Remembering Lucille Treganowan
May 24, 2022The lady known for her expertise in auto transmissions and a broadcaster in her own right, Lucille Treganowan has died. She was 92. According to her obituary, Lucille was a single mother in the 1960s when she went to work for Tony Scuro, a well-known transmission repair business owner in the area, working specifically at his shop in Homewood. Treganowan began to study the ins and outs of such repairs initially so she would not look like she didn’t know what was going on. Before long she was Scuro’s business partner and later opened her own shops “Transmissions by Lucille”.
Later she would begin a broadcast career with appearances on “Daybreak” on KDKA-TV with segments called “Powder Puff Mechanics”. She would eventually host “Lucille’s Car Care Clinic” on local and cable TV, appear on late-night talk shows, and even an episode of the ABC sitcom “Home Improvement”.
Lucille didn’t get her college degree from Chatham College until she was in her 60s and reluctantly she retired when she was in her 70s. She never considered herself a feminist, but she broke through stereotypes with humor, but was also known to be at the ready for anyone who wasn’t ready to deal with a woman.
I remember getting a transmission repaired by Lucille once. One of her staff of female techs asked me to describe the symptoms. I told her “You start it up in the morning, put it into gear, hit the gas, the engine roars and nothing happens. And then all of a sudden…POP…..it engages and the car lurches forward.”
“Oh, yes” she replied, “We call that Morning Sickness!”
Guess it all depends upon your point of view. Rest in Peace, Lucille!