The Westerly-Pawcatuck Region of the AACA turned 50 years old in 2016. Unfortunately our members are just so busy that nobody noticed. That is until 2018. At the suggestion of our president, Bob DeGoursey, we performed an equipment inventory. One of the items unearthed was a plaque celebrating our acceptance as an AACA chartered club in February of 1966. Whoops! We missed our golden anniversary.
This did not deter Bob. He and the executive committee agreed on making plans for, as Charlie Nash called it, a “50+” anniversary celebration. The first order of business was to form an anniversary committee. President Bob DeGoursey, vice president Charlie Nash, and secretary Ken Carr volunteered and got things started. The three members would enjoy some half dozen planning meetings during the 2018 old car season. When we met at Bob’s house he treated us to a 4-course home cooked meal and about 5 different brands of craft beer. At Charlie’s home we were treated with a plethora of snacks (all vegan-approved) and exotic beers, served by his wife Michele, in chilled glasses. We also met at two different local pubs that featured; you guessed it, stout on tap.
One of the first agenda items was advertising. We wanted our members and the general public to know about our longevity and good health. To this end Michele designed a large two-sided sign that could be displayed at all of the car shows that the club attended.
This did not deter Bob. He and the executive committee agreed on making plans for, as Charlie Nash called it, a “50+” anniversary celebration. The first order of business was to form an anniversary committee. President Bob DeGoursey, vice president Charlie Nash, and secretary Ken Carr volunteered and got things started. The three members would enjoy some half dozen planning meetings during the 2018 old car season. When we met at Bob’s house he treated us to a 4-course home cooked meal and about 5 different brands of craft beer. At Charlie’s home we were treated with a plethora of snacks (all vegan-approved) and exotic beers, served by his wife Michele, in chilled glasses. We also met at two different local pubs that featured; you guessed it, stout on tap.
One of the first agenda items was advertising. We wanted our members and the general public to know about our longevity and good health. To this end Michele designed a large two-sided sign that could be displayed at all of the car shows that the club attended.
Figure 1 50+ Celebration sign designed by Michele Nash
Charlie arranged to have it professionally printed and mounted. The sign went to many of the 2018 -2019 shows that the club attended. Likewise, our inventory turned up a great wood sign and a banner that most people did not even remember seeing before. These were taken out of retirement and put to good use also.
Figure 2 Elaborate Club Sign designed & built by George Coon
Figure 3 Merrill Moone during his interview The committee, at Bob’s suggestion, proposed that we interview several of the longtime members who were still in the club. The only remaining original charter member was Malcolm Stinson Jr. It was difficult to do an interview with him because he now resides in Arizona (our club serves southern Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut). We decided to interview four current and local members who had each been in the club for over 25 years. Bob DeGoursey and Ken Carr visited the senior four at their homes. It took a full year to compile all the notes and create narratives for each of our chosen old timers. We interviewed Jim Varas, Bob Burdick, Phil Panciera, and Merrill Moone. These were not just people who ‘put in their time’. All four of them are also former club presidents. The interviews revealed many stories about past events and members. We learned about shows that the club regularly put on, the whereabouts of meeting places that changed frequently and funny stories about breakdowns and the antics of various past club members. We even found out that Sergio Franchi, the world famous tenor, was a member of our club back in the 1980’s. We will be forever grateful to our past presidents who agreed to share their memories with us.
The committee also wanted to involve our all of our members in the celebration as much as possible. To this end we planned a number of special guest speakers to address our club at regular meeting nights. Over a two-year period we were all entertained by the following experts in the automotive collecting field:
One of the best anniversary surprises arrived in my mailbox soon after I put out a call to the members for any nostalgic club memorabilia that they might want to contribute to the production of a book about the club. The fat manila envelope was from Malcolm Stinson Jr. It contained a copy of the very first club newsletter, The Old Wheel, dated June, 1967. It was also full of old photographs and a club history written by Malcolm. What a treasure trove! At this same time we asked all club members to submit stories about their old cars. We passed out forms at a meeting and instructed the members to return them in person or by mail (email or USPS mail). We also required that photos be submitted. The response was excellent. Many of our members enjoy writing about their antique vehicles and all of them were interested in knowing more about the treasures driven by their fellow members.
- Steven Rossi, experienced automotive engineer and writer for Antique Automobile and other publications
- David & Nancy Cardone of Cardone & Daughter, owners of a highly professional vintage and modern car repair and restoration business in Old Saybrook, CT.
- Tom Laferriere, owner of the fabulous Laferriere Classic Cars in Greenville, RI
- Pat Foster, columnist for Hemmings Classic Car and author of numerous books about orphaned car makes
One of the best anniversary surprises arrived in my mailbox soon after I put out a call to the members for any nostalgic club memorabilia that they might want to contribute to the production of a book about the club. The fat manila envelope was from Malcolm Stinson Jr. It contained a copy of the very first club newsletter, The Old Wheel, dated June, 1967. It was also full of old photographs and a club history written by Malcolm. What a treasure trove! At this same time we asked all club members to submit stories about their old cars. We passed out forms at a meeting and instructed the members to return them in person or by mail (email or USPS mail). We also required that photos be submitted. The response was excellent. Many of our members enjoy writing about their antique vehicles and all of them were interested in knowing more about the treasures driven by their fellow members.
Figure 4 Richard Brustolon reading his club book at anniversary picnic
We now had sufficient material to write a club anniversary book. I compiled all of the information submitted, including select historical photos from our club photo albums (discovered during inventory), and created a club book. The cover came from one of the past issues of faux magazine covers that are regularly posted on our website. Bob and I visited our local Staples and brokered a deal for publication. The completed books arrived after several weeks of editing. The quality of the finished product exceeded our expectations! Every member who attended the Anniversary Picnic at Bob and Laura DeGoