Jean and Bob Boell smile at each other while standing on the porch of the Athenaeum Hotel Aug. 13 where they met more than 55 years ago.
HEIDI WARREN
Contributing Writer
Many years ago, when the Rev. Bob Boell was at a job interview for a Presbyterian church in Corning, New York, they asked how he met his wife, Jean.
“I picked her up in a hotel,” Bob, 86, said, recalling it.
There was dead silence for at least 30 seconds before a fellow Chautauquan on the committee said, “Tell us more.” He got the job.
The Athenaeum was the hotel, and 60 years later, the couple is visibly still happily and deeply in love. “We’ve never grown up,” Jean, 81, said, with a chuckle.
Both Boells spent their childhoods on grounds and had overlapping stints as hotel employees. He worked for six seasons as a bellhop, elevator operator and desk clerk from 1958 to 1963. She worked from 1962 to 1966 in the laundry and the financial office. However, they did not meet until Bob visited in 1966. In the lobby, Jean was working at the front desk.
She was facing the west wall, but Bob got a “good enough glimpse” to seek more information about Jean Polley from a waitress friend. Bob asked Jean out on a few dates. Summer ended. Life moved on.
Two years later, on July 28, 1968, Bob was on vacation from his first church in suburban Philadelphia. As it was her mother’s birthday, Jean’s family was celebrating with a Sunday supper at the Athenaeum’s dining room to celebrate. A meal was $2 per person back then.
Bob was walking past the Smith Memorial Library with his parents and sister. Jean was on her way to visit her uncle; she never made it.
“I saw him and thought, ‘Oh, maybe he got married,’” Jean said.
Bob quickly ditched his family, caught up with Jean and they continued walking to the lake.
“By the end of the week, I had a feeling,” she said. Bob finished her sentence, “This was it.”
They were engaged in early October and married in a simple ceremony, officiated by his father, the Rev. Robert Boell, Dec. 7, 1968, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“I never counseled the newly engaged to get married after such a short period,” Bob said. Jean finished, “You certainly never told them your story!” They both laughed.
“We were both a little older, and Chautauqua was a filter for a whole lot of things we didn’t have to work out,” Bob explained.
He has been on the grounds every year since age 8. In 1948, Bob and his 6-year-old sister were the first children allowed to stay at the Ministers’ Union, now the Ecumenical Community of Chautauqua. Jean has never missed a summer; her maternal grandparents began staying on upper Cookman Avenue in 1910. Her mother and grandparents used to take the train from Pittsburgh and complete the trip via ferry.
Chautauqua has been a constant in their lives. The couple’s best friends are here. For the last 19 years, they have spent the whole season working for the Institution: Bob as an Amphitheater and Hall of Philosophy usher and Jean in the Motet Choir, as a long-time School of Music librarian and, most recently, as an usher. “Music is central to my existence here,”
Jean explained.
The Media, Pennsylvania, pair even have fans. While reminiscing on the hotel porch Thursday, a couple — who knows Bob from Gate One — stopped to chat.
“We just wanted to say ‘hello’ because you’re the best!” she said.
Back in the day, Bob lived upstairs in what is now the Bike Rent with other male employees. Down the stairs was the hotel laundry. As part of his bellhop’s uniform, he donned bright white pants. Handling luggage dirtied them quickly. Little did he know his future wife was washing and pressing it.
“She had her hands in my pockets before I even knew her!” Bob said.
Heidi Greene Warren is a longtime Chautauquan who, in a former life, was a writer for The Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Send suggestions of interesting Chautauquans to feature in a story to:
HeyHeidiGW@gmail.com.
