Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Last week I shared memories of the early years in the Middlesex County Rotary Club. Today I remember some of the fun members I had breakfast with every Tuesday morning. There was a great deal of laughter.
“Doc” Jones was a highly entertaining member. He served for many years as our Sergeant at Arms. One of his duties was to check to make sure each member came to the meeting wearing his or her Rotary pin.
Of course, I never had my pin on, so I was his usual go to member. The fine for not remembering your pin was $1, which went into our scholarship fund so it was for a good cause but I never had any money with me. “Go see Chip, to collect my fine,” I always told Doc who immediately went to the lawyer to try to pry a dollar out of him. Of course, Chip always had his pin attached to his lapel. Whether Doc ever managed to get a dollar out of Chip for his wife’s weekly negligence was never known.
Doc Jones shared with me his early memories when he had once opened a business in Urbanna. I believe he said he had taken over the gas station, and he told me how tough it was for him in those days to have a business in town. I gathered in those days there was not much local support.
Doc has a wonderful personality and relates well with all kinds of people. I would guess if Doc were still interested in returning to Urbanna, the gas station is available again and the town would be most appreciative if he would return.
Chuck Ylonen was another great Rotarian. He had owned a chain of grocery stores in the city and became “Mr. Rotary” in Middlesex in his retirement and worked hard to build our club. He sponsored all of us to the much-coveted Paul Harris pin. All we had to do was cough up half the cost, which as I remember at the time was $500 for both Chip and me. He made sure our entire club membership had these special pins which funds were used for worldwide help projects.
Then, Chauncey Mann, a minister in a local Baptist church, was a great Rotarian. I adored Chauncey. A Bucknell University graduate and a much loved and respected man in Middlesex, he enjoyed putting on a Black accent of yesteryear. He and Chuck Ylonen would put on a “shtick” over breakfast pretending to be stereotyped characters out of the past. When I first heard such conversation I was horrified. Finally, I realized they were doing this act over breakfast to shock me, their Yankee come-here Rotarian. And I was shocked until I realized they were pulling my leg and wanted me to laugh at their playing roles from the past.
I slowly understood they were using humor to poke fun at history as they both celebrated their amazing successes in American society today. I loved them both so much I didn’t care if they were laughing at my naivety.
Then John McCone, an Air Force pilot hero that was shot down over the Antarctic Ocean and captured by the Russians and who President Kennedy finally was able to return home. And Sam Sawkins, Bob Tassone, Susan Gordon, Betty Bray, Jerry and Marie Suyes, Joe Heyman, Martha Heric, Pete Olenick, Garry Clay, John Hooper — the list goes on and on of all my new friends.
Which is why Rotary was such an important membership for me. It let me meet people I would never have had a chance to know. I learned that joining a civic club is a good way to meet people when one is new to the area.
Another very rich experience came as a result of Buddy Wyker or “Mr. Navy” in Urbanna. When we arrived to Urbanna one of the first memories I had was him delivering a Navy cap to Chip (a retired commander who served in Vietnam era.)
When Chip put on that Navy cap, tears came to my eyes — it all came back — standing on the pier at the Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, just 14 years after World War II ended in the Pacific with infant baby, Liz, in my arms, fighting back tears upon hearing the last message blare out from the ship and the final bosun’s whistle — watching the USS Mars slide out of her berth and go out to sea once again headed for the South China Sea to deliver supplies to our soldiers in Vietnam.
We decided to host a reunion of the “USS Urbanna” and Buddy not only helped me organize the event but arranged to have a photo taken of the turnout of all the Navy vets in town that we could find.
The USS Urbanna group met at my house to share war stories on Nov. 13, 2010. The photo with this column includes the following men, first row, Buddy Wyker, Bob Chilcoat, Jack Tarran, the one and only Roy Bowman, Francis Hall, an ex-mayor of Urbanna Jimmy Williams, World War II veterans Russ Russell and Carl Dize, Bob Kluge, Jim Hill, Roy Ware, Albert Carlton, Chip Buxton, Rich Donoff, and our highest ranking Navy officer, Navy pilot Bill Kurtz.
Some of the Navy vets who could not be with us that evening were Ben Pollock, John Halpin, John Craine who rose to the rank of Admiral, Floyd Jones and Bob Montague.
We heard everything that evening — planes crashing into the sea, bailing out and rescue, men swimming in oily seas on fire and waiting to be picked up after their ship had been sunk, flights that flew bombing missions over Vietnam, the entire works. It could have been a book of courage and service from our Middlesex County veterans from past wars.
What I discovered all the many years after our service during the Vietnam war years is the love of the Navy still burns bright.
It’s sad today as I write this column to realize how many of this group have passed on. But how I treasure the memory and the photo that marks our event.
We hope and pray we never have armed conflict again where Americans go to fight and die for their country. But, I fear that man’s aggressive nature is to constantly initiate war by attacking his neighbor.
I would bet if ever we are attacked, the USS Urbanna is still ever ready to defend, if not the nation, at least the town of Urbanna. (To be continued.)
© 2024.
