GEORGE DE VIRGILIO |
Howdy,
I'm George De Virgilio and I owned and operateed the BOOTSCOOTERS Dance Hall in Waterford, PA with Shirley Fenno. We started Bootscooters in September of 1991 and had many good years operating the dance hall together.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born on January 5th, 1941 and raised just southeast of Pittsburgh, in McKeesport and Buena Vista, Pennsylvania. I attended McKeesport High School and graduated from Elizabeth-Forward High School in 1958
I served in the US Navy aboard the aircraft carriers USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) and the USS Saratoga (CVA-60), both of which have been decomissioned and scrapped. I really enjoyed the FDR and still keep in contact with some of my shipmates. |  |
After the navy, I worked at the now defunct H.L.Greens 5 and 10 store in McKeesport. I remember that a group of us employees watch JFK give a speech across the street. It was torn down and replaced with a convenience store and gas station.I moved to Connecticut in 1962 with my brother and best friend and lived there for 20 years. I worked in retail a few years as a manager and later became an Industrial Engineer with MRC/TRW, Waring Corp., The Torrington Company, and Burndy Industries. I was also an Emergency Medical Technician with 2 ambulance companies, the Winsted Volunteer Ambulance Co. and Paramedical Ambulance Co. and served as a police officer in Bristol and was VPres of the Burrville Fire Dept. I was married 9 years from 1966 to 1975. My secong marriage lasted 13 years from 1978 to 1991. I got into the disco craze between marriages and found I loved to dance. I have a 26 year old daughter, Becky, who lives in the Mesa, AZ area. She just gave birth to my first grandbaby, Courtney Nicole, a beautiful girl I plan on spoiling the hell out of. I also have a 36 year old son, Dean, who lived in Erie, PA. He and his live in girl friend followed me to AZ 6 months later and works for America West Airlines. |
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I moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1982 as an Industrial Engineer for Hughes Aircraft Company. Due to some major company changes (the cold war ended, the Berlin Wall fell and General Motors bought bought the company), I was one of 3,000 employees caught up in downsizing in 1986. My second wife left and moved back to Connecticut in 1990. That's when I took up country western dancing. Mostly the Arizona Two Step. The Electric Slide was the only line dance I learned then and had just started the West Coast Swing. I owe my start to two very fine people in Tucson: Eileen Gerrity from the Maverick-King of Clubs and Ed Brown from the Cactus Moon. |
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I moved back to Pennsylvania in 1991 for financial survival. I worked as a consulting Industrial Engineer and started teaching c/w dancing in March 1991 one night a week. Things just kept going from there. In September of 1992, I opened the BOOTSCOOTERS Dance Hall. I kept busy teaching structured classes three nights a week and held open dances on weekends.I needed something to keep my days busy so I took a job at Spectrum Control in Fairview, PA as a solderer. Something totally different from engineering. I was now on the other side of the workforce. No Pressure, No Responsibility. It's different. But due to NAFDA, the company moved most of it's work to Mexico. So, after 2 1/2 years, another layoff came. Because of this, I qualified for schooling and decided to go back to school. |
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I attended Tri-State Business Institute in Erie, PA (highly recommended) to learn computer networking and web design. I graduated in September 2003 with an Associates Degree in Computer Sciences. I have been certified in MSWord 2000. Now with my computer, if I have a problem, I can fix it. I have been told that I don't own my computer, it owns me. I feel I have just enough knowledge to make me dangerous.I closed the dance hall in February 2004 to move to Pittsburgh to care for my sick step mother. She has since passed on and her house has been sold. I packed up and moved to Mesa, Arizona in September 2004, mainly to be near my daughter and grand daughter, but also because of the fantastic weather. I love the heat and the desert. And there is so much to do here, with lots of dancing. I am a die hard STEELERS fan. Watched the 2005 Super Bowl with family and friends at a PA oriented bar in Tempe, near the ASU called the PA Connection. The best Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches I have had. The place was packed and it was a hoot. I can ride my motorcycle year round here too. Gotta love it.....
I choreographed the following dances:
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