By Lisa Chmelecki,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Colleen Froton was home studying in her Bermuda shorts and wool sweater when a friend called and begged her to go out for pizza.

She promised it would be a quick outing, so Froton didn’t bother to change. She put on knee-high socks, slipped on her penny loafers and headed out.

The two girls were sitting in a booth by the window when Carroll Poulin walked by.

“He was wearing a white ski parka with royal blue stitching. I’ll never forget it,” Froton said.

Poulin and a friend had been at the Blue Goose, the bar next door to Luiggi’s Pizzeria. As soon as he spotted Froton, he decided he needed a soda.

The two had known each other from Lewiston High School, but they were never friends. Froton hung with the quiet crowd, dressed in long skirts and never wore makeup. Her mom taught her nail polish was for hussies.

Poulin played trumpet in Tempo Men, a popular band that performed at school dances.

“Let’s just say I had a lot of friends,'” he said recently, grinning.

Poulin had left high school his junior year to enlist in the Army.

While he was in Vietnam, Froton went to hairdressing school.

She eventually dropped out to become an X-ray technician, but not before discovering what a little lipstick could do.

Her hair was in a French twist the day she met Poulin at Luiggi’s. He noticed her light brown highlights right away.

“She looked pretty hot,” he said, “a lot nicer than I remembered.”

After a few minutes of small talk, Poulin invited Froton and her friend back to his place.

“I don’t think so,” Froton said quickly, kicking her friend under the table.

Her friend had a different idea: “Oh sure, we’d love to come over for a little while.”

Froton assumed Poulin had his own apartment. She was relieved when his mother greeted them at the door.

They ate chips, played Johnny Mathis records and danced until Froton realized it was way past her curfew. Before getting out of his 1957 Ford convertible, Froton gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Kind of like I kiss my brother,” she said. “I didn’t want to take any chances. I knew his reputation, a bit of a Casanova.”

Poulin asked Froton if she wanted to go out the next night. He told her he was working at his father’s music store, and he’d call when he got out at 9 p.m.

Froton accepted the invitation. Then she panicked. She already had a date for that night.

Should she take the chance that Poulin would actually call and cancel on the other guy? Or should she assume that Poulin would blow her off? She agonized into the next day.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I mustered up all of the guts I had and I called him at work.”

With sweaty hands and a dry mouth, she asked if they were still on.

“Definitely,” Poulin said.

He was wearing a suit and tie when he picked her up. Her nails were freshly painted.

Froton and Poulin, owners of Carroll’s School and Music Center in Lewiston, got married less than seven months later on Aug. 1, 1964.