by Don Audette
The annual Lions Club picnic was held at the Rappahannock County Park on Thursday, July 14, 2016. It had been a scorching hot day with temperatures in the low 90s, and high temperatures lingered on into the evening. Here’s some photo coverage of the picnic.
First off, there was a surprise for those in charge of the grille. The hamburgers obtained for the picnic were pre-cooked and frozen. The photo above records this discovery, with Andy Berry, Larry Grove, and Jim Manwaring looking on as Rick Kohler reveals the news after reading the contents of the box in his hands. Did this “culture shock” stump the grille-men? Not a bit. They slowly recovered and followed the instructions on the box.
Bob Anderson, below, relaxes with a cold Corona Extra. It was so hot that everyone deserved a cold Corona Extra whether they had one or not. The food rolled in and was tastefully displayed on the picnic tables as usual.
Deep conversations were held amongst the attendees as attested by Ross O’Donoghue, shown below on the right, keeping unknown, unknown, and Jim Blubaugh spellbound.
Then we had Greg Rushford with a Vienna Lager in hand, and outstanding in his field, ready to play ball. The story on the uniform is as follows, direct from Greg: “Growing up in the 1950s I wasn’t even good enough to make my Little League team. But now I play in the big leagues and hang out with former baseball greats like Luis Tiant, Al Bumbry, and Trot Nixon, sort of, anyway.” Greg is one of 140-some Hall of Fame wannabes — from ages 30 into the 80s — who participate in the Boston Red Sox’ fantasy camp each January, held in the team’s spring-training facilities in Ft. Myers, Florida. “We play on the same fields and use the same locker room as the real big-leaguers,” living our childhood dreams for a week.
Within the shade of the pavilion another conversation was underway, with Gordon Axelson, Spots Williams, and Mike Mahoney just before it was announced that the food was ready.
Starting through the line, we have Rick Kohler on the left below, taking no chances with a large bottle of mustard by assuming a position where he would be ready for anything that might happen – explosion, implosion, over-squirt, under-squirt, flatulence sound, or, worst of all, a ffftf indicating the bottle was empty.
Across the way is Tom Tepper, with Bill Nenninger next, and Jim Blubaugh well down the line.
Finally relaxing, having the food, and enjoying good conversation, we have a table of happy campers. Clockwise around the table we have Liz Blubaugh, Bill Gadino, Mike Mahoney, Lucy Rushford, and Martha Weiss.
Later, as the sky darkened markedly and the rumble of thunder was heard, Bob Anderson (Lion Tamer) rapidly carried out the swearing-in ceremony en-masse for the new officers for the 1916-1917 year. Left to right: Jim Blubaugh (bon-vivant and all-around good fellow, who happened to be standing next to Joel when the picture was taken), Joel Daczewitz (one-year Director), Brian Taylor (one-year Director), Jim Manwaring (Secretary), Frank Raiter (Treasurer), Ross O’Donoghue (1st Vice-President), Gary Madson (two-year Director), Bill Nenninger (two-year Director), Larry Grove (seated and sworn in separately as President), and Paul Bush (Tail Twister). Dave Schiff (2nd Vice-President) is not in the picture.
The last formal ceremony was the swearing of the new President of the Lions Club, Larry Grove, on the left, Bob Anderson in the center and Yogi Bear, the out-going President of the Lions Club, on the right. Seated on the right in the background are: Liz Blubaugh, Aleta Gadino, and Bill Gadino.
It was then that a light rain started to fall, so the 2016 Lions Club picnic wrapped up in a hurry. A good time was had by all.