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Uniontown musician and businesswoman remembered

By Frances Borsodi Zajac fzajac@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Lorraine Felix Bulotta touched the lives of many people.

The Uniontown woman, who died April 7 at age 99, performed in her youth as a drummer with a family band and then started her own, also operating several shops that included a dairy bar, alterations and bridal stores.

A former volunteer for Uniontown Hospital, Bulotta was a lifetime member of the Sons of Italy and a faithful parishioner of St. Therese Roman Catholic Church where she belonged to its Altar Society.

Family was always important to Bulotta, with whom she shared her love of music and cooking.

“She had a pretty amazing life,” said her daughter Cathy Janco of Belle Vernon.

Born Nov. 30, 1918 in Shoaf to the late John and Rose Felix, Bulotta attended Georges Township High School before beginning work at the Berkowitz Shirt Factory.

“Her first job was sewing buttons on shirts,” said Janco.

Bulotta liked sewing and became an excellent seamstress but she was also passionate about music and dancing, an enthusiasm that would lead to her work as a professional drummer for the family band, the Felix Sisters Orchestra, and later her own band called the Rhythm Ramblers.

“They played weddings and round and square dances,” said Janco. “Her dad wanted her to play guitar but she wanted to play the drums.”

The family band started around 1940 and included Lorraine and her sisters Marlene, Kathryn and Josephine as well as their brother Guy, who would set up the equipment. Janco noted it would be a surprise to people to see Bulotta come out to play the drums.

“Back then, It was unheard of for a woman to be a drummer,” said Janco.

After the family band, Bulotta started her own called Rhythm Ramblers, playing weddings and dances in the 1940s and ’50s. Janco said her mother played at the popular Shady Grove Park in Lemont Furnace.

“She loved music and loved dancing,” said Janco. “She would never miss the Italian Festival and never miss an opportunity to dance. She designed her own outfits for the Italian Festival and they would always be trimmed in red, white and green.”

“She was a good drummer,” said Dave Dahl of Hopwood, who was friends with Bulotta’s brother.

Dahl plays the keyboard and sings at area personal care homes, including Mount Macrina Manor where Bulotta was residing when she died.

“She was always in the front row and really enjoyed the music,” Dahl noted.

Bulotta began working as a seamstress for Cantalamessa dry cleaning in Uniontown in 1944 and opened a sewing shop on Beeson Boulevard in 1946 called Lorraine’s Alterations.

In 1954, Bulotta met and married her husband, the late Donald Bulotta, who worked on the P&LE Railroad and then took a job as an automotive painter with Bryson Motors in Uniontown. The couple raised two daughters, Janco and her sister Donna Helinsky. Janco said her father died 25 years ago. At the time of her death, Bulotta had six grandsons and six great-grandchildren.

Bulotta continued working while married, opening Lorraine’s Dairy Bar and Pizza in 1963. She kept working as a seamstress, doing alterations out of her home, and also as a seamstress for Kart’s clothing store.

“Then she went into wedding gown sales and fittings. She would sell the gowns and fit the brides. She loved that — loved to tear things apart and put them back together and they always fit perfectly,” said Janco, who noted Bulotta also took care of the mother of the bride and bridesmaids.

Many times, the couples invited Bulotta to their wedding and she would come with a needle and thread.

“If a button came loose, she was there,” said Janco. “And she made sure all the guys’ boutonnieres were pinned on right. She dearly loved weddings.”

Bulotta also made a set of uniforms for the Laurel Highlands cheerleaders and sewed for years for the Uniontown police.

“After they got a promotion, they would receive a new patch and it needed to be sewn on their jacket and shirts,” said Janco, noting her mother would also tailor uniforms for the officers. “She adored the police.”

Janco talked about a photo her mother had taken of the police and later donated to them.

“She was big into pictures. She collected pictures from the ’20s and ’30s and then she started taking her own in the’40s and putting albums together,” said Janco. “Every event she went to, she took a camera.”

While she talked about retiring, Bulotta always seemed to keep busy, taking in sewing when someone came with a request.

She was the second-oldest member of the Sons of Italy with Janco saying her mother used to work a booth at the Italian Festival and would always participate in dancing.

Bulotta moved to Belle Vernon several years ago to be near Janco, a move her daughter said Bulotta would only make after being reassured she could still get the Herald-Standard. Bulotta was a faithful reader and enjoyed catching up on the news, forgoing small talk whenever Janco brought her the paper.

Bulotta’s last years were at Mount Macrina Manor in North Union Township where Janco said her mother received excellent care, and which is part of Mount St. Macrina where the Bulotta family enjoyed attending the annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Perpetual Help every Labor Day, offered by the Byzantine Catholic Sisters of St. Basil.

“She had a remarkable life and she was passionate about everything she did. Family was important to her. She was an awesome grandmother and great-grandmother. She took part in everything,” said Janco, noting, “She never missed a beat.”

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