When Town&Gown celebrated its 30th anniversary, it began a new tradition. Mimi Barash Coppersmith, who had founded the magazine in 1966, started “Lunch with Mimi.”
The January 1996 issue featured Coppersmith having lunch with and interviewing former State College mayor Arnold Addison. Each month since then, Coppersmith has sat down with various people from all professions and backgrounds, and her interviews have become a popular staple of the magazine.
She has had “lunch with” Penn State presidents, Pennsylvania governors, high school students, State College mayors, business owners, nonprofit directors, Penn State coaches, and more.
Here are a few “memorable moments” from “Lunch with Mimi,” which celebrates its 20th anniversary in January!
Joe Paterno, Penn State football head coach, February 1996: “I’ve always been amazed that people put that much emphasis on being successful in the athletic world. People ask me, ‘Why do you stay at Penn State?’ and I tell them I never would have stayed if the academic and town community had not given me an opportunity to be something more than a football coach.”
Bob Potter, Centre County Community Foundation president, January 1997: “I firmly believe we all have a responsibility to the area in which we live. I’d rather be a participant than a bystander.”
Lance Shaner, Shaner Hotel Group chairman & CEO, August 1997: “I’ve always had the philosophy that you should try to make a difference. Service leads to personal fulfillment and happiness. I enjoy being involved with various organizations here. There are just so many, the hardest part is which one do you pick.”
Don Hamer, ClearWater Conservancy volunteer/State of the Art founder, December 2000: “I’m concerned about things like maintaining open space and parks — it’s down to this now. If we’re going to have a quarter-million people, or whatever, let’s plan so we save as much open space as possible.”
Gary Moyer, Moyer Jewelers co- owner, April 2002: “To people who have an entrepreneurial spirit but for whatever reason are hesitant to jump in with both feet, I would say, ‘Do it.’ There’s nothing more satisfying. And if it goes badly and you lose lots of money because of a bad idea, you look in the mirror and know exactly whose fault it is. By the same token, if things are going smoothly and
everyone is relatively happy, you take great pride in having been able to do it.”
Bob Poole, S&A Homes CEO/ president and Poole Anderson Construction co-owner, November 2002: “Penn State has produced tremendous talent. Rather than letting that talent live in California or Florida, we are trying to bring them back to State College so they can help make this an even better community.”
Russ Rose, Penn State women’s volleyball head coach, February 2003: “I think there’s always a balance. I think you always want to have some players who like you and some players who are unhappy with your expectations of them. Whether they like me is not as important as the fact that they respect that I want the best for them, because there are other people on the staff that they can like.”
Barbara Palmer, philanthropist, December 2003: “This community does an amazing amount. They are very generous people, and not just with their money but with their time and talent. People respond to good places to live and good places to be.”
Coquese Washington, Penn State women’s basketball head coach, November 2008:“One of the reasons that made me come to Penn State is that it is a university that will attract some of the best and brightest young women in the country. When I
am recruiting and out there talking to women, I am able to recruit the 4.0 student or the Advanced Placement student. I talk to them and say, ‘Come to Penn State and change the world. Make your life extraordinary because you are going to be in an environment where you will be educated at the highest level. You are going to be around other bright minds and taught by faculty who have done so many wonderful things. Why can’t these bright women come to Penn State and find the cure for breast cancer? We are going to play basketball and win championships, no doubt about that, and I will prepare you for that, but, more importantly, what are you going to give back to the world?’ ”
Randall Alan “Louie” Sheetz, Sheetz executive vice president, December 2009: “I would tell you that business has been successful because of the family structure. You’ve got a large number of family members who contributed to the business, but inside that family, there is a trait of never being satisfied. That family trait is built into our character, probably from our mom and dad who were never satisfied with what you achieved. There are some positive aspects, obviously, the drive, the commitment, and the pursuit of excellence. This led the charge from a small chain of retail stores to a pretty successful organization today with 13,000 employees.”
Joel Myers, AccuWeather founder, April 2010: “Yes, in all likelihood we are in a slow warming over a long period of time but not necessarily in any particular year. The second part of the question is how much of global warming is due to humans? Just because it may be occurring doesn’t mean it is due to humans. The weather and climate always change, so it makes sense that the average temperature of the Earth would be in an uptrend now because we just had an Ice Age 10,000 years ago and we are recovering from it. Ice Ages are relatively rare, and at the peak of the Ice Age the ice was almost three-miles thick in southern Canada, and the ice extended south of here. How much global warming is due to the humans? There is no way to really know for sure, but if you were going to shoot me if I didn’t give you the correct answer, I would say maybe a third — but I’m not a climatologist.”
