Keith Groller
December 8, 2009
E-mail Print Share Text Size Harriet Lindenmoyer could be tough on yours truly.
''Well, Mr. Groller, we haven't seen you lately.''
''Well, Mr. Groller, I see you picked against us again.''
''Mr. Groller, why don't you like Northampton? What would your grandmother think?''
Even when I tried to avoid Harriet, she'd find me and give me a scolding.
I could take it from Harriet because I knew she wasn't one of those fly-by-night high school sports fans.
Sadly, most fans today are actually parents and other relatives who only care about the team while their family members are playing.
After their son, daughter, niece, nephew or grandchild graduates, they're seldom seen or heard from again.
And, in many cases, that's a good thing.
But Harriet's love for Northampton never graduated. She cared about the Konkrete Kids teams because she cared about the borough.
It was her town, her school, her team.
She was a fixture at Northampton sporting events for 70 years, since her own high school days.
Plus, she gave the community her son, Jim, a beloved, kind-hearted person who has also been a fixture at K-Kids events as a stat person and writer for decades.
Harriet died on Monday morning after a lengthy illness. She was 87.
Attending Northampton football and basketball games won't be the same. As tough as she could be, I will miss that voice.
''Harriet was a part of the Northampton sports scene since the 1930s,'' said Bob Small, a close family friend who often provided transportation for the family
''Her husband, Woody, played basketball in the 1930s and was very involved in the community through the years. He was the school board president at one point in the 1960s.
''Jim was born with cerebral palsy and has been in a wheelchair all of his life, but Harriet and Woody never looked at it like it was a burden. They made sure Jim got out and saw things. They made sure he was with them all of the time. They took him to Europe and all over the country.
''They were a driving force behind Jim and a big reason he's as bright and as knowledgeable as he is,'' Small added.
Throughout my first 20 years at The Morning Call, Harriet, after some heckling, would always ask about my grandmother, Margaret (Apple) Groller, who was a member of Northampton's Class of 1934.
They evidently grew up in the same Northampton neighborhood.
My grandmother died in December 2003.
Now, I can only imagine those two K- Kids getting caught up on the latest happenings and my grandmother asking Harriet as she asked me every Thanksgiving, ''Who won the Catty-Northampton game?''
Keith Groller
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