She got the job, and off she went to work out in Columbus, Ohio.
Barattini Souza entered a wrestling era that was drastically different from today's. Women wrestlers were presented as refined ladies who happened to compete in the ring.
''Back in those days, all the girls looked nice,'' Barattini Souza said. ''Everyone dressed in high heels.''
They even took limos to matches. But these girl-wrestlers weren't all-glamour and no-guts. Barattini Souza had broken ribs and too many bruises to count.
''My father used to say if you come home without black and blue marks, something's wrong with you,'' she said.
She wrestled all over the U.S., even Indian reservations in Oklahoma and Arizona. Some places — like Florida, where she won a state title — paid better than others.
Barattini Souza saw survivors of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. She also got to see Cuba before Fidel Castro led a revolution that prevented Americans from traveling there.
Barattini Souza's father got sick and she had to help with the family store in Boomtown (near Fort Meade), so she stopped wrestling full time after 13 years.
When asked, she occasionally returned to the ring. She worked for Vince McMahon Sr. at the Turners Arena in Washington and got to know his son, Vince McMahon Jr.
After taking over the World Wrestling Federation from his father, McMahon Jr. was a visionary who helped pro wrestling's popularity soar. But he was just a kid when Barattini Souza met him. Even then, though, the media-savvy McMahon apparently recognized the power of television.
''His mother was trying to quiet him down,'' she said. ''I took him to the TV truck outside, and he was fascinated with that.''
Barattini Souza also wrestled at the Frederick Armory. Years later, she would move to Frederick County.
Barattini Souza and her husband, Frank Souza, were just driving around Brunswick one day when they saw a store for sale. The bought it and moved to the area. Barattini Souza said an arsonist later burned down the shop, but she and her husband bought another business in Knoxville.
Souza — who served in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War — died in 2000. Barattini Souza's only child, Philip, died of Leukemia when he was 2½ years old.
Pictures of Souza are prominently displayed behind the bar. There are no pictures of Barattini Souza's wrestling career displayed in the establishment. She keeps them in a scrapbook, along with an itinerary for her Hall of Fame induction ceremony last year.
''It's nice because you have everyone up there,'' Barattini Souza said of the ceremony. ''All your old timers are there, people you haven't seen in years.''