THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503110148
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Town Talk
SOURCE: Eric Feber
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Maria R. Bellucci of Chesapeake recently got her 15 minutes of fame, thanks to a letter she sent to ``Dear Abby.''
Bellucci witnessed a simple act of courtesy while riding an elevator in the Crestar Bank Building in downtown Norfolk, where she works as a commercial account assistant.
In other times the action wouldn't have been so significant, Bellucci said. But nowadays when manners seem to be a foreign word for many in today's society, it was memorable.
So she wrote a letter to ``Dear Abby.'' It was first time she'd ever done that, she said.
``In the past I had always said, `I'll respond to that,' when I read a letter of significance, but I never did,'' she said. ``This time I went all the way with it. Even my husband wanted to know why I wrote the letter. But later I think he was a tad impressed.''
Two weeks later, on Feb. 21, it was published. Boy, were she and her family surprised.
``The first person who called was my mother,'' the Greenbrier resident said. ``She was almost hysterical. She said she had to read the Chesapeake, Va., written after the name to make sure it was me. According to her, now I'm a national celebrity. I was very pleased and surprised, let me tell you.
``Then I told my mother-in-law, and she asked me, `You mean you signed your name to a Dear Abby letter?' but I told her it really wasn't one of those letters. It was one you could sign your name to.''
Basically, Bellucci's letter explained how she was riding the elevator with one other person, an elderly man, maybe in his 60s. Bellucci said all he did was greet her, smile at her and then removed his hat in her presence. He didn't replace it until after he left the elevator.
``Abby, I'm 30 years old,'' she wrote in the letter, ``and never before has a man removed his hat in an elevator on my behalf. I went from puzzled to impressed.''
What prompted her to write the letter was one she had read in an Abby column that came out in early February.
It decried the lack of manners and civility and was signed by a John Jay Hanlon of Naples, Fla. Bellucci said she agreed with every word of it.
``I had told people about the elevator incident and how impressive it was, then I remembered that earlier letter,'' she said.
Bellucci said she had gotten nothing but positive feedback from the letter. Everyone she has spoken to about it agrees with her.
``Being a person who's always in a good mood and smiling it's hard to accept people not treating you the same,'' she said.
And who was that very civil and polite man who doffed his hat for a lady?
``That's the first question everybody asked me: `Who was the man?' '' she said. ``I know it was an attorney for the firm of Williams, Kelly & Greer. If I ever see him again I'll let him know.''
Does Bellucci plan to instill manners in her own family?
``I have a child on the way,'' she said, ``and I hope manners will come to him naturally.''
If not, she can always write to ``Dear Abby.'' by CNB