Vintage Lady's 80th Birthday

Here is what was supposed to happen … we were supposed to be having a big celebration in honor of Shelly, the Vintage Lady of the SPN family and my mother, turning 80.

Then 2020 happened.

So here we are instead, gathering virtually to share birthday wishes in a different format, one that doesn’t require flying, driving or even a face mask. And while it’s not quite the same thing, the sentiments here are as heartfelt as in person.

Rochelle Kowalsky was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, her world debut coinciding with that of Bugs Bunny. (No, really … you can look that one up.) Neil Diamond had the honor of being a member of her high school graduating class. Neil Sedaka lived upstairs.

She spent a considerable amount of time in the Village, particularly a club called The Bitter End. It was here she spent the time with the likes of Peter Paul & Mary, the Mamas and the Papas, Judy Collins and a comedian named Bill Cosby (pre-prison).

But eventually she, like so many others, followed the sirens call to the West Coast and she settled in Los Angeles. Here she worked inside the iconic Capitol Records, met and married my father, Steve, and had both me and my sister.

Fate (and mandatory busing) brought the family to the Phoenix area in the mid-70s and she has been here ever since, first in Mesa and now in Sun City.

PTA President. Brownies/Girl Scout leader. Webelos leader. Little League Mom. Band Mom. Uniform Creature. Terror of the Mesa School’s superintendent’s office. Gift shop manager. Cancer survivor.

Now, there clearly is much more to the story but, you know, recapping 80 years is a rather exhausting task. So let’s skip ahead to the part where she is mother to two, grandmother to five and great-grandmother to one.