Bath Grapevine

By Jen Towell

Tom Manera of Richfield was traveling south on Southern Road on Feb. 8 when he came upon a startling scene. A car was on the side of the road with a large portion of the front right fender torn off and a utility pole splintered in half.

About two miles down the road, Cheryl Toth Levanduski of Bath was waiting for her mom, Charlotte Toth (who lives in Parma but lived in Bath for nine years), to arrive for their weekly visit to the cemetery when she got a frantic phone call from her mother saying she was in a horrific accident. She said a man had helped her and she was sitting with him in his car. That was when the phone died.

Levanduski envisioned a horrible scene, jumped in her car and started driving toward Southern Road in search of her mom. She saw her car on the side of the road in a ditch, looked up and saw her mom in her friend Tom’s car.

As Levanduski put it, “Tom was her angel on earth to pull her out.” He brought Toth into his warm car, where he called the police and ambulance. He retrieved her rosary from the back seat, along with a wreath she was taking to the cemetery.

Manera and his wife, Maria, had stopped to help a stranger, not realizing it was their long-time friend’s mother. Toth, who hit a patch of black ice, had no injuries other than a bruised leg and small burn on her hand from the deployed airbag.

Toth makes the same drive from Parma to Bath each week to visit the gravesite of her late husband (Levanduski’s father), who passed away late in 2018. The Feb. 8 visit was especially meaningful, because he was born on Feb. 8, 1937, and it would have been his 82nd birthday. Levanduski said she felt like her dad was watching her mom from heaven and sent Manera to be her angel on Earth.

Levanduski is married to Joe, and they have two children, Matt, 15, and Emily, 13, who attend University School and Old Trail School, respectively.

Randal A. Lowry & Associates was recognized by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Lawyers Best Law Firms for Family Law for 2019. The firm has received the honor every year since 2010. It specializes in divorce, custody, dissolutions, pre-nuptial agreements and post-decree matters. The firm consists of four lawyers: Randal Lowry, Marisa Lowry Fatica, Mora Lowry and Adam Morris.

The Ronald McDonald House Akron named Sharri Roper of Bath as a new member of its board of trustees. The organization has been serving the community for over 30 years since opening its doors in January 1985. Its mission is to enrich lives through comfort, care and supportive services for families with loved ones being treated at Akron Children’s Hospital and local medical facilities. Ninety-eight percent of the operating budget comes from private donors and fundraising efforts.

Empower Sports, a Cleveland organization, was founded with the belief that no athlete should be left on the sidelines, regardless of ability, age or gender. Tom Heines founded the program and serves as executive director, working alongside Jake Jackson, program director. Since 2012, the organization has evolved to include softball, soccer, fitness classes and basketball. It welcomes all interested athletes with the mindset of tailoring the program to meet players at their needs.

The organization hosted its All-Star Basketball Game at St. Ignatius High School on Feb. 1 and 2. Local players Jack Ray and Joey Towell of Bath joined in the competitive game and enjoyed a photo session and donut party. For information on becoming a participant or volunteer, visit empowersports.org.

The Revere Council of PTAs Special Needs Committee, chaired by Lara Chandurkar and Jennifer Towell, coordinated a week of activities for the Revere Local School District with the support of Kids 4 Kids, the group that started Disability Awareness Week at Revere. This year’s theme was “Rock What You Got,” and the week included a lunch delivery to all paraprofessionals and nurses in the district on Paraprofessional and Medical Appreciation Day.

Betsy Riley and Nicole Spoonster brought their dogs that work on the Doggie Brigade for Akron Children’s Hospital into Richfield Elementary and Revere High School. On Wednesday, everyone who purchased “Rock What You Got” shirts wore them to school. On the last day of the week, the committee brought in speaker Rob Snow, who gave a powerful talk about disability awareness and being kind to each other to Bath Elementary and Revere Middle School students.

The committee donated a children’s book titled “Rock What You Got” to the Richfield Elementary and Bath Elementary libraries and a “Rock What You Got” T-shirt to Superintendent Matt Montgomery.

Next, the committee is purchasing adaptive and flexible seating for Revere Middle School, funded in part through a Bath Volunteers for Service grant and fundraising throughout the year. The spring fundraiser will be a Malley’s chocolate sale.

The following students made the dean’s list: Sydney Huckabee, Assumption College; Eddie Schwertner, Kelly Schikowski, Sam Sustersic, Travis Altman, Baldwin Wallace University.

I’m excited to learn about your exciting news and good deeds in 2019. Keep sending notes and emails about great things going on in Bath to jtowell@scriptype.com.