February had a lot of activities for the residents of Gem Estates. The coffee and doughnut social hour played to a packed house. The weather had been cooler, but yet, no one was complaining because it was still a lot better than what they have up north.
We had a Valentine treat by the Red Hat ladies, and the table decorations and candy treats were a lovely addition to our coffee hour.
Carolyn Mayer has been crowned and pinned as the new queen mother, and the program for her reign is set with terrific ideas and activities for the coming year. Her crowning by Loretta Green, outgoing queen mother, was in the form of a tea party. An invitation luncheon was scheduled for March 3 with each present member and an invited lady as their guest, who would hopefully become a Red Hat member.
Our coffee hours are bedazzled with lots of information and activity. Usually our president, Al Bennett, starts our social meeting with a comical story and gets everyone in a jovial mood. But once the coffee is gone and the doughnuts are eaten, we get into the real reason for the gathering: to inform everyone of the park activities going on.
Prayers were said for Norma Monsulik, Bessie Palmer, Randall Smith, Jerry Wyfels, Dan Farnsworth and Joyce Plummer. Hope everyone gets well soon. We’ve had our usual colds and coughs going around the park, but everyone seems to be doing better.
We had a lot of birthdays in February, including Norma Bowden, John Trundy, Ellie Brookins, Cheryl Raab, Marlin Thomas, Donna Eastman, Roger Michaud, Amy Temple, Jeannette Brown, Jeanne Schutte, Gerri Shields, Ginnie Zepp, Joyce Plummer, Joyce Knestaut, and of course, our Valentine celebrant, Earl Benedict, with a birthday on Valentine’s Day. Happy birthday to all.
Rusty and Betty Siler celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
New residents, Rick and Marilyn Foster, were introduced, and Bev Orr was acknowledged as a recent returnee to the park.
George and Mary Kay Lynch had their daughter, Deb, visiting. Deb is a runner in training for a marathon race, and we would see her up and running through the park usually early in the morning hours. The Lynches also had another guest, former resident Joan Miletello visiting.
Floyd and Bev Becker had their daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Steve Reglin, visiting from Charlotte, Mich., and we heard they went back home to lots of snowy roads. The Reglins are both truck drivers for a food chain and used to all kinds of weather.
The Burgess family had Dea-Ann’s brother, Jeff, and wife Karen Kerr, visiting from Natick, Mass.
Ann Liddy’s daughter, Brenda Piche, was visiting from Watertown, N.Y.
A group of musicians got together for a jam session. Ed Goodreault announced the invitation for anyone playing and singing to come join the group.
Ellie Brookins has formed a step dance exercise group and entertained all Feb. 28. Come join these groups.
Dick Thompson will start helping those who have computer technique problems, and that is a much-needed thing here in the park.
We had a cleanup project going on, where 19 men worked on pressure washing the clubhouse and fences, while the ladies worked inside the clubhouse, cleaning windows, sanitizing tables and kitchen counters. Thank you all for doing this much needed job.
Sandy Mann, our park treasurer, also is working on the new telephone directory and wants everyone to update their information, so she can make the new directories as accurate as possible.
Several people from the park will be going to preview some of the Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans with Road Ready Tours. They also will visit the World War II museum as well as the World of Mardi Gras, where they build the big Mardi Gras floats.
We are looking forward to the Western night in March at River Ranch with its hayride, barbecue supper and authentic rodeo. Hope everyone stays warm and do feel sorry for those up north in the cold snowy weather.
By Lee Heffelfinger
Published March 5, 2014
