Happy birthday, Ron!

Today is Ron Caracci's birthday as well as our December DEAR lunch at Dooney's Pub in Delran (12:30).

We are keeping Suzanne Iannone and Judie Collins in our thoughts and prayers. (Suzanne's mother passed away and Judie is in the hospital recovering from a stroke).

I think this end of the year/decade might be a good time to share some DEA photos from yesteryear that will bring back a lot of memories for those of you pictured.
Here's the link: https://delranea.shutterfly.com/deapix/4  (See anyone you know???)

It's beginning to look a lot like....

2019 is coming closer and closer to the end. Time goes so fast now, right?

For starters, I hope everyone can come to our last DEAR lunch of the year on December 18th. That will be at Dooney's Pub in Delran at 12:30. It would be great to see everyone!

Remember Bruce's concert on Dec. 6th.

If anyone is on Facebook and would be interested in being a member of the private group we comment on occasionally, let me know. The URL is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/379103985568750/  but I'm not sure what the deal is with the privacy factor for joining...

Happy Thanksgiving and stay warm! (and healthy, please).



Last lunch photo:

November 20, 2019

...and so it is Fall....

So it's been Halloween and leaves turning color and the election and the NJREA convention and now time for another DEAR friends lunch at Dooneys! Sorry for the last minute notification! I look forward to seeing you all!

Here are photos from our last lunch:

Our October DEAR lunch group

Judi Joyce Suzanne

Marion and Judy

Barbara and Kris

Shirley

Bruce and Jeanne

Marcia and Rosina

Rosemary and Lois Schmeidler

So, what's been going on with you all? I invite you to add a comment below! :-)

So what's new?

I just got Bruce's announcement about his upcoming Moorestown Community Band concerts (Yes, two! )

The first one is Saturday, Nov. 2, 7-9 p.m. It's called the Wiley Village Concert and is being held on Main Street in Marlton. Open to the public; a wide variety of music

The second is Friday, Dec. 6  7:30-9:30 A Winter Potpourri Concert at William Allen Middle School,
801 N. Stanwick Road, Moorestown. Free

Note: Although the concerts are free, donations are joyfully accepted! :-)

So...what have you all been up to? I hope you had a great summer!

Marcia Konieczka and I went to Seaside on the first day of school (to celebrate...you know...) and to New York City a couple of times (The Cher Show and then, yesterday, Tootsie).

Anybody interested in seeing West Side Story on Broadway? That may be next on my list....(Also interested in Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, and, of course, Harry Potter!)

Available on the NEW BCREA website

With the aspect of changes to the State Health Benefits plan in the forefront of Association news, it might behoove those of you not currently NJREA/BCREA members to join.  You just have to call NJEA Membership at 609 599-4561 (and have your credit card handy!)

Also, BCREA members are encouraged to join our fellow retirees at the Fall Luncheon on October 17 at Marcos Restaurant. Details and the registration form are available on the BCREA website-https://www.bcreanj.org under events  
(The deadline for signing up is September 26!).

Happy Fall and hope to see you soon!

Fun lunch but on a sad day -September 11

Apparently it's the delicious food as well as convenient location that keeps us coming back to Dooney's Pub.

Great to see everyone, as always. All are welcome to join us next month on October 23. :-)

Barbara DuRoss, Bruce and Rosemary Smith, Ron Caracci, Marcia Konieczka, Peg Sacca, Pat Tieman, Laura Cooper, Carol Reed, Shirley Storm, Jeanne Zensen, Rosina Anthony, Roberta Sallee, Jean Zensen

RIP Morris Burton, former Delran School Board Member and friend

Morris  R. Burton

Morris passed away on August 29th; may he rest in peace.

Givinch Funeral Home Services and Obituary link

Summertime

I missed you all and hope you had a great summer!
What have you been up to?
In Delran friends related activities, I saw The Cher Show in New York City with Marcia Konieczka

and visited with Wilma and Harry Kaelin while Tom and I were in Florida last week.

I am looking forward to seeing some of you on Wednesday, September 11th at 12:30 at Dooney's Pub in Delran.

With school starting next week, my thoughts turn to not having to get ready for it and maybe heading to Seaside to celebrate that fact.

Marcia and I are thinking of going there Thursday, September 5th. Who wants to join us??? :-)   

Skipping August?

Thanks to all who were able to join us for our July lunch. It was great seeing everyone.

Barbara, not me, Shirley, Judie, Rosina, Barbara, Marcia, Jean, Peg, Ron, John

No date is set for August. We'll make the next one for early in September.....How about Seaside for the first day of school???? Just a thought.....

