Dancing into the new year.....

We are heading out to Prospectors for the night before New Year's Eve dancing. We'll be there tomorrow, too. :-) and hope to  be joined by lots of our country dancing friends, but all our friends will be in our thoughts with best wishes for a wonderful 2016 filled with good times, good health, and world peace.

Looking for input for future lunch date sites

Where might we like to meet for lunch on our next scheduled date- Wednesday, January 13, 2016?
Let me know if you have a suggestion by commenting here or sending an email to me. Thanks!

So far input has included going back to Dooney's Pub and a place called Breakfast Nook on River Rd.

Happy holidays! <3

See anyone you recognize?

It looks like the Pops Christmas show was wonderful.

Isn't that Jeff Smith, to the left of Santa? (This is Mike Kaminski's photo from Twitter).

Good times

December 16, 2015
   Our group met and ate on the patio at Prospectors. Good food, good friends, and a good time was had by all. Happy upcoming birthdays to Ron and Bruce. Happy holidays to all and see you next year!

If you want to add birthday dates, holiday greetings, or messages of any kind to our blog, feel free to click where it says comments (or "no comments" if you are the first one!) and write something.
Our next scheduled meeting date will be Wednesday, January 13, 2016. (We haven't chosen a location yet....) Hope to see you there! Happy New Year!

Jill's news

Jill Ambrus won't be able to join us at lunch but she wanted you to know that she is fostering 2 bonded bichons beginning next Monday, Dec. 21. They will be on Fox and Friends on Friday, Dec. 18 with the president of Small Paws Rescue, a national organization.
If anyone is interested in Phoenix or Dallas (both age 3, groomed and vetted) she will have them at her house if anyone is interested in adopting them.
She hears they are good dogs and really cute. Their owner passed away and the family doesn't want them.
http://www.smallpawsrescue.org/

Last DEAR lunch of 2015

See you tomorrow! <3

Hello from the road

Hi, All!
   On the ride home from Florida I saw that the Middle School is having early dismissal because of the lost power from a nearby accident. Hope all went well.
    I hope everything has been going well with you all since last we met.Florida was fun and we are looking forward to a visit with Joanne Karwacki in NC on the way home.
    If you won't be joining us at Prospectors on Wednesday (Dec.16th) please keep Joan Klaus and Ron Caracci in your thoughts for her successful surgery and his upcoming birthday. (Anybody else we should add to that list?)
    Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season to all!
    See you soon, I hope!
Love,
Roberta
P.S. I just rediscovered the private Facebook group of ours.
If you are on facebook and not a member, please consider joining. :-)

Here comes the sun!

So Thanksgiving was good? I hope you all had a great day and didn't eat more than you'd planned to.

What are your plans between now and our next lunch date (Wednesday, Dec. 16)? Tom and I are heading down to Florida for some (hopefully!) sunny and warm weather.

Take care and be well.

More sad news

*Bruce Smith let us know, via a Facebook post, that Mrs. Kim, mother of David Kim, and a wonderful substitute music teacher in Delran over the years, passed away this week.

*The Paris attacks....I have no words.....

Sad news

I just got an e-mail from Donna Hammer regarding the sudden death of a Millbridge first grade teacher- Kelli Pancoast. She passed away in her sleep last night and there is no known cause at this time.

She leaves a husband and a young daughter and a community of saddened colleagues and friends.

Our prayers are with her family.

Message about Bruce Springstein from Carol Reed

I'm not sure if Carol sent this out to all or just me, so here is her message:

Just FYI any Delran Bruce Springsteen fans: My husband is Frank Stefanko, one of Bruce Springsteen's long-time photographers. Frank took the photos for Springsteen's album "The River", which is currently being commemorated with a special 40th anniversary anniversary re-release. The video from this anniversary compilation is premiering on HBO on Nov. 27th.  Some of Frank's work, along with that of other photographers, will be in the video.  (We have not seen it yet).  But, if folks are interested, read the following:

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2015/11/bruce-springsteens-river-documentary-to-premiere-on-hbo/

Carol Reed

Bobbie Wenick in the News

Guess who I found on the front page of today's Burlington County Times? Our Millbridge colleague, Bobbie Wenick.

She was in the news with a heartwarming story of reconnecting with a former second grade student of hers.

They visited their old second grade classroom together and spoke to the current second graders there.

Here's the story: Bobbie and Michael Do

Bruce Smith has a band!

It was great to see everyone at Prospector's yesterday.

Last ones at the fabulous salad bar

The next scheduled lunch -same time, same place- is Wednesday, November 18th. Hope you can make it.

Meanwhile, Bruce's band has some scheduled dates coming up, as previously indicated on this blog:
http://deardelran.blogspot.com/2015/09/bruces-moorestown-community-band.html

That will get you the dates and the official band webpage.
Meanwhile, the first one is Sunday, November 8th at the Burlington County Library main branch in Mt. Holly in their lovely new auditorium at 2 p.m.

