Johnny Karp

Dear Loretta - Little Iodine:

There are so many tales to tell that I would be here on this box until doom's day.  I will tell you about what I think and know was the most important thing that happened to me while I was in the derby.

We were skating at the famous 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Ave, Manhattan,NYC.  I received what I believed to be a fan letter with a picture of a very beautiful young lady (which I later found out was sent to me by her Aunt Lou).  The note with the picture said " that she, Lou, lived close by and would love to meet me, and have me meet Kay Sica.  Well as it was meant to be ,I was sitting at a desk in the lobby of the Armory entrance working on making out the payroll for the track setup, as I was also the Construction Manager handling all setups and tear-downs when moving the track from town to town.  So, who comes walking in but Aunt Lou And Kay Sica,who I recognized from the picture that Aunt Lou had sent me.  Kay did not know anything about what Aunt Lou sending me the picture.  They had come to buy tickets for that particular night's game.  Soooo we got to meet each other, and the rest is history.

Our engagement and wedding receptions were held in the famous Fighting Irish 69th Regiment Rainbow Division room.  Happy to say many of the skaters of that time were there.  Now here we are ... Kay,is now in Colorado attending a baby shower for our daughter-in-law,Lisa, our son Jeffrey's wife.  They met Gloria when she was in Colorado.  The baby will be our 15th grandchild, and we thank God praying that all goes well for them.  This baby is due to arrive sometime in November.

There you have it Loretta,52 years later and still rolling on strong.  Still skating now with our children, 5 boys and 3 girls and all grandchildren that are old enough to skate.

You now have what was the most important thing that happened to me while I was a skater.  Sorry to say we lost Aunt Lou, this past July 7th, she was 85.  She was very important to us all and if it wasn't for her there would not be the best thing that happened to me while I was a skater with THE ROLLER DERBY.

No matter how they try it will never be the same as we knew it.