It was a typical 84 degrees and sunny on the patio of the General Store as members of the Romeo group gathered for the 2nd time in 2021. Ultimately we had 5 people around the table and the socializing lasted for 2.5 hours.
Carol Keil was a welcome sight and received the longest traveler recognition as she drove from Gilbert Arizona. I guess it is also worth noting that Brent also attended.
Stan Petersen received permission from Deone to participate as long as there was no alcoholic beverages being served. After about 45 minute of discussion, we had a panhandler confront our group and want to know if he could wash the windshields of our cars. We were somewhat put off, but wanting to be more charitable in this troubling time we looked directly at him to carry on small talk and then we realized it was Mark Panzer. All in all, he looked absolutely great. He has kept in touch with so many of our friends and we filled in the blanks with up to date information. We saw great photos of his three sons and heard about their wonderful accomplishments. They are successful personally and professionally and they have grown into their 6ft 2, 6ft 3 and 6 ft 7 statures.
Mark filled us in on Doug Goldsworthy, Dave Beal, Jim Young and Matt Miles. It seems that Matt, who lives in Tampa, is in need of a liver transplant due to a hereditary condition. Hopefully, he will get by this situation and back enjoying his sunshine retirement. Mark continues to be the high energy guy we all remember, and although “retired”, is keeping very active. He is doing a bit of traveling for pleasure and investigating opportunities.
Brent and Carol still reside in Gilbert and are doing well, of course. Through our discussions it is very apparent that they keep very in tune to the “goings on” in this complex world of ours.
Mark and Brent did say that Terry O’Malley is still working, without travel and in the process of preparing their home for sale so that they can move closure to their Chandler grandkids.
It seems that many of our group are still wary of socializing so we will take that into consideration before setting out next Romeo Brunch. Gerry