six years, but three years ago, her husband passed away
and Mrs. Roman came to visit her daughter in Baldwin County.
"My son wanted me to move back to Long Island with him and
my daughter wanted me to come down here to live with her and her
husband, who owns Perdido Vineyards," she said. "I came
down and spent the winter here. By March, I was ready to stay."
Mrs. Roman has adjusted to her new Southern lifestyle and
enjoys a circle of friends and activities. Everyday except Sunday,
she lunches with friends at a seniors center and then drives to
Perdido to help her family with the winery business.
"I'm so fortunate that I'm still up and around," she
said with a smile. "I come here and answer the phone or take
care of a customer if they have to make a delivery. When we do the
bottling or the labeling, I pitch in and do some of that. I've
learned a lot about the wine business."
She also attends a line-dancing class, and sings in the choirs
of two different churches. |
