Fundraiser benefits motorcycle accident victim

BOARDMAN — BOARDMAN

Roslyn Schmidt laughed when she brought up having tried to cut Robert J. Melone’s hair — and how both got more than they bargained for.

“It was a Friday. I was 18 and Robert wanted a haircut, but I was in a hurry to go out dancing,” the Boardman woman recalled. “The blade fell off the clippers and it accidentally created a bald patch. I told him to fill it in with eyeliner and no one would ever know.”

Schmidt, a licensed hairstylist who’s one of Melone’s cousins, also remembered that when they were children, he built an obstacle course for her brother’s dog. Family members enjoyed watching and cheering on the animal as it maneuver through the course, she said.

Her demeanor changed drastically, though, when she mentioned Melone’s motorcycle accident, which occurred a few years ago as he was on his way to work near McLean, Va. The accident severely injured his spine and left him paralyzed from the chest down.

The happy recollections are among many good times the two close-knit cousins have had — and continue to enjoy — with each other, so perhaps Schmidt was the logical person to spearhead today’s first Motor on for RJM Benefit Dinner at the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Hall, 7345 Westview Drive.

A main goal of the four-hour gathering was to raise $45,000 to buy a converted, wheelchair-accessible van for Melone to help him be as independent as possible and make it easier for him to see his Cleveland-based doctors, who offer health and survival-training programs, Schmidt noted.

Sponsoring the fundraiser were Scarsella’s Restaurant, Premium Pediatrics Inc. of Niles, Valley Acoustics Inc. and Anthony Hayek, a local architect who donated to the effort.