See you Wednesday?

We're getting to the final countdown for this month's lunch at Prospectors (12:30 Wed. Oct.28th). As usual we have a lot of friends who can't make it for any number of reasons, which is to be expected with our busy lives.

I love hearing from everybody even when they respond with regrets, because it keeps us in touch even so.

Most recently I have heard from Mary Catherine Faunce who says to give everyone her best regards but regrets her plate is too full at this time to join us, though she'd rather be sitting with us and a full plate! :-)

Joe McCole says can't join us this month but says he had lunch with "Marion fink Donna van Joan Lewis and Bonnie Peterson" last week and told them about us. I told him to please give them my email in case they want to be on our notification list.

Meanwhile, back at the DEA, I attended the BCEA Presidents dinner last night and had a good time visiting with some of our still active colleagues. 

John K. and Maxine Carter were there, too, and you will be seeing them on Wednesday.  Ron Caracci is joining us, too.

Small Florida survey: Who here has been or will be in Florida for any part of the 2015-2016 school year? Just curious. 

Looking forward to Wednesday

This is embarrassing, but I sort of forgot about this blog!
I was writing to Suzanne who is currently in FL and that made me think of it.
She will be back in the area Nov.7th and will stay in NJ until she and her husband go back in January to live in their new house down there for the winter.

I have also heard from our Delran friend, Joan Boland, now a year round Wildwood resident. She said to say hi to everyone. It sounds like she has a fun filled life there...with the summer and fall being more lively than winter...so, they are planning some cruising and FL visits to keep up the excitement.

I hope everyone is enjoying good health.

I was happy to see many of you at the BCREA Fall Meeting/Luncheon

 and look forward to seeing you all at Prospectors at 12;30 on the 28th (Wednesday).

Talk about memories....!

Good morning!

Retirement Brunch 2010

Remember the Faculty Feud?

The Saccas

Sometime when you have some time, you might enjoy looking through these 375! photos that used to be on a webpage called DEApix.

https://delranea.shutterfly.com/deapix

I have had so many photo online website hosts bite the dust over the years. Some of them took my photos with them, but this collection was salvageable and I am finally getting them available online again.


Enjoy!

Appreciating the grandparents

I don't want to be too Facebook-y with this forum, but this article I found there touched my heart and I wanted to share it with all the grandparents in the group...
http://www.hrtwarming.com/she-knew-mother-in-law-was-turning-her-kids-into-spoiled-brats-but-never-expected-this-after-she-passed-away/

Bruce's Moorestown Community Band

Our Bruce Smith is the Conductor of the Moorestown Community Band.

You can see a schedule of their upcoming events and other information on their website .

The big news is their next performance is going to be at the Burlington County Library on Woodlane Rd. at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8. (It's free).

That's the Autumn Concert.

The 200th Anniversary Concert is Nov. 11  at the First United Methodist Church of Moorestown and the Winter Concert is going to be held at the Moorestown Middle School in early December.

I'm looking forward to attending, how about you all?

September 2015 Lunch at Prospectors

We're back at Prospectors and had a good lunch.
Some more photos of our happy group are up on the shutterfly share site. 

We look forward to seeing you at next month's get together here at Prospectors on Wednesday, October 28th at 12:30.

NJREA Fall Meeting

I went up to Bordentown for the NJREA Fall Meeting and saw three of our group up there- Margie Gessmann (who is the new BCREA VP), John Kugler, and Toni Guerra.

The current goal is to increase membership and get everyone active in saving our pension and health benefits system.

New notification and response system being tested

Today I bumped into a website called Sign up Genius and thought I'd give it a try and see if it might work for our group.
So far there are a few kinks I noticed. For example, they have me (the creator) down for a guest and I don't plan on having a guest and don't remember clicking anything to indicate that. So far I have Charlotte Orfe and Ron Caracci no and Rosemary, her guest (Bruce?) and me as responders.
We can talk about it at lunch Thursday.
I look forward to seeing everyone there!

Remember Donna Rolfs?

This update on a longtime friend comes from Bruce Smith.
Here is his messsage:
    *****************************************
At one of our last DEAR luncheon gatherings (Maybe it was the June meeting), some of the people there had asked if anyone had heard from Donna Rolfs, and no one had heard from her in quite a while.  I spoke to her on the phone for a long time the other day.
She lives in Littleton, Colorado and is doing fine.  She would love to have phone calls or messages from any or all friends back here in Jersey.  Her email address is:   DLWR@comcast.net.  Her phone numbers are:  (C) 609-744-6934 & (H) 720-255-2338.
   *****************************************************
What do you remember about Donna?

