Tap-dancing retiree busier than ever

“I watched Shirley Temple on TV,” she said, “and I always wanted to do it. We used to strap bottle caps on our shoes when we were kids.”

Pouch was born a half-mile from her current home along Route 22 and has lived in Bethel Township all of her 57 years, 40 of them with her husband, Edward, who proposed to her less than 24 hours after he met her at a nearby chicken-processing plant.

A native of Clarksburg, W.Va., Edward was working here as a government inspector and told the foreman he had just met the woman he would marry.

The foreman, Bill Marinkov, said, “That’s my baby sister, and she’s 17 years old,” the baby sister remembered last month.

“It was all over,” Pouch said, “and it’s all history. My kids love when I tell that story.”

Those kids were both successful athletes. Andrea Flocken, who played basketball, softball and field hockey, graduated from Northern Lebanon High School in 1980 and is now director of curriculum and instruction for Pine Grove Area School District. Eddie graduated in 1982 and was a junior world champion power lifter. He now lives in Fairfax, Va., and is director of security for defense contractor Northrup Grumman. Andrea and Eddie are both working toward doctorate degrees.

Flocken’s two sons, Benjamin, 11, and Alexander, 9, play ice hockey; her daughter, Katherine, plays piano, and “she’s our basketball star,” her proud grandmother said.

Pouch has a beauty shop attached to her home but has cut back to just two days of work a week. Like many retired or semiretired people, she finds herself as busy as ever.

“I can’t believe I used to work six days a week,” she said.

Weekly tap classes in Hershey are her favorite activity and, she explained, a great way to keep herself in shape.

“We dance from the time we get there ’til the time we quit,” said Pouch, recalling one recent session that began at 7:15 and didn’t end until 8:50 p.m.

Her friend, Kay Peterman, admires Pouch’s dedication.

“She said, ‘I’m going to do something I always wanted to do,’” Peterman said. “I said, ‘Go for it.’”

“All my life I wanted to tap-dance,” Pouch said. “I was flipping through a magazine and saw an ad on the last page.”

That advertisement was placed by Vicki’s Tap Pups, based in Harrisburg. The outfit bills itself as “America’s Largest Adult Tap Group” and offers classes at the Granada Avenue Gym and Fitness Center in Hershey.

“I told my heart specialist, Dr. (Edward) Collier,” Pouch said of her tapping plans. “He said that is the best thing you can do.”

Her husband was just as supportive.

“He said, ‘I’m going to buy you lessons, shoes, everything you need,’” Pouch said.

Just in case, she takes a nitroglycerin bottle to her lessons.

In January 2006, she, Edward, and their children and grandchildren took a trip to Disney World.

After they landed in Orlando, Fla., “I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong,” Pouch said. “I could not keep up. I called my sister and told her to get on the phone with the cardiologist. I had the nitro with me, and that saved my life.”

When she got back to Lebanon County, she had two stents inserted, then started her tap-dancing career.

She’s one of the younger members of her class, which has an age range from 55 to 67.

Pouch said she is looking forward to a big show on May 18 in which 200 Tap Pups will display their talents at the HACC campus in Harrisburg. Pouch’s husband and children will get to see her tapping for the first time.

“I’m not going to stop dancing,” Pouch said. “I absolutely love it. ... It’s such a great experience. I’m really looking forward to the show.”