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CIGAR BOX BULLETIN

Volume 53, No. 29  November 16, 2005 

In a Rendezvous Room festooned with the first Christmas lights blinking in front of a large Jackson Pollock knock off, our President BRIAN FORROW put the meeting in gear at 10:00 AM precisely. GORDON MACDONALD led the pledge and CHUCK (do I have a calendar for you!) STANDARD conducted the singing, more than ably assisted by PETER RYAN at the piano. We worked our way through America the Beautiful, Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, and You’re a Grand Old Flag. FRED BROOKS did double duty as Rec. Sec and Cor. Sec. He presented a nice and succinct overview of our Nov. 2 meeting. Last week we had the annual dinner so there was nothing to record. Fred showed two unexciting postcards, and then livened us up with a story about a dentist who was so good that his patient did not feel a thing. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: DICK RADCLIFFE reminded us of the Greenwich Symphony concert this coming weekend, en passant explaining to us ignoramuses how Sheherezade eluded the Sultan’s sword and kept herself alive for 1001 nights. HERB EGLI and FRANK ZAVATTARO reported on the upcoming Tax Preparation season. They have 15 volunteers helping mostly low-income people with filing their tax returns electronically. More help is urgently needed. SAM MARASSO, the great organizer of our Annual Dinner, reported on this very successful event. He listed a large number of members who had helped in putting this memorable feast together. Sam and his helpers were thanked with a round of applause. MIKE RYAN told us that the Salvation Army is having its annual fund drive and would appreciate checks made out to the Salvation Army of Greenwich and sent to PO Box 7671, Greenwich, CT 06830. Many more bell ringers are needed for the traditional RMA venue at the Food Emporium in Riverside. GENE GORMLEY was the only returnee having circled back from Cape Cod, Seattle and Hawaii. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS: DOM COGLIANDRO gave a heartfelt memorial for ROBERT J. KENNEY, President of the RMA in 1995-96, who died on November 1. Bob was born on a farm in Massachusetts, served in the army, and participated in the battles following D Day. He was a POW in Germany for 11 months. After college, he spent his entire career with Lever Bros., retiring as a VP of Sales. He was a very active volunteer, making an important contribution to several organizations in town. Bob will be sorely missed. VISITING CHUCK STANDARD reported on the status of three Members who are in hospital at present. They are: ED BROADBENT, TOM MENTEN, and GENE CAREY. We applauded the return of BOB UNDERWOOD, PETER DIXON, and WALTER COUPE. Reporting for PROGRAM , SAM MARASSO said today’s speaker would be Joe Felder, Head Pro at the Griff. See below. Next week we will hear Richard Blumenthal, State Attorney General, and in two weeks Jim Lash, our First Selectman. MEMBERSHIP DOUG TAYLOR reported that we had 151 men in attendance, 146 Members, 4 Candidates – BILL SALTSMAN (today’s inductee), JOHN KEENE, BOB WARD, and ARNOLD STANCELL. MIKE HAUPTMAN was the guest of JOHN CALIMAFDE. A big cake was rolled out to celebrate ERICH LIMBACH’S ninetieth. We then sang Happy Birthday for Erich and the following: JIM STARKWEATHER – 82, GENE WAGGAMAN – 89, BILL WIGGIN – 78, JOHN CALABRO – 77, BILL ELY – 70, BILL CLEWORTH 78, BOB KITCHEN – 75, CHUCK LIVINGSTON – 82, FRED VEITH - 83, PETER ARTURI – 79, JACK BAUSMAN – 82, ED KRUMREICH – 82, FRANK LEE – 75, CORY DUNHAM – 78, BARNEY LONG – 77, GEORGE RAWAK – 94, BUD MC GOWAN -- 81, and MICHAEL TASKER – 86. A total of 1538 candles, including Erich’s 90! SPECIAL EVENTS TOM HEALY reported there was only one ticket left for the Jan. 20 trip to the NY Philharmonic. Other events are listed below. VOLUNTEER: ROGER PIERCE reported good results for the two week period ending 11/16. A total of 4825 hours were given by 89 men to outside agencies and 38 men gave 211 hours to RMA duties. JOHN CRAINE honored the ten highest scoring volunteers in the past year. Winner was BOB STONE, followed (in order of hours given) by FRED ELSER, DOUG FRANCEFORT, SAL DEANGELO, CORY DUNHAM, MIKE RYAN, JOHN TONER, DICK CASE, ED ANDERSON, and CARL STONE. They all received a certificate of appreciation and a warm round of applause.

SPORTS AND GAMES: BRIDGE – KEITH HEYMAN said that on Nov. 2, KURT SCHAFFIR had scored 2180 pts, followed by JOE ROE with 1590 and AL HARTIG with – 400. BOWLING – DOM DEPASQUALE reported that on Nov. 15, seven RMA bowlers showed up. One almost hit 150 and one hit 156, but they still had a good time. TENNIS – BILL ZBORAY, reported the scores for two weeks of play: Nov. 4 – Court 1 – no scores, Court 2 a tie at 7 games each between JOHN HOFFMAN and JACK SWEGER, Court 3 – GREG GREGORICH – 15. Nov. 11, Court 1 – MIKE SMITH – 15, Court 2 – BILL ZBORAY - 13, Court 3, tie at 12 games between GREG GREGORICH and BILL HOWLAND.

Our INDUCTEE was WILLIAM (BILL) SALTSMAN. He was sponsored by CARL RICHTER and BOB BISHOP who gave a detailed overview of Bill’s career as a distinguished New York City lawyer. He was Managing Partner of his firm and specialized in corporate relationships in South America. Bill is very busy with several volunteer assignments, and is particularly active in the Greenwich Library. Bill and his wife Mary Sue live at 16 Candlelight Place, tel. 531 6841. Welcome! 

TODAY’S SPEAKER: Joe Felder, Head Pro at the “Griff” Town golf course was introduced by SAM MARASSO. Joe gave a forceful, interesting talk about the Junior Program at the Griff which is now one of the largest in the Metropolitan Area. Starting in 1990 with 35 youngsters, he now has 785 juniors. This year he started a Greenwich Junior Championship with 107 participants including 9 girls. The winner shot a 74! Joe has worked for 16 years at the Griff and just signed up for another five. He has a staff of 18 people. His proudest moment was when he qualified for the Westchester Classic. His goal is to run a public course with a private club mentality. He has 4,400 members who play 45,000 rounds of golf per year. Now he needs to raise $ 350,000. in private donations for a better office and pro-shop building. An interesting presentation that was well received.

G. PETER SCHIEFERDECKER - Editor. 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Open to all RMA Members, Candidates, and their Guests. 

Dec. 10 – Sat. Boston Pops Holiday Concert. Harbor Yards 7:30 PM. U drive. Ticket Exchange

Jan. 20 – Fri. N.Y. Philharmonic. Bus at St. Cath’s 10:30 AM. $100. pp. One ticket left.

Aug. 9 – 20 Eleven Day Russian Boat Cruise, Moscow to St. Petersburg. Call Frank Flores 698 3060. 

NEXT WEEK 

Richard Blumenthal, CT Attorney General