When Paula Boulette finished high school in East Brookfield, Mass., she was shocked.
“When I was in school, I thought that when I grew up there would be turkey or steak or roast beef on the table every night. Then I found out that you actually had to buy it,” she says.
Her father got on her case: “Paulie, you’ve got to do something.”
Paula loved candlepin bowling (a New England tradition) and got a job managing the local 12-lane candlepin bowling establishment. She managed the leagues, repaired the equipment and bowled every day.
That soon led to a spot on the World Candlepin Pro Tour, traveling around the Northeast and getting paid to do what she loved.
“I made a lot of money and had a lot of fun,” Paula says. The best score she remembers is a 178 in a game where the average is about 150.
In the summer, when the bowling season faded, Paula played fastpitch women’s softball in the Atlantic Seaboard League and across the nation.
“We didn’t get paid for that, so we had to raise our own travel money with raffles and donations,” she says.
One big draw for Paula was that she got to travel and see the United States. “At that time, in the late ’60s and early ’70s, women’s fastpitch was big,” she says. “We’d have 5,000 to 6,000 people at a game.”
Paula was a catcher.
“Catchers didn’t wear equipment like they do now,” she says. “We had a chest protector and a catcher’s mask, but that was it. Shin guards and helmets? Nothing like that.”
Paula did get beaned a few times.
“But you know, I loved it,” she says. “In fact, those were the very best days of my life.”
One of the best moments came in 1972 at the Women’s National ASA Softball Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., where Paula’s team finished fifth in the nation and she was named an All American.
“That’s when I really learned what it means to be a team player. I made it to five national tournaments,” she says with pride and some sorrow, because that’s when her legendary arm gave out.
“I had a bullet for an arm. I could throw someone out at second base on my knees,” she says matter-of-factly, adding that a couple of surgeries ended that.
The search for a new job took Paula to Framingham, Mass., to the sprawling Avery Dennison Corp., a global manufacturing company with familiar products including self-adhesive labels and packaging products. She started out as a forklift operator unloading freight cars and kept an eye out for new job postings. That led to a job as a “grinder” making knives and dies.
“The job I applied for was as an oiler – you know, going around and pumping oil into machines,” she says.
But the interviewer told her the grinder job paid more, so she took it. And that led to another whole career.
Paula became her union shop steward and president, went to college and got a degree with honors – and ended up as facilities manager for the million-plus-square-foot plant. After 33 years, Paula retired in 2012 and spent several months playing golf, another of her passions.
“I had a friend in The Villages who invited us to come down for a while,” she says. “We bought this house in the Village of El Cortez and on the way home, Pam and I talked about living for six months in The Villages and spending the summers up north. Then we said, ‘Why are we thinking like this?’”
They moved to The Villages full-time.
“We came here, and I think I got a bit depressed. Once you get yourself squared away it was like, ‘Well, what happens now?’” she says.
So, Paula played a lot of golf – she has a 9.5 handicap on the championship courses – pickle ball and went to the gym. One day she was approached by a man at the gym.
“He said, ‘I’ve been looking for a woman like you all my life,’” she laughs. “He was relentless, chasing me around because he wanted me to become a dragon boater.”
The man was Bob Kane, an avid dragon boater with the Warriors and single-minded promoter of the sport. He steered Paula to the Dragon Sisters team, coached by Sandra Skopaz.
“Dragon boating is a lot harder than it looks,” Paula admitted.
But Sandra convinced her to stay and she’s now an integral part of the 50-woman group, serving as the team’s charitable giving chair.
That led to Paula’s involvement with Haven of Lake & Sumter Counties, which serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Better known as Haven House, the organization includes crisis intervention where victims and their dependents receive temporary shelter, food, clothing and counseling. Much of the charity’s funding comes from sales at its thrift shop and Paula is one of its biggest advocates.
“If anyone wants to donate anything to Haven House or the thrift shop, they can call or email me and I’ll get it picked up,” she says. Contact Paula at 508-439-0864 or [email protected].
Paula traces her empathy with shelters to her college days.
“I had an essay to do and I decided to do it on homelessness,” she says. “I interviewed a director at a shelter and ended up volunteering for them. I was fascinated by the topic. I did the intake for a man and his son who were victims of domestic violence. I was really, really shocked because the perpetrator was a woman.”
Just back from a golf trip to Ireland – “It was on my bucket list” – Paula says she has a full life.
“I’m really invested in the Dragon Sisters team,” she says. “It’s a great organization and we do a lot of good. I figure we’ve put over 400 hours into Haven House alone over the past months. When you get a bunch of people who pitch in and help, it makes all the difference. They make me look good.”
John W Prince is a writer and Villager. For more information visit www.GoMyStory.com.