2018 Holiday Luncheon

By Tom O’Donnell

When I arraigned our Holiday Luncheon back in July, I was concerned that we may have bad weather in the middle of December. Ten days before our luncheon was scheduled, I checked the weather forecast and it looked like it would be an OK type of day with the temperature in the low 30’s and cloudy. Each day the forecast improved until the day before and then the forecast was for a sunny day with temperatures close to 50 degrees. I should have bought a Powerball ticket on the day that I set the schedule for the lunch. The day turned out to have the best weather that we had seen in six weeks.

Madeleine and I planned to get to the restaurant around noon to check out the arrangements and get the envelopes with the lunch selections arranged in time for the 1:00 pm start. We were greeted by some early birds that thought the lunch was going to start the same time as the Bears-Packers game. We asked them to be patient and we would get the doors open as soon as the staff finished setting up the room. The ladies decided to check out the Ice House Mall and found an interesting antique store.

The room reserved for our use was originally the waiting room of the train station. At 12:30 the staff had the room set up and the bar was open. It was decorated for the holidays and there were four round tables set up for ten people at each table. This worked out very well for the 40 people that had signed up.

As Arlene & Ron Blum, Judy & Tom Buscaglia, Diane & Ed Crane, Bernice Short & Ron Dopke, Robin & John Emmering, Gladys Duzell, Kitty & Terry Freihage, Nicole & Scott Gilday, Gene & Earl Heintz, Peggy & Frank Koeder, Phyllis, Frank Madrigali & guest, Karen & John McCormack, Dawn & Gary Osborne, Diane & Dan Pudelek, Colleen & Ron Steck, Harriet & Jim Taylor, Irene & Len Vinyard, Virginia Burnquist & Larry Webb, and Dawn & George Zulas came into the room, their photos were taken with the train car as a background.

Lunch was served after everyone was seated.  From the noise level in the room, everyone was having a good time. Our table had the honor of having the newest members, John and Karen McCormack, the member with the longest membership, Ron Dopke and three past presidents, Ron, Scott and myself.

While setting up the luncheon, I contacted several Ford dealers in the area to see if they would donate promotional items to use as prizes for the attendees. Club member Randy Yockey of Friendly Ford in Roselle donated $100 to be distributed for prizes at the lunch. I divided it so that there would be a prize at each of the tables and asked the banquet manager to place a card on one chair at each table. The card was used to claim a prize. The winners of $25 each were Tom Buscaglia, John Emmering, Kitty Freihage and Madeleine O’Donnell.

Just as we were leaving the Bears-Packers game was ending with the Bears clinching the NFL North Division Championship.  This finished off a nice afternoon and with that victory secure everyone headed out for home. We thank everyone who came to enjoy the Holidays with us. Celebrating the Holiday Season with friends is what made this event a success.