Oldtimers remember Sharon Shreve being addressed as Farkle in the BJ newsroom.

Frequent forays found fast familiar foundation for Farkle fabric featuring famously funny fury finally firmly flowery floated fomented flavors, to resurrect the “Laugh-In” dialogue Farkle technique with the parents whose children were all redheads, but not the mom and dad.

When I asked Farkle herself – Sharon Shreve, long-time clerk/secretary in the BJ newsroom, she replied:

“Jerry VanSickle (who worked in the BJ’s APS-4 room when computers came into Ol’ Blue Walls) started because of Laugh-In's Farkle family. Freckles, big smiles, red hair. The composing department liked my 'walking away' view, and I became Fanny Farkle, which I railed against.

“I think one of the pressroom guys changed it to Sparkle Farkle (the character played by Jo Anne Worley, later by Barbara Sharma and finally by Patti Deutsch). To this day, Paul and I could be anywhere and we'll hear 'hey Farkle!' It amazes Paul.

“The latest was (the late) Carol Camp. He came to Rockynol while my mom was there. He had Alzheimer's. Didn't remember me as Sharon, but totally as Farkle.

“Howard Wood, one of the pressroom electricians, had been there, too, and he told everybody there about Farkle.

“Zitrin always writes 'Hey Fark' in our correspondence. Won't go away . . . Have accepted it.”

The point of the Farkle Family sketches was to get in as much alliteration as possible, usually on the letter F, and that the running joke was all the kids looked and motioned exactly like their “faithful and fond neighbor” Ferd Burfel (Dick Martin).

Everyone except Frank and Fanny Farkle, the parents played by Dan Rowen and Joanne Worley, wore a bright red wig, chunky black glasses and big dark face freckles. Ferd would always comment “That's a fine looking family you got there, Fred,” then he'd grab his own shoulder and so would every single Farkle kid.

Guest stars would appear in the sketches as relatives or visitors, and every one of them had children that also looked exactly like Ferd.

The children included Sparkle Farkle, played by Goldie Hawn. The Farkles also had the twins, Simon and Gar Farkle (a pun on singers Simon and Garfunkel). Despite being identical twins, they were played by actresses of different races, Pamela Rodgers and Teresa Graves. There also were skits where the identical twins, Sparkle and Charcoal Farkle, were played by Goldie Hawn and Teresa Graves. One daughter, Flicker Farkle (played by Ruth Buzzi), always had a single word of dialogue: "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

The dialogue was tied to tongue-twisters with a string of F-words, but never the F-word so prominent on cable TV today.

140 episodes of “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” aired from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on NBC.

And Sharon Shreve has been stuck with Farkle for forty freaking years.  

Thank goodness Sharon didn’t marry a guy whose name started with F or Farkle. Her husband since 1985 has been Paul Lorentzen. They live in Akron. Sharon is a 1969 Buchtel High graduate who managed Prostate Cancer Support and Education Group in Akron.

The word “farkle” goes back a way.

The word is generally accepted to mean a combination of "function" and "sparkle", hence, farkle.

Motorcycle enthusiasts install accessories, called farkles, to customize their machine.

One source attributes the term to Pete Wells, the organizer of a 1997 Honda ST1100 rally. 

The term is well known in the sport touring community.

An enthusiast may be in the process of "farkling". The completed motorcycle would be all "farkled up". Radar detectors, Global Positioning System receivers, heated grips, and satellite radios are some of those farkles. Other accessories could be aftermarket seats, side and/or top cases or bar risers, which make the motorcycle more suitable for long miles.

But at Ol’ Blue Walls, Farkle meant Sharon Shreve. Well, she did function and sparkle at 44 E. Exchange Street.