Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Scintillating Seven at monthly BJ lunch


Seven showed up today at the monthly gathering of BJ Alums for Papa Joe's food and conversation. You have to go back to March 2010, when 12 showed up, for a larger crowd.

Composing retiree Cal Deshong, at 92, is the dean of the BJ lunch bunch. Composing retiree Gene McClellan, at 71, is the "baby" of the group, although engraving retiree Pat Dougherty is close at 72. Others who showed up today were Composing retirees Al Hunsicker and Carl Nelson and newsroom retirees Tom Moore and John Olesky. By the way, that's not a smudge on the photo or on Pat D.'s forehead. Today is Ash Wednesday. Catholics know the connection.

Five showed up in February -- Composing retirees Denzil Parker and Ed Hantzel, Hunsicker, McClellan and Nelson.

No one showed up in a January snowstorm, breaking the low of 2 in February 2010 when only Dougherty and McClellan showed up in THAT snowstorm.

The highest attendance in the past 3+ years was 23 in July 2008 for the Bob Pell/Sandy Levenson memorial lunch.

It's open to anyone who works or worked at the BJ in any department. It happens at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Papa Joe's Restaurant, 1561 Akron-Peninsula Road, where A-P Road and Portage Trail meet.

2 comments:

Harry Liggett said...

There were lunches long before your record July 2008 and before the blog was started. Retirees used to fill up an entire room at Papa Joe's. Nobody counted then but my recollection is 30 or 40 attending.

John Olesky said...

Harry is right, as usual.

I changed the wording to reflect that the 23 in 2008 was the most in the past 3+ years.

Thanks, Harry.