THE SENIOR MEN'S CLUB OF NEW CANAAN
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 26, 2001
President Lee Hindenach opened the business meeting at 10:02 on a glorious autumn morning,
with 126 members present. We now have 500 members and 26 on the waiting list.
Membership Concerns: Dick Depatie reported with pleasure that the members seem to be hale
and hearty, including a restored and attending John Berg.
Activities: Bowling will meet today; the turnout last week was not inspiring. Bridge thrives,
with 16 attendees last week. Phil Toll's 4F's also have 16 signed up for lunch today at NCCC; Phil is
still seeking his successor, now somewhat wistfully. Tennis has gone into hibernation,
but paddle has started up to fill the gap. Racquetball continues to grow. The cybernetic
Jack Murray offered a brochure listing computer classes at Lapham, and the peripatetic
Jack Murray told us that Trailblazers would hike November 14th at Sleeping Giant State Park.
Couth: Bob Wosahla has one ticket left for "42nd Street" and dinner at
"21" on November 14th.
The December trip to Radio City has 30 signed and 5 paid, which is a pretty feeble batting
average. On January 17th we will go to Mohegan Sun, at a probable cost of $25-30. A listing
of all 2002 trips will be mailed out in December.
Other News: Rad Stone announced that a distinguished panel of Norwalk Hospital doctors will
appear daily for a week on Channel 73, starting today and discussing chemical and biological
terrorism. In this connection, Dick Bond reviewed a suspect incident in town this past week,
and the town's timely and comprehensive response to it. Don Hudson asked for some WWII veterans
to volunteer for a Touch the Future program at South School November 12th. And finally, Hud
Stoddard described New Canaan's leading position in recognizing UN Day and in adopting a
Cambodian village by financing the clearance of its minefields. Thanks in part to the enthusiasm
of our kids, New Canaan has completed this project, the first U.S. town to do so.
Jester: John Berg made a patriotic but tenuous pitch for ritual female nudity in New Canaan
and then described James Bond's amazing wristwatch with predictive alpha waves.
Speaker: VP Bert Liebelt introduced Dilap Das, executive director of our Nature Center. Dilap
prefaced his talk by describing briefly his own diverse ethnic background and life course, with
reference to some of the complexities of today's political situation. He then described the
founding of the Nature Center in 1959, through a gift by Miss Ophelia Bliss of 41 acres of her
homestead on Oenoke Ridge. The deed of gift called for stimulating the study of nature, then
a relatively new field of academic interest. Nature study leads to programs of conservation and
environmental protection, all of which are parts of the study of ecology, that is, how animals
and plants live together and how every component of the system reacts in some form with all others.
On the most basic level, our Nature Center provides a setting for observation. On a participatory
level there is a 120 student pre-school program, as well as teaching programs for older
students at various levels. A goal is "biophilia", an innate attachment to all life. This
attachment is stronger in times of stress, as witnessed locally by a large increase in visits
to the Nature
Center in the last two months. Mr. Das closed his presentation by inviting us on a personal
tour of the Nature Center at any time, and by displaying slides which showed various facets
of this rare treasure in our midst.
Peter Schurman - Assistant Secretary