Janice Reeder and her husband taught dance at HCC and around the country
Editor’s note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail runs “A Life Remembered.” Each story in this continuing series takes a look back — through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others — at a member of the community who died recently. Today’s “A Life Remembered” is about Janice Reeder, who died March 7 at the age of 91. Reeder’s obituary was published online in The Herald-Mail on March 12.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Janice and Ted Reeder introduced some Washington County residents to the art of dancing, and Ted remembers his wife's "gorgeous" presence on the floor.
It was a time when various forms of dancing were popular in the Hagerstown area, and the couple taught it at their Hagerstown-area home as well as throughout the country during festivals they attended.
Janice was born on Oct. 25, 1930, in Hagerstown and grew up in the city's West End. Ted said he believes she lived there her entire life until they were married.
The two attended Hagerstown High School together, although Ted said he's not sure they ever spoke to each other then. Ted grew up in the Fairplay and Leitersburg areas, and the 91-year-old Hagerstown man was six months older than Janice.
"I was kind of a country boy, working on farms in the summer, picking peaches, apples and strawberries," he said.
After they graduated in 1949, Janice went to work for Potomac Edison power company and later at C&P Telephone Co.
The blind date
Ted entered the U.S. Air Force after high school, specializing in electronics. He was shipped to Germany and later ended up in Tripoli, Libya, for two years. There was a U.S. Air Force base there, and Ted had a supervisory job that involved maintaining electronic operations.
Upon returning home, a friend of Ted's arranged a blind date with Janice for him in 1952.
"And that was it. I never went out with anyone else again," he said. They were married six months later.
Looking back, Ted said he considered their beginning as love at first sight. In their nearly 69 years of marriage, they did everything together.
Founding Electronic Repair Co.
They found success in business, first in the mid-1950s with an electronics repair shop they operated on Summit Avenue near The Herald-Mail building. The couple's Electronic Repair Co. specialized in service such as television repair when the sets relied on electronic tubes for operation. They also did radio repair, including for local fire departments, Ted said.
Shifts in technology forced the couple to evolve.
"Once TVs became solid state, they didn't break down like they used to," Ted recalled.
And so they opened a rental store on West Washington Street.
Golden West Video leased all sorts of appliances and TVs. They eventually leased VCRs, Nintendo consoles, furniture and other items.
'Too nice' to be in rentals
It was a rent-to-own store, which Ted said was a tough venture, although they were successful at it. Rent-to-own meant there were people who tried to take advantage of the Reeders from time to time, he said.
"I was really too nice to be in that business," he said. They sold the store in 1992.
They were also involved in running a gas station on Baltimore Street for a time.
Janice's love of dance extended at least as far back as high school. It would take Ted some time to warm up to it.
He said friends were trying to talk him into trying square dancing.
"I fought it like crazy, I didn't want to do that," he said.
Remembering Vaughn Baker: Vaughn Baker was 'an institution' in Washington County government
More Life Remembered: Emerick credited for conducting thousands of funerals, weddings during his time at pulpit
More: Joe Robeson was a tough athlete and educator who endeared himself to students and staff
All that changed when he gave it a try with Janice. He came to love the style, which involves four dancers facing each other in a square. The action comes when movements and steps are shouted by a caller.
Square dancing 'pretty big' in Hagerstown
They danced every week in gatherings hosted by different groups.
"Square dancing was pretty big in Hagerstown at that time. There were five or six square dancing clubs," he said.
The couple began choreographing dance numbers and offering dance classes. At one of their houses off Frederick Street in an area Ted referred to as "Funkstown Hill," they built an addition where they taught.
"That's how much we were into it," he said.
They also came to love round dancing, which is often associated with square dancing, but is a different style, according to Ted.
Compared to groups of dancers moving in a unit, round dancing is solely for couples and often involves moving counter-clockwise in a circle, he said. The dances often broke into waltzes, the cha-cha and the foxtrot.
Teaching at Hagerstown Community College
The Reeders' love of dancing led them to festivals around the country, and they taught various types of ballroom dance at Hagerstown Community College up until about eight years ago, according to Janice's obituary.
Ted jokingly recalled the many times when people would lean over to him and tell him that Janice made him look good on the dance floor.
"She was gorgeous and she was a gorgeous dancer," Ted said. "I miss her greatly. She's still sort of with me. Sixty-nine years, that's a long time to be married," he said.
The couple also lived in the Hancock area after buying 135 acres there. They built a summer home on the property and eventually lived there full time. They had three children, Mark, Theodore and Melanie. Their granddaughter, Lauren Malatz of Hagerstown, fondly remembered times spent with her grandparents.
Lauren said she often spent weekends with them in Hancock, and her grandmother was always welcoming with food and her sweet nature. Lauren, now a registered nurse, often brought along friends to stay there, too.
"I was lucky to have her, that's for sure," she said.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown couple taught dance in county in 1960s and 1970s