Big News

Did you hear that Jeff Smith (Bruce and Rosemary's son) and his Philadelphia Boys Choir are going to be singing for the Pope?

The talented Jeff Smith

How proud are we of this Delran H.S. grad? (Very!)



(photo from CBS Philly)

Our next lunch get together

There seems to have been some confusion about the date for this September's DEAR lunch. I guess it's a little later in the than usual, but it is Thursday, September 24th and I look forward to seeing you all there!

It's back to Prospectors and the time is the usual 12:30.

So what has everyone been up to lately?

My current projects include an upcoming high school reunion (next May!) and my township's Fun Day tomorrow.

Roberta and Rosina outside Prospectors

Karen Bank's Obituary

My source for this September 13, 2015 Courier Post article was the Delran Education Association Facebook page.

Karen S. Banks, of Willingboro, passed Sept. 8, 2015, age 58. She was an educator of many retiring in June, 2014 after 30 years of teaching, and continued to educate as a Professor at Rowan University. 
She is preceded in death by her mother, Barbara Harris who passed March 15, 2015. 
She is survived by her father, David R. Harris, Sr.; husband, high school sweetheart and traveling partner John I. Banks, Sr.; children, John I. Banks, Jr. (Elizabeth), Kenda Banks (Keith), Jarrett Banks, Sr., and Jordan Banks, Sr. (Sarah); 17 grandchildren; sisters, Marsha and Sylvia Harris; brother, David Harris, Jr. (Tami); and a host of other relatives and friends. 
Baha'i services will be held Mon 6:30-8PM at Carl Miller Funeral Home, 831 Carl Miller Blvd., Camden. Christian services will be held 11am Tues. at Second Bapt. Church, 319 Mill St., Moorestown where the viewing begins at 9am. Repast immediately after the service. In lieu of flowers, donations towards transporting Karen to Arizona for burial may be made to a fund set up in her name - Karen S. Banks, c/o Bank of America, acct # 381036230136.

Rest in Peace, Karen

Working on logistics

I got an email notification that Sharon McVeigh commented on my "Getting Started" post. Since this is a new contact format for all of us, I am posting her comment here. You can see her original comment by clicking "4 comments" under my "Getting Started" post (the first (bottom-most) one.

"Hi, Is anyone else getting freaked out about so many members passing away?
Now you know why I chose failedretirement@gmail.com to be my gmail account. Too creepy to retire fully. Figure kids were and will be my life forever. Today I taught 5 classes in a row, had lunch duty, 20 minutes off, then taught 2 more classes. Correct--7 classes of Spanish and a duty. No wonder all Catholic School Teachers go right to heaven! Three days a week, nineteen classes and 2 duties. ps. 10 different levels. Prek tp 8. Gotta love it. ps I do love the kids. Keeps you young and busy. Please stay well everyone--this is getting freaky lately. Sharon McVeigh"

Sad news about Karen Banks

John Kugler just called to let me know the sad news that Karen Banks passed away. He said it isn't in the paper yet, but I found this message (posted last night) on her Facebook page (among many other condolences and expressions of sympathy):

"Hi All this is Kenda Banks . It is still very unbelievable and a shocker that my mom, Karen Banks has passed away this morning. We do not have all of the answers yet as to what happened, but she went away peacefully. We thank you for all the well wishes, prayers and love...she will be deeply missed by all especially by her traveling partner and best friend, John Banks! This is an extremely hard time, but GOD has a plan and she was called home. We will keep all posted once arrangements have been made."

Congratulations Margie!

Today's Executive Committee meeting was Marge Gessmans's first appearance as BCREA Vice President. She did a great job (of course!)
Afterward, she and John Kugler, BCREA treasurer Judy Gaber, and I grabbed a bite at the East Ridge Plaza pizza place. What memories we have of eating there over the years!
John and Marge (and Toni Guerra) will not be able to join us on the 24th because they will be at the NJREA meeting and lunch. 
Is anyone interested in going up for the meeting only with me? (I'll drive....)

Enjoying lunch at East Ridge Pizza

BCREA VP Marge Gessmann and President John Dioszeghy

Sept.8, 2015 BCREA meeting

Take note of this clock!

I think we have some friends who would love to have this musical clock for real!

Getting started

It's Labor Day and the living is easy....

As the new school year gets underway, and we didn't have to prepare for it or be there, I had time to think. I thought, "How can I best communicate with my fellow retirees and friends about what is going on with us all these days?"

Facebook? No, not everyone is on it or likes it or wants to be that public.

Shutterfly share site? Yes, that's been fun for posting photos of our lunch groups over these last few years. But, our photos are mixed in with other friends of mine.

A website? Hmm....

A blog? Yes!! Easy to set up and quick for posts. It can have photos, comments, announcements. I like it.

Here it is! :-)