Happy summer!

It seems July is a busy month for not being around town. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to our upcoming Dooney's lunch this coming week.

I was happy to get together with some of our retired Millbridge colleagues earlier this month. They say hi!

So how about this wild summer weather? I hope you have all been keeping cool and having fun despite the hot, humid, rain, wind (tornadoes!). Feel free to share your good times with us in comments below! :-)

A new crop of retirees

I always enjoy attending the annual DEA Retirement event. This year's lunch was no exception.
I appreciate the yearly invitation from the Delran officers.

The photos from this year's event are on the shutterfly share site I still keep up for Delran:

https://delranea.shutterfly.com/801

I hope they will consider joining our DEAR Friends group!

I was especially pleased to see that Rosemary Ghegan Larson received the Paraprofessional of the Year Award. She was in my first fifth grade class when I started teaching in Delran!

Whatever the weather....

It was good to see everyone at Dooney's for lunch today.

L. front to back: Shirley Storm, Barbara Duross, Judy Harrington, Bruce Smith
R. front to back: Barbara Johnson, Rosina Anthony, Jean Lombardi, Ron Caracci, Rosemary Smith

Just as we were walking in, who should appear coincidentally but Donna Hammer and her husband!

What a nice surprise!




You can see other photos on our shutterfly site.

When it was time to go we noticed it was POURING, so we hung out until it stopped and was sunny again.
(That stormy to humid sunny scene has been happening a lot lately. :-(    And...what about those tornadoes? In NJ?!!!!)

Our next scheduled date is Wednesday, July 24th. Hope you can make it! Meanwhile, enjoy the summer!

How is your summer going so far?

Hi! I am looking forward to our lunch next Wednesday and hope you are all doing well. What's been going on?

I have been to Nashville

and Trenton 

since last we met.

What's been going on with all y'all?( Bruce, I hope the performance at the Strawberry Festival went well...sorry I had to miss it this year.)

Here is Janet's letter about the August 15th Phillies Game fundraiser for Strike Out Hunger.

A good time was had by all

May 15th was another fun get-together for our DEAR group.

Shirley, Warren, Marcia, Joan, Rosemary, Barbara, (Roberta), Bruce

The next one is set for Wednesday, June 19th at 12: 30 at Dooney's and we look forward to seeing you there.

It seems we've suddenly jumped right into the hot summer temperatures.

Stay cool and hope to see you soon. Meanwhile, take care and be well!

Lots of retirees!

I had the pleasure of dining with some of our DEAR friends at Dooney's in late April (hooray for tax season being over! :-)

Rosina, Jean, Marcia, Kathryn, Ron, Rosina, Shirley, Barbara (not pictured, Bruce and me)

More photos

and....some of our Millbridge friends and former colleagues at Seasons52 in Cherry Hill on May 3rd.

Yvonne, Donna, Sarah, Roberta, Anell, Bobbie, Jean, Judy, Doreen, Karen, Jennie, Darby

I am so happy to be able to keep in touch with you all!

Did you know I have a ton of old photos and albums on a Facebook group site? It's called Everything I Know I Learned in Fifth Grade.

Great concert, Bruce!

The audience was packed and included many of our retired friends (not pictured: Peg and John Sacca, Jean Lombardi, Marcia Konieczka, Rosina and Jim Anthony....)

Bruce was an enthusiastic and talented conductor and the performances were outstanding.

Thanks for inviting us, Bruce! See you next time!

What's going on

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and memories of Almeida Swalm. It was good to hear from those of you who worked with and knew her. May she rest in peace.

In my last email message I asked how everyone was doing and one of the early responders was Margie Chodikoff. She asked to give you all her best regards. She said she and David are doing fine. They are once again in North Carolina for 6 months and have recently (in November) celebrated their 50th anniversary. :-)  They keep active with lectures, book club, walking, and many cultural events. David is a medallist at ping pong!

News from Bruce Smith: If you go to the Moorestown Community Band website you will find lots of information about the band as well as 16 songs you can download and listen to while waiting for their upcoming concert on April 12th.

I have something to share, too. A couple of years ago I attended the Burlington County Seniors Police Academy. It was awesome. I saw that another one is being held starting in April. A flyer will be forthcoming.

Also, FYI, there is going to be a first annual Food Truck event May 4th which is being held at the Burlington County Fairgrounds .

Time marches on

We are already deep into 2019 and overdue for a DEAR lunch get- together.
We finally have a date set - March 13th - and hope to see you there!