Tom King, State College police chief, May 2010: “Well, people often say, ‘We were young and we drank, what is different?’ The difference is the frequency of those people who engage in this behavior. What used to be a weekend binge now can be a three- to five-day thing. The other thing is they start a lot earlier with the goal of seeing how drunk they can get, the 21 shots on their birthday, and drinking hard liquor. The third factor is the alcohol choice now is hard liquor versus beer. The sales at the state liquor stores are off the charts. We have been tracking sales since 1996. The last 14 years has doubled or tripled in terms of volume.”
Rodney Erickson, Penn State president, June 2012: “It’s time to have the right balance between humility and pride. We need to be respectful and humble, acknowledging that there are issues that we need to deal with. We need to remember the victims of child abuse and take responsibility for what is alleged to have happened here.”
Barbara Farmer, director of Penn State’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, March 2013:“People are still being mistreated. People are still not feeling like they belong. And it’s not just students. It is faculty and staff whom I encounter, minorities as well as women. I’m on a mission for people to be whole and free, and in the midst of that, coming to realize that they are valuable and that they are worth their place in the space.”
Jen Zangrilli, director of operations for Dante’s Restaurants, August 2013: “Growing up I remember working, starting in this location here [Hi-Way Pizza]. I remember being a busser and working one, two nights a week, and this was when I was 13 or 14. … I don’t remember consciously making a decision that this is what I wanted to do. But I always remember coming to Penn State and thinking, Well this is a natural for me, this is what I want to study.”
Carol Falke, international volunteer in Rwanda, December 2013: “When I went the first time, I met children and people who have lost everything. So I thought, How did these kids survive and become who they are — loving, hopeful, and faithful kids? When I go, the hearts of these kids are really transforming my life. They’re like my children.”
Ted McDowell, senior vice president/area executive of AmeriServ Bank and CBICC chair, February 2014: “We recognized several years ago that it was important for the chamber to take a look at its mission, history, and services that it was delivering to the community, which had been typically on the economic-development side, a land-based initiative to create jobs. … We’re moving into a new era where we’re developing programs that will work and partner with the business community and the public sector, certainly Penn State, where they can assist us with the economic development. … Under the direction of [president/CEO] Vern Squier, whom we brought on board with his strong economic-development background, we’re now transforming the organization.”
Thomas Kistler, Centre County Court of Common Pleas president judge, April 2014:“I’ve always heard about the big cities having places where moms and dads could go and exchange kids without having a threat to either of them or to the children, but I didn’t know that you could do it in Centre County. I was convinced that we could, and I came back here and just started the process two months before Jody Marone was killed in an exchange on Easter weekend in Mill Hall. That really galvanized the community and helped the support for the project grow. … We’ve seen great safety and a great environment created through the Child Access Center. It’s been very rewarding.”
Dan Carter, Penn State Centre Stage artistic director, July 2014: “It used to be that in the summer there was Music at Penn’s Woods, Penn State Centre Stage, and the Boal Barn, and that was it. Now, there’s the Next Stage, the Shakespeare Company outdoor shows, Fuse Productions, State Theatre’s summer events, and the Spikes are here. … The Arts Festival has grown, and that’s contributed to the sense of State College as a home for the arts, so there are a lot of things. There are now seven theater companies in town, and there used to be two. There’s something to do every night ….”
Angelique Cygan, breast-health navigator at Mount Nittany Health, October 2014:“My patients look at me and say, ‘I’m lost.’ And I’m able to say, ‘Take my hand, I’ll show you the way.’ I can’t make decisions for them — it’s important that they make their own decisions.”
Kristina Taylor-Porter, executive director of the Mount Nittany Health Children’s Advocacy Center of Centre County, January 2015: “I always go back to a proverb of It takes a village to raise a child. I always like to say, ‘It also takes a village to protect a child.’ I think that as a community we have this obligation to always keep our eyes open and always pay attention to what’s going on around us ….”
Sandy Barbour, Penn State athletic director, April 2015: “… I want the rest of the world now to know what I know about Penn State — what I know about the hearts and minds here, and this is not a new thing. … Penn State is about excellence, service, community, and education. That’s the culture that’s always been here and always will.”
Catherine Alloway, Schlow Centre Region Library director, July 2015: “Instead of looking at the negative effects of the Information Age, I see it as the Golden Age for readers. That’s what a library is all about. Our mission is the center of reading and learning — lifelong learning. You can get content in so many ways.”
Bob O’Donnell, State College Area School District superintendent, August 2015:“What I’m most proud about is what is happening between teachers and kids. If anybody is concerned about the future of our country, they really need to spend some time with kids and look at what they are doing …. They are learning and have wonderful ideas.”
Eric Barron, Penn State president, October 2015: “We can have a whole community of entrepreneurs that are coming up with all sorts of ideas that become a part of the world, and we’ll have fun doing it. Education is the product in State College. So why aren’t we the center of the world in working in the educational-technology center? We could be. We just never tried it.”
