The secret is out about why Neil Sheinin and Cheryl Scott Sheinin hit it off so well.

They are compatible bowling stars.

Looking through some of the BJ Sidebars company newsletters that Mike Williams provided copies of for me, in 1996, the year that I retired from the BJ, there they were.

Former BJ copy boy who wound up in the BJ mailroom Neil had high score handicap for a 3-game series with 685. Strike!

Cheryl, Finance retiree after 45 years in that department, had high series raw score with a 463. Strlke!

Strike up the band!

Cheryl was no slouch in the BJ Ladies Golf League either.

Neil bowled Cheryl over the first time she saw him. I’ll let Cheryl tell the story:

“We met at the Beacon. I worked the Public Service counter when it was on the 2nd floor. This handsome guy got off the elevator from the 3rd floor and came up to me to buy stamps. I looked at him, leaned over to open the drawer to get the stamps and fell off the stool. Great first impression.

“I found he was a copy runner in editorial and the chase was on. lol.

“He left the BJ to work in Pennsylvania for Brunswick Bowling for a couple of years. When he returned to Akron he worked at Fairlawn Lanes and that is where our BJ ladies bowling team bowled.

“We caught up again there and the dating began. We got married in 1979.

“He was a great bowler and was in a couple of leagues. I just bowled for the BJ ladies team. We last bowled in a league in mid-1990s. We both always bowled in the Beacon Journal company-wide challenge each year.

“We have no children or grandchildren. We have had 4 dogs in our years and Mia is our current girl!”

No wonder they did so well in BJ bowling. It comes as natural as breathing if you’re a Sheinin!

They were married 40 years as of last September. That’s a lot of bowling pins sprawling into the air!

Give Neil a hip-hip-hooray for figuring out how to save money. He married Cheryl on her birthday. One present for birthday and wedding anniversary combined. Leaves more money to spare (get it?) for their other activities.

No wonder Cheryl is such a good Scout about it. She was in the Girl Scouts as a child.

They do more than park themselves together in bowling alleys. Neil and Cheryl have spent some serious fun time in national parks like Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota (with the 4 Presidents … not a barbershop quartet), Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota, Devils Tower in Wyoming and Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

Cheryl is a Garfield High graduate. Neil is a baseball aficionado. He threw out the first pitch at a 2012 Akron Aeros baseball game (they are the RubberDucks now, but still play minor league ball in Canal Park). In two decades he made his way to 350 baseball stadia, mostly in minor league parks.

Here’s a striking trivia about Cheryl: She has had her dental work done forever only by Barstans: Father, dad’s son and then dad’s other son.

Cheryl is a remarkably constant friend to have, too. When former BJ security guard Anna Nitz passed away, Cheryl was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2012 for the spreading of Anna’s ashes into the Atlantic Ocean area Anna loved so much.

Anna’s husband, Bill Nitz, was there. Bill’s cousin Albert Nitz was Bill’s chaffeur for the seaside ceremony. Bill passed away in 2019.

Anna began with the Pinkertons for 42 years, starting in 1968, and migrated to spending much of her life greeting visitors to 44 E. Exchange Street.

Barb Heller of accounting had high score handicap 3-game series of 629.

Ross Rizzo of the Mailroom had high series raw score of 602.

Vicki Mitchell of retail advertising had high game among the women, a 201!

Craig Fox, Jr. had high game among the men with a 240.

Also in the photo is Leslie Ansley, assistant Features editor, with her son, Trey.

And Composing’s Bill Ferguson, Circulation retiree (already!) Art Beck, maintenance retiree George Truza and Louise Eicher, formerly of Sanese Services, back to visit her old friends.

The late Bill Ferguson was good at knocking over bowling pins but not so good at keeping track of his teeth. He lost them in the Gulf of Mexico!

Fergie, as everyone called the nice, quiet guy in Composing, was vacationing on Siesta Key where I’ve put my toes in the sand for more nearly 30 years just adjacent to Sarasota, Florida.

Former BJ printer Bill Gorrell bought a string of apartments just across the street from the Siesta Key beach and BJ printers and newsroom folks popped in there from time to time to enjoy a sunny break from Ohio’s nasty weather.

Fergie was there with another BJ printer, Lloyd Bigelow. When Fergie came out of the shallow, clear Gulf of Mexico water, his lower dental plate stayed behind. Maybe a wave slapped them out. Who knows?

Barb Heller was at the 2016 BJ reunion party at Papa Joe’s Restaurant where Akron-Peninsula Road meets Portage Trail Extension in the Merriman Valley. So were Neil and Cheryl Sheinin.

Ross Rizzo and Angelo Rizzo both worked at the BJ.