by Ron Johnston
At one time, Pat Torpey donned cowgirl regalia and sang country songs at the Genesee Co-op called the Teahouse.
The talented entertainer possessed an excellent vocal and was very popular with Rochester audiences. Torpey’s resume also included appearances on local television.
Not surprisingly, Torpey was recorded in the studio, and her version of “Don’t Turn The Corner” can be heard today on the internet. On the “B” side of the 45 RPM Epic record was “Broken Promises.”
Music, however, was not Torpey’s only interest and priority.
Torpey got married to John Przybycien and over the years, the couple had and raised three children – two daughters, Kathleen and Eileen, and a son, Eddie.
Back in the 1960s, the Przybyciens resided in a home on Chili Riga Center Road, about two-plus miles south of the Village of Churchville.
One of the Przybyciens’ neighbors, about a quarter of a mile away in Riga Center, were the Johnstons. And, Pat and Elsie Johnston (my mother) would become very close friends.
They were so close, in fact, that in 1982, Pat would perform and sing “I Love,” by Tom T. Hall, at the wedding of Elsie’s youngest daughter, Libby, in South Windsor, Connecticut. (The Johnstons had moved there in the late summer of 1969). Eileen Przybycien was also Libby’s Maid of Honor.
Today, Pat continues to reside in the Rochester area. Her husband, John, and daughter, Kathleen, have since passed away.
Ron Johnston, a 1966 Churchville-Chili grad,
is the author of the book, One-Game Wonder,
and a retired newspaper sports editor/writer.
