HIVE'S EMPTY MINUS QUEEN THE BOYS OF SUMMER BID ROXIE ONE FINAL FAREWELL.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

The was the Dodgers, the way they used to be. Full of class and brass. Year in, year out, a winner.

Everybody loved Roxie Campanella - from the parking lot attendants and peanut sellers at Dodger Stadium to the man who used to sit in the owner's box.

``She was one of the most gracious, caring women I ever met,'' former Dodger owner Peter O'Malley said Monday as he entered the Old North Church at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, to attend a private memorial service for Roxie, who died in her sleep last week in her Woodland Hills home. She was 77.

The new Dodgers were in Vero Beach, getting ready for another season in which most baseball writers predict the team will go nowhere.

The old Dodgers, who collected pennants and World Series titles the way Imelda Marcos collected shoes, were inside this church saying goodbye to the widow of Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella.

To the woman who cared for him every day after a car accident in 1958 left him a quadriplegic, the woman who carried on Roy's work after he died in 1993 to provide scholarships to young physical therapists so more victims of spinal-cord injuries could lead productive lives.

To this special woman the people inside this small church called the heart of the Dodgers - the old Dodgers.

``When she came into Roy's life, he said to me, `Roomie, I think I've found myself a queen,''' said Hall of Fame pitcher Don Newcombe, who played with Roy on all those pennant-winning Boys of Summer teams of the `50s.

Reggie Smith, who played on winning Dodgers teams from 1976 to 1981, agreed. ``She was our queen bee - everybody wanted to be around Roxie.''

They're right. She was a queen. Going to a Dodger game with Roxie was like traveling with royalty.

Her parking place was right up front, next to O'Malley's. You walked 20 feet and were inside the stadium.

Roxie never had to stand in line or hand anyone a ticket. Magically, all the doors at Dodger Stadium would open as she approached, and the hive would soon descend upon its queen.

Parking lot attendants, ushers, vendors and the woman mopping the ladies restroom. Roxie knew all their names and most of their kids' names.

She knew who was getting married, and who was getting divorced. Who needed a couple of extra minutes of her time because they weren't doing so well.

When you went to a Dodger game with the queen bee, you needed to get there early because it took Roxie most of an hour, stopping and chatting, to get to her seat.

``Mrs. Campanella, how you doing tonight?'' Or ``Roxie, who's going to win?''

She'd smile and say, ``The Dodgers, of course.'' Even when she stopped believing it anymore.

``She loved the Dodgers, but she'd always ask me, `What's wrong with them?''' Smith said. ``She wanted me to talk to them because she thought they'd listen to me.''

Talk to the younger players, mainly. Talk to them about tradition, about winning and playing your heart out even when you were hurt.

Roy always did, Roxie said. So did his teammates from the Boys of Summer, and all the Dodgers who followed when the team was winning all those league pennants and World Series rings.

``She was our surrogate mom,'' said Ann Drysdale, widow of Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, who knew a thing or two about competing hard and winning.

``During spring training at Vero Beach, all the players would surround Roy to listen and learn from him,'' Drysdale said. ``After he passed away, they all went to Roxie.

``I couldn't take my kids to the ballpark without stopping to say hi and talk to Roxie. Everybody loved her.''

Because she was the Dodgers, the way they used to be.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley arrives at a memorial service for Roxie Campanella at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, on Monday. Campanella died last week at 77.

(2) Former Dodger Reggie Smith gets a hug at Roxie Campanella's memorial service on Monday. Players said she was the soul of the ``old'' Dodgers team, the one her late husband, Roy Campanella, played for.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer