Club continues after 62 years
In 1957, “American Bandstand” debuted on television, the Cavern Club opened in Liverpool and a card club made up of newly minted nurses from the Butler Memorial School of Nursing had its first get-together.
Since then, “American Bandstand” has gone black and the Cavern Club, once home base of the Beatles, was demolished.
But the card club, whose members now range in age from 81 to 85, gathered last week at Mama Rosa's Restaurant and Lounge, 263 Old Plank Road, for their monthly card game and to celebrate the birthday of member Wanda Acre, who got a tiara and cupcakes to mark the occasion.
Patty Fair and Pat Leclere said the group started among the nursing class and just kept going.
“I think we started playing cards and (member) Jane Titley's wedding shower,” said Fair.
“We started having wedding showers and then it became baby showers,” said LeClere.
“We decided it was such a good idea we would keep things going,” said Fair.
And they kept things going for 62 years through marriages, moves and the shifting tides of fate.
Originally there were 16, but last week 11 convened for lunch and a spot of cards. One member was recovering from surgery and another was in a nursing home.
Two members had passed away last year.
“We're looking pretty good, aren't we?” asked Nancy Bard who drove in from Clarion.Husbands have never been part of the card group.In fact the only man to attend the card games regularly has been Emma Protzman's son, Matthew, 51.Matthew is physically disabled and Protzman said she started bringing him to the card games.“He's been part of the group for a long time. I think he thinks he's a member,” Protzman said.They've made some adaptations over the years.Fair said, “At first, we went to each others' houses for a meal. Then we cut it to dessert.“And then we said 'The heck with this. We're going to a restaurant,'” she said.They've been meeting for a meal and cards at places such as the Monroe Hotel and Mac's Route 8 Cafe. The members rotate as hostesses with the hostess picking the venue.The card games always start off with lunch at 11:30 a.m. and then card playing until 3 p.m. or so.There have been other changes through the decades as well.Fair said the members have decided to skip meeting in January, February and March out of respect for icy roads and diminished driving skills.And the card game has changed as well.
The group started out by playing 500 but about 20 years ago phased that game out in favor of one called Crazy Bridge.“We can't concentrate enough to play 500,” said Sue Marshall as reason for the change. “We deal the cards and look up the rules.”Another change is that all of the group, except Nancy Bard and Ruth Cooper are widows.When the group hit the 50th year anniversary of its graduation, 14 members took a cruise together.LeClere thinks the group has lasted as long as it has because the members all bonded back in nursing school and they all managed to stay in health-related fields.Cooper said, “When I came to Butler, I didn't know anybody. This has been my family.”Even in their 80s, several of the members still are active in the health fields.Protzman conducts a VNA wellness clinic once a week.Dolly Bertuzzi volunteers at the free clinic two days a month.Fair was a volunteer at the community health clinic until the recent death of her husband caused her to take a hiatus.Fair said, “When I tell people we've stuck together like this, people don't believe it. We can't believe it either. “
