The best of friends and roommates for more than 40 years, Janice Clevesy and Toni Ronsivalli have enjoyed decades of fun and laughter.
Now, they have a way to share that with others.
Clevesy and Ronsivalli, both of whom have passed their 75th birthdays, perform with the Comedy Masque Revue and are striking out on their own as the "Karaoke Kids."
Clevesy said they became involved with the Comedy Masque Revue about a year ago after attending a concert put on by the group during one of Northern Essex Community College's Life Long Learning Program events.
"We just liked what they did," she said. "It's a wonderful camaraderie for people our age."
Clevesy and Ronsivalli's friendship, much like their singing, was in perfect harmony from the start.
Meeting in 1962 on the job at Western Electric office at 1600 Osgood St., which eventually became AT&T, the two quickly formed a partnership due to their love of traveling, singing, and "being able to laugh and enjoy each other's company," they said.
Ronsivalli worked in the personnel office; Clevesy was a "Quality of Work Life Resource Facilitator."
After retiring from AT&T in 1989, they became professionally active again, this time in the Haverhill public schools.
Working out of every school within the district, they held a variety of positions such as crossing guards, lunch monitors and substitute teachers. At the end of the 2009 school year, they decided to retire again.
Throughout all their day jobs, however, the pair also doubled as two of the Merrimack Valley's first home "flippers".
Starting with their first purchased house on Forrest Avenue in Haverhill, the pair for decades has been buying homes and reselling them at a healthy profit.
Of course, being trailblazers doesn't mean the ride has been easy.
Clevesy said their first request for a home loan was denied by a local bank because two women would be signing off on the deed. She said that back then, even in the 1970s, at least one male signature was required.
Nevertheless, their tenacity paid off when they finally purchased their first home.
"It was an education," Clevesy said.
She said during the '70s and '80s they became mentors to other professional, single women hoping to buy their own homes.
Currently living on Cogswell Street, they have resold four houses so far.
They are active members of the Haverhill Garden Club and have been taking line dancing lessons recently.
"We're always on something," said Ronsivalli. "We never have a day off."
Bob Gregory, 78, the director of the Comedy Masque Revue, said Ronsivalli and Clevesy have injected a dose of comedy that had been missing from the group for a while.
"They put a good spark in us," he said of the lively duo.
The Comedy Masque Revue is a group of 22 Haverhill seniors who sing for residents of area retirement homes and assisted living communities. Unlike most traditional, and trained, singing groups, which either sing with a backing band or as an a capella chorus, the Comedy Masque Revue's members simply sing along with either CD or karaoke versions of their favorite classic hits.
Clevesy and Ronsivalli felt that taking part in these musical ventures has been therapeutic for themselves and their audiences.
"In some cases it's been good to see and in some cases it's been sad," said Clevesy of the group's audiences. "I'm well aware of what this is doing for them. It's rewarding."
Ronsivalli similarly agreed, while noting that they've been performing for many of their former friends and neighbors.
"It's a therapy for us to sing to them," she said.
Ronsivalli typically plays guitar and sings country music while Clevesy sings along to a number of Broadway hits.
The pair's other act, the Karaoke Kids, came about after they had filled in a show for a fellow Revue member who had fallen ill. Since then, the Kids have been taking to the stage in events such as the NECC Life Long Learn Program's "Senior Idol" competition, a take-off on the popular "American Idol" television show.
