January was a month for gathering with friends.
THE M*A*S*H Gala: A Benefit for Ayla’s Acres No-Kill Animal Rescue was at The TPC (The Players Club — a PGA club) Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Loretta Swit, lovingly recalled as Major Margaret “Hotlips” Houlihan, called her former co-stars from the TV series M*A*S*H to help raise funds.
Actor Ed Asner, aka television’s Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, was the emcee.
IN PICTURES: On The Town, 2-7
M*A*S*H cast members also in attendance were Mike Farrell (Captain B.J. Hunnicut), Jamie Farr (Corporal Maxwell Klinger), and Gary Burghoff, “Radar,” the surprise guest who is retiring from acting.
The evening included a gourmet dinner, and auctions that included golf with Toledo’s Jamie Farr, and other cast packages.
An estimated $50,000 is expected to be raised to help build Peter’s Friends Animal Resource Center’s community low and no-cost spay, neuter, and vaccination clinic in St. Johns County, part of Ayla’s Acres, a St. Augustine based organization.
The event, highlighting the M*A*S*H cast, will be aired March 2 at 7:30 p.m on 13abc.
ART expression helps people cope with the extraordinary changes they experience during their cancer journey. The 4th annual Toledo Victory Center Cancer Survivor Art Show was at the center. Many of the art pieces were created by survivors who participated in Healthy Spirit Art Therapy, a free art therapy program led by local art therapist Areka Foster. Artists shared their stories behind their artwork, which included contemplative, joyful, and inspirational themes through glass mosaic, jewelry, knitting, collage, and various paint media.
GOOD friends who originally bonded at the Summer Committee, Bachelor Committee, and Labor Day Corn Roast events in the 1980s reunited at Inverness Club, one of their many locations for past soirees.
Forty-some friends in country club casual attire greeted each other with hugs, caught up on who is doing what these days, and reminisced as they perused photos of the fun times.
It all started with the famous Summer Committee Beach Party at Toledo Beach Marina, then owned by the late Virgil Gladieux. The hosts, in pink T-shirts with green alligators, were Cindy Rimmelin, Andrea Reams, Kathy Dise, Kitty Ragan, Sue Metzger, Kathy Miller, and myself. We had as much fun planning the parties with the purpose of meeting young professional men and women, as we did attending them.
That first party included lily-print covered tables centered with pink candles and sweetheart roses, fresh fruit salad we made in the late Smiley Putman’s Falmouth Road kitchen in Ottawa Hills the night before along with shish-kabob chocolate mousse. Our chef was the late Fr. Bob Kirkland, Blade wine columnist and law professor at University of Toledo, assisted by Paul Smart, attorney.
There were Put-in-Bay rendevous and many cocktail parties at various area country clubs.
While the Summer Committee was planning its first party, a group of young bachelors in white dinner jackets, including Dock Treece, hosted a Spring Champagne Mixer at the Toledo Club.
These events inspired others to host soirees including the Spring Formal at Toledo Country Club and the New Year’s Eve party at the former Gun Club in Perrysburg hosted by Jeff Foster, Allan Block, chairman of Block Communications Inc., parent company of The Blade, and others including Diane Dalton, and John Robinson Block, now publisher and editor-in-chief of The Blade.
Later, the group evolved into the Toledo Committee and the Bachelor Committee, with hosts Sandy Lubin, Jim Haxton and others, with proceeds for a charity. Their Great All-American Wild Goose Chase road rally was a heap of fun.
Also bringing friends together were the annual Labor Day corn roasts hosted by the late George Couch at Menonaqua Beach Club in Harbor Springs, Mich., where his parents had a vacation home.
Ah, the memories. Thanks go to the reunion committee: Brent Cousino, Boo Anderson Hensien, Cindy Rimmelin, and Kathy Miller.
Among the reunion guests, many of whom met their spouses through one of the events or were on committees, were Brock Rimmelin, Kitty and Jim Ragan, Cindy Treece, Jon Miller, Mary Beth Schoen, Fritz Schoen, Pam Meyer Boundy and Dick Boundy, Jim Edmunds, Kathleen Ryan, Dr. Ned Hein, John Hadley, Steve and Marsha Boice, Dr. Scott Kelly and wife Melissa, Terri and Mike Ward, Kay Anderson, and Pam Cousino.
THE Academy of Medicine of Toledo and Lucas County annual meeting was at the Premier with more than 100 physicians and guests.
Fourteen new members were inducted. Sadly, 21 members passed away in 2015, but were remembered with a memorial service.
Ohio State Medical Association President Dr. Robert Kose of Toledo gave an association update. The association’s 50-Year award was presented to Dr. Robert Finkel.
Guest speaker, Ohio Auditor of State Dave Yost, discussed issues in the auditor’s office.
This year’s elected officers include President-Elect Dr. JoDee Ahrens, Vice President Dr. Christopher Bates, and Secretary Dr. Richard Munk. Other elected officials include Dr. Thomas Colturi, Dr. Allen Flickinger, Dr. Jeanine Huttner, Dr. Gregory Kasper, Dr. John McGreevey, Jr., Dr. Donna Woodson, Dr. Ted Barber, and Dr. Timothy Husted. Other Academy officers include Dr. William Sternfeld, and Dr. Henry Naddaf, immediate past president.
The evening ended when Dr. Naddaf, 2015 president, handed the gavel over to Dr. Bennett Romanoff, 2016 president.
First Published February 7, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
