Retired Bentworth coach turns to dancing. singing
Historians, especially military historians, easily recall Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s address before a joint session of Congress in 1951 and are quick to quote one of the general’s famous lines: “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
But what happens to a retired teacher and golf and basketball coach? And forget the “he doesn’t have any time for anything, he’s retired…” line.
Simple answer: with no musical training and with absolutely no knowledge of the Croatian language, if you are retired Bentworth Industrial Arts teacher and golf and girls basketball coach Randy Stevenson, you join the St. George Lodge No. 354 Adult Tamburitzans in Cokeburg. Follow that introduction by drinking wine in a café in Croatia, where you cannot speak a word of Croatian and regular patrons speak no English!
Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
Stevenson retired from Bentworth School District in 2008 after 36 years in the classroom as a Drafting instructor in the Industrial Arts Department, and served as the school’s golf coach for 40 seasons and girls basketball coach for 19. But his life in retirement has added new and fascinating experiences to his resume.
For 20 years Stevenson, originally from Newell and a Frazier High School grad, escorted his wife, Teddi — they will celebrate their 23d wedding anniversary in June — to weekly adult Tamburitzan rehearsals at the lodge, where, as Teddi played the prim, he would socialize with other members. When it was time for Croatian social events, Stevenson was by Teddi’s side, albeit paying a standard admission fee.
“I was always at various functions, meeting Croatians from other cities and Canada,” he laughed, “and even though I could not and still do not speak Croatian, language was never a barrier.”
Finally, the 64,000 dinar (the traditional currency denomination in Croatia, changed, however, to the kuna in 1994) question arose: “Randy, why don’t you join the group and eliminate any admission fee?”
Join the lodge he did, but when he was asked to sing with the adult Tamburitzan group, he was more apprehensive than reluctant at first, said Marlene Luketich-Kochis, Director of the Adult Ensemble since 1985 and Musical Director/Choreographer of the Junior Tamburitzans since 1983.
“Since Randy was at rehearsals every week, we finally convinced him that he should start singing with us,” Luketich-Kochis added. “One day he sat down to sing and he has been with us ever since, singing with us every Tuesday night. He was a little apprehensive about pronouncing words in Croatian, but he does a great job with the Croatian language even though he is not Croatian.”
If a song presents pronunciation issues for any members, Luketich-Kochis does the ‘repeat after me’ lesson until everything is correct. “Randy is a good singer and fits in perfectly with the group. As a retired teacher and coach, he is serious about his contribution and performances and he enjoys being on stage with St. George,” she continued.
Stevenson, 65, made his concert debut with the group in February, 2015, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Makes perfect sense: no background and not able to speak the language, let alone sing Croatian songs, so why not?
“I began to learn the songs, slowly, very slowly,” he said, chuckling. “For 20 years I had always heard the group sing and the songs were obviously familiar to me. I was introduced to the songs phonetically and still learn that way. I sing with the group, but still don’t know want I’m singing, and I have a great time at rehearsals and other functions.” Stevenson, as other males in the group, wears a white tuxedo shirt, black pants, and man’s ethnic vest typical of what one would find in Croatia.
Stevenson, however, has adapted to the language, especially with common greetings and phrases, which he used extensively when he visited Croatia with the Tamburitzans in 2013, his first trip to the Balkan nation. In Croatia some 18 days, he visited Croatia’s capital, Zagreb, plus other notable sites of Plitvice, Karlovac, Ogulin, Osijek, Vukovar, and Opatija.
“I was impressed by everything I saw and found,” Stevenson raved. “We visited churches and other landmarks over a thousand years old, and every city boasted of market places with fresh foods on a daily basis. When we would get off our tour bus, townspeople were waiting with trays of meats, cheeses, and fruits. And plenty to drink, including the obligatory native beverage, sljivovica (slivovitz), a potent plum brandy.”
Traveling throughout the nation, Stevenson and his fellow Tamburitzans also saw signs of the 1990’s ethnic wars, with a lack of funds for repairs still evident two decades later.
“I was thoroughly impressed with the country, culture, people, and customs,” he noted, adding that he found a vast difference compared to lifestyles in the U.S. “They treated us like royalty and could not give us enough to eat and drink, but strangely there was never any ice to make the drinks cold.”
Helping to make his visit more memorable, Stevenson, who earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at California State College, now California University of Pennsylvania, is quick to recall an unforgettable incident, one which illustrates the mingling of cultures.
In Ogulin, which happened to have been the birthplace of one of the adult members of the group, the gentleman’s brother, who still resides in the town, motioned for Stevenson follow him to a local cafe. Not to be cast as an unfriendly visitor, Stevenson followed, thinking the brother and group member would follow. He was wrong, but Stevenson made his way to the café, where the patrons refused to permit their guest to pay for any beverages.
“Still,” Stevenson said with a hearty laugh, “the Croatian fellow and his friends talked to me — in Croatian, and I spoke to them — in English, and no one understood the other. We were watching a soccer match on TV and everyone pointed to the action like we understood each other.”