April 2017: Acts of Kindness featuring Dominick Longhi
Dom and his wife Joan Longhi
Dom sent me a few names of people to contact so I picked up the phone to thank him and asked him about his days at Villanova; why did he give and what he has done since graduating. Here's his story:
"I really feel for these kids. I had an AAR Card which let you into the stadium, but I never saw any games because I had to work all the time. But there was no where to get some help. It wasn’t too bad though because we were pretty much all in the same boat. We commuted everyday and the “day hoppers” went to the Pie Shop during open periods and played cards." (The Pie Shop was not a pizzeria as I imagined in my head. Apparently it was a room in the basement of the Commerce & Finance Building which served as the cafeteria in Bartley Hall. It had hard bench and tables and no pizza at all. Instead there were a few vending machines.) Dom told me he could still remember hearing Mack the Knife playing and how he lost a few bucks playing the card game Pinochle. He also remembered how the Nursing School had just begun in 1957. (Funny how everyone remembers those nurses.) He told me he can’t believe that there are now more woman attending college than men!
Dom graduated with a degree in Industrial Administration and immediately married his high school sweetheart. They met when he was 16 years old on a triple date attending the Pumpkin Prom at West Catholic High School. He entered the Marine Corps, but didn’t see any action. When he returned he began work at Oscar Meyer in the Credit Department. While working at Oscar Meyer he met a young girl who the guys started to talk about. Dom explained, the word was out that his girl was dating Bobby Rydell the singer who made Mack the Knife a top hit of the day! Of course Jerry Blavat spinning his records helped all the local talent like Connie Francis and Bobbie Darin, but in order to really make someone a star you had to have sex appeal. Bobby Rydell had it and his promoter wanted every girl in America to think they might be Mrs. Rydell so his true sweet heart had to keep her day job working at Oscar Meyer. There is a happy ending. Dom told me they did marry eventually! This was a fun place to work, but they must have had a tremendous training program because Dom learned the industry and started his own credit organization. He’s now been in business for 43 years! And 3 of his 4 children have followed in his footsteps. Dom is also he proud father 9 grandchildren!
