Walt has been on the board for
Citizens Who Care, whose mission is
to improve quality of life for the elderly and their caregivers in Yolo
County, for many years now.
From the web site: The
organization's roots formed in 1975 as a Citizens Advisory Committee of the
Mental Health Association of Yolo County. In 1985 we established our
one-on-one visitation program in convalescent hospitals. In 1986 we
developed our in-home respite visiting program. More recently we established
our Time Off for Caregivers Program - now called Saturday Club.
As
a member of the board, one of Walt's duties is to help with fund raising
projects. Twenty-three years ago, several selfless and very talented
members of the Davis theater community were asked if they could put on a
musical show to help raise money. The format was four couples sitting
at tables while moderator, Stephen Peithman, at that time host of a weekly
radio show called "Musical Stages," which talked about all things musical
theater, with recordings to illustrate his stories, read the background of a
particular composer, lyricist, or performer while the 8 people sitting at
the tables got up and did solos or duets or ensemble numbers.
Nobody dreamed how incredibly
popular it would be or that they would end up doing the concert for twenty
years. Some of the original performers still performed, but it's
getting more difficult since we are all aging. A new group took over
last year and will be performing this year.
But today we went to a reception
to honor and thank all of the "old timers" and many of the long term
supporters of the concert, as well as the members of the board. It was
held at the Stonegate Country Club, overlooking "Lake Stonegate," a manmade
lake where our kids, as teens, ran "The Pirates of Stonegate," a summer
activity for little kids, for several years.
The event was catered by Dos
Coyotes and featured drinks (including sangria), a salsa bar, a selection of
several Mexican-ish things on sticks, and at the end, the inevitable cake.
There was schmoozing for an hour or so and then a program
put on by several of the performers who attended the event. The host
of the evening introduced the three widows in the audience, Edelgard
Brunelle, whose husband Dick was the accompanist for this show for many
years; Pat Hutchinson, who, with her husband, got the annual concerts
started and ran them every year until his death; and Jackie Shack, wife of
Peter Shack, who performed with the group for many, many years until his
death. All three men much beloved and sorely missed.
Then it was time for music. It was like the old days,
with Steve introducing each performer and telling a bit about the background
of the song he or she was going to sing.
A particular delight was a performance by Martha Dickman,
the producer of the show for all those years, as well as a performer, now in
her 80s, but with a voice still strong and clear and
smooth as melted butter. (I wish
the video were longer.)
And then there was cake, more schmoozing, and then back home
again. A really nice, low key event, but lots of love and lots of
catching up with people we hadn't seen in years
We brought home leftovers from the party so didn't need
dinner. At 8 we went to Atria to watch CSI with my mother.
She used to be a huge fan of the show but stopped watching when William
Peterson (Grissom) left. However, when I found out he was returning
for the finale, I thought she might enjoy it but knew she'd never watch it
by herself, so Walt and I went to watch it with her.
Ultimately I think she enjoyed it, though after I turned it
on, she asked if I wanted to turn it off so we could visit (NO!!!!!).
When Walt arrived, she asked him if he was Walt. And at every
commercial break, she asked me if the show would be continued next week and
I would tell her that no, this was the finale. It was good to have
Walt there because he got a taste of what I go through every time I visit.
But she kinda sorta followed the story once she got into it and even cried,
with me, at the emotional ending, so I think it was good that we did that.
I'll have to keep my eyes out for things on TV that I think she might like
and have more TV parties. We get to have quality visits and we don't
have to just sit there and stare at each other!
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