SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2014 LIVE IT UP! 3
from page 2
you make basting stitches called tacking, to hold it
steady."
Before she became a welder, Mansfield was mak-
ing 2 cents a box packing chocolates, or 10 cents an
hour scooping ice cream sundaes. Marinship paid
$1.45 an hour. With all this money, she felt wealthy
enough to take private ballroom dance classes in
San Francisco.
"Eventually, the studio owner asked if I'd like to
teach dance.Well," she says, "I lit up like a Roman can-
dle. Shirley Temple was my hero; I wanted to be just
like her. I was close to dying and going to heaven."
At 86, Mansfield still dances every weekend. Most-
ly she does swing dancing, once called the Jitterbug.
A year or two ago, a friend asked if she'd help him
teach swing at De Anza, the manufactured home
community on the ocean. It took her back to the
good old days.
"Santa Cruz is a terrific place for an older person,"
says Mansfield. "I've traveled the world and have
never found a spot so congenial for aging people. A
lot of people dance here. I hosted a dance by word of
mouth for my 85th birthday, and180 people showed
up to dance."
bigstock photo
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