THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 19, 2001
President Lee Hindenach opened the meeting with a whopping 202 members present, the
largest turnout in two and a half years. Membership is 499 with 1 invitee and 24 on
the waiting list.
Announcememts: Ken Degroot introduced new member Rick Lyons. Dick Depatie announced
that "Jester Supreme" John Berg was recuperating and should be back next week. Lee
Hindenach presented Pam Libertiny of the "Y" and thanked her for all the help she has
provided the Senior Men's Club. Huck Wood made his annual pitch for the "Touch the
Future" program and said two sets of volunteers would be needed in early November, one
being war veterans, and the other to help with the Metric Olympics. Bob Wosahla made his
annual appeal for volunteers to help with the morning coffee. No help and there might
be a lot of thirsty old men hanging around. Jack Murray gave a major dissertation on a
new computer program at the Lapham Center just for Senior Men's club members. It would
start around Nov. 5 and would cost $75.00.
Activities: Tennis is now in its last week. Paddle starts on the 29, Monday, Tuesday
and Thursday from 9-11. Bowling rolls on but didn't want to discuss last week.
Racquetball flourishes with huge turnouts. "Trailblazers" next outing is Nov. 14 at
"Sleeping Giant" in Hamden. 4-Fs will meet next week at the New Canaan Country Club.
$23 will buy you a gourmet luncheon that even Charlie Morris can't match. Bridge
continues with more and more players each week.
Couth: Washington trip is postponed until April 23-25. 42nd Street trip on 11/14 is
full. 12/13 Radio City Music Hall and City Island still has openings.
Jester: Vern Thunem told about the $100 hooker who inadvertently ended up painting a
client's house, and then told about "Aggie" who lost two friends who became enamored
with the skills of a very obliging genie in the bottle.
Speaker: Vice President Bert Liebelt introduced Dr. Sherman Bull, a New Canaan surgeon
who at the ripe old age of sixty-four after a number of attempts, conquered Mt. Everest.
Dr. Bull who at 64 looked more like 46 accomplished this with his son Brad, and
amazingly, with a blind man, Eric Weihenmayer. Dr. Bull is the oldest person to
reach the summit of Everest and actually did this after a past failure in which he
broke his spine and had numerous other fractures. Dr. Bull's pictures were fascinating,
showing in great detail the difficulties of such a monumental task. Especially
interesting was seeing the ladders used to cross crevasses in which the blind person
had an advantage since he couldn't look down. Dr. Bull said frostbite was prevalent
but curable, and the danger of avalanches was always present. The final attack on the
summit was always started at night in the dark so that the climb back down could be
done in daylight. He stressed that more people are killed coming down than going up.
Dr. Bull and his team finally returned to Katmamdu just at the time of political
upheaval with much rioting and tear gas. It was almost more dangerous than being
on the mountain. He finally did get back to the U.S., and he and his team were
rewarded by a 35-minute White House visit with President Bush. You see, being a
little bit crazy does have its advantages.
Eric Musa, Secretary