A Place for all the Old Timers to Get Together

 

The Pioneer's Club

The Pioneer’s Club Newsletter

Everyone should have gotten a personalized reminder that the deadline for sending your checks in, was right around the corner.

 

To those of you who had already sent in your check, I’m sorry to have bothered you.  I forgot to see who had already sent checks and just sent it out to everyone. (Old age memory problems are setting in I guess)

 

But it was really nice to hear from all of you!

 

We needed to set a deadline for ticket sales because  the caterer needs to order the food, and we need to guarantee  a head count. This isn’t the old days when RG&E paid and no one cared if extra dinners were paid for. (Now any extra comes out of Arnie’s pocket, and we all know how tight he is.)

Rochester Picnic

Volume 2, Issue 8  

August, 2008

Newsletter

Some of you have had trouble receiving the Newsletter.

The main problem was either that the  graphics are being stripped out, or the newsletter gets put in your “junk” folder, by your email client.

If you put the email address the Newsletter is  being sent from (thclegg@thclegg.com) into your address book, that might cure the problem.

 

If not, well I tried…..

Coming Events

Rochester Picnic—        Thursday, August 7, 2008

 

Big Band Concerts—    September 5, 2008

                                       September 19, 2008

 

So mark your calendars, you won’t want to miss any of them.

 

For more details on an event just click on the underlined event name.  (If you don’t have a computer, it won’t work, honest!)

 

If you have an event you would like listed either in the Newsletter or on the web site, just drop me an email.  I try to have the Newsletter completed by the last week of the month so it can be proof read. So try to have your event in to me before then.

 

To email me, just click here.

(There’s that computer requirement again!)

Big Band Concert

Obituary Page

I found myself updating the Obituary page again last month.

 

Arden Cole Howland, a retiree from Employee Relations died on June 29, 2008 in Richmond , VA.

 

He will be missed.

 

Vera Bellows commented to me, upon hearing of his passing, “He was one of the best bosses I ever had”.  A fitting tribute.

This month I haven’t done a lot to the web site, but some cosmetic stuff and adding the Big Band Concert page.

 

On the band’s page you will find pictures of the last two concerts I attended.  Now if I can get someone (Hint! Hint! Dave!) to give me a little bio on each of the members, I’ll put it with their picture, so everyone knows about them.

 

I cleaned up the Past Newsletters page.  When I first created it, I did not expect to be writing so many newsletters. 

 

Now I have reorganized it and added some graphics to make it pretty.

 

Barry Nenno, a Mac user, pointed out to me that a page was not “Mac” friendly.  Well that’s fixed now if you were effected.

 

 

I received a couple of emails from people, promising me some new pieces of RG&E history to add to the site. So I’ll let you know when their stuff’s on line.

 

And last but not least, as I mentioned in last months Newsletter, I added an RSS News Reader Feed to the News Page of our web site.  If you are using Internet Explorer 7.0 on your PC, you can “subscribe” to this feed. (So what’s it do you ask?) 

 

If I make a change to the News Page, you will receive notification of the change  in the Favorites/Newsfeeds section of your web browser.  That way you will know about any changes to the web site, without the need to actually visit the web site everyday.

 

But you can still wander around the web site, if you wish, reminiscing about days past.

 

 

ThePioneersClub.org Web Site

The Big Bang played another great concert at Heather Heights of Pittsford in Pittsford, NY (of course). And this time I was there with my camera.

 

The band played their arrangements of 1940’s—50’s era music, specializing in jazz.  It was a great  way to spend  an afternoon.

 

They played outside on the patio off the main dinning room, setting up in the shade of an overhang. While the residents sat around tables (with umbrellas) on the deck.

 

Because I was in the sun and the band was in the shade, I was worried that the photos would not come out clearly, but they are perfect.  They can all be seen by clicking here.

 

I can’t put any of their music on my web server because my server just doesn’t have the “horsepower”.  So if you want to hear them, you’ll  need to attend a concert.

 

Attending their concerts is free, and the adult retirement communities where they play, won’t keep you. (Well at least they haven’t kept me and I really look old)

 

Arnie and I tried to have them at the Rochester Picnic this year, but there was a conflict in their scheduling.  Maybe we can get them next year?

 

The band closes every concert with “God Bless America”, as pictured below. 

 

 

“Darn, I’ve forgot to pick up some dandruff shampoo”

“Hey guys, If I promise to play in tune, can I come back and play some more?

It was hot if  you weren’t under an umbrella.

This is a test to see if you recognize of the band members from the back.

Special  Notice:

 

The Band’s Concert scheduled on August 19, 2008 at the Edna Wilson Living Center, 700 Island Cottage Road has been cancelled.

Midtown Plaza Closes

For those of you that don’t live in the Rochester area anymore or get the Democrat and Chronicle, Midtown Plaza was closed to the public on Saturday, July 26, 2008.

 

It opened 46 years ago as the nation’s first indoor urban mall.

 

The D&C has a comment page set up so that people can share their memories of Midtown.   You can see it by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of their article.

Russell Station Closure Party

The cake celebrating Russell’s closure

The closure party for Russell Station was held on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at Crescent Beach Hotel on Edgemere Drive in Greece, NY.

 

It was a lovely affair.  It was held outside on the hotel’s grounds in an enclosed tent complete with chandeliers. 

 

There were numerous hot and cold appetizers, prepared and served by the hotel staff accompanied by music played by the Bob DiBaudo Trio, a local jazz and blues group. 

 

He plays at local clubs such as The Lodge at Woodcliff, The Montage, The Bistro in East Rochester, Oak Hill Country Club, and many private engagements.

 

The main course consisted of an excellent fillet of beef loin (Fillet Minion w/o the bacon), roast turkey, potatoes, pastas, and much, much more. That I really can’t do justice in describing it all.

 

After the meal there was a huge cookie cake, cream puffs, canolies, and much more.  It was culminated by a piece of the cake I pictured above. 

 

I don’t know about everyone else, but I was stuffed! 

There were even two poster boards depicting the history of Russell Station.

 

All said and done it was a find send off for a “Grand Old Lady”. She will be missed by all who knew her.

At every concert there are individuals who stand for this song. I got a picture of one elderly gentleman standing with the help of his walker while “God Bless America” was played.

Rochester Picnic

The Rochester Picnic is right around the corner.  So if you haven’t gotten your tickets by now, it’s probably to late.  I know Arnie has turned in the final count to the caterer, and I don’t know if he can squeeze anyone else in. 

 

So far this year we have a paid attendance of 250 individuals. It promises to be a great day.  We bribed the weatherman and even went to church and asked the “big” guy for a nice day.

 

This year we are having a small memorabilia table with a few of the past gifts from prior Pioneer’s Club picnics that Sue Ritzenthaler donated to us in her fathers name.  If you have something to share with us, this is the place to do it.

 

We also have the services of Barry Nenno to take photos of the picnic for the web site.

 

As a lot of you know, I am trying to maintain the Retired Employee’s Directory.  This has turned out to be tough, as there are about 1500 names in it at present.  Our former employer won’t help (privacy laws and all that), so it’s up to us to keep it going.

 

With keeping it up to date in mind, I am in the process of making a huge three-ring binder with everybody’s information in it.  It will be running close to 500 pages overall.

 

I’m going to bring it to the picnic and put it on the Welcome Table.  I’d like everyone to check their information for accuracy and completeness.  And if you can, update the information on anyone else you might have.