Annual Report 2010 - Gifford Medical Center

in the gifford community
O Romeo!
This group of ROMEOs ranges in age from the late
60s to early 90s. They’ve been meeting around the
area for more than 15 years. They now meet solely
at Gifford – for convenience and good food. Pictured
clockwise from the left are, Midge Meaney, Don
Zilch, Melvin “Major” McLaughlin, Bob Cantlin, Nap
Pietryka, Bud Cedarstaff and Lew Whitaker.
For these ROMEOs, laughter, not Juliet, beckons
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo” Why
at Gifford, of course.
Every Tuesday morning the ROMEOs meet at the
Gifford cafeteria for conversation and coffee. Taking
Shakespeare’s famous quote more literally, we asked the
question “why” our Romeos call themselves by this name.
Well, it’s actually ROMEO standing for Retired Old Men
Eating Out, which comes from a passage in Tom Brokaw’s
book “The Greatest Generation.”
The group got its start in 1995 when Lew Whitaker
of Randolph and the late Charlie Ludwig of Randolph
Center, who both retired to Vermont from out-of-state and
who both served on the local
planning board, decided to get
together for coffee. And, says
“We’re just
a bunch of
good old boys,
who like to get
together ... .
We talk about
the good old
days.”
Nap Pietryka,
Randolph
Lew, now 89, to “…get away
from the women for awhile
and talk man talk.”
Over time the group grew
as others were invited to join
them. They met at various
establishments around the
area – the Red Kettle in
Northfield, Wilson’s in
Bethel, the Barnard General
Store, Eaton’s Sugarhouse in
Royalton and even Vermont
Technical College – but more
recently settled on Gifford
as close to home in winter
weather, affordable and
serving up a good meal.
“When the hospital got into the serving business, we
found it was the best price and very good food,” says Nap
Pietryka, a member of the now eight-person, invitationonly
group.
Nap’s been attending for about a decade and as an early
octogenarian is among the younger members. “Major”
Melvin McLaughlin, now in his 90s, is the group’s oldest
and newest member.
“We’re just a bunch of good old boys, who like to get
together, who enjoy each other’s company,” explains Nap.
Breakfast and silence come first; it’s all business when it
comes to eating. But then the conversation, camaraderie
and comedy begin.
“We talk about the good old days. ‘You remember
when… ’” Nap reports. Old comics, old cars and current
sports are hot topics, but politics is off the table “We do
have some basic rules, but nobody follows them,” Nap says
with laughter in his voice.
They joke with new members about “dues,” but there
really are none. There did used to be a gavel, but it’s long
lost. It was used to bring the group to order and to enforce
one real rule: Only one conversation at time. But even
that’s not really enforced anymore. “We bring it up once in
awhile just for a laugh,” Nap says.
One consistency is the meeting itself. They come in
snow, sleet and freezing rain. Only a major holiday results
in a cancellation.
And then there are the Internet jokes. Some of the group
members don’t even have a computer, but those who do
bring in jokes they’ve printed off. Nap, the official joke
reader, shares them with the group.
“If laughing is good,” says Nap, “this group is going to
live a long time.”
Indeed.
Gifford’s Best Kept Secrets - 18 -
Annual Report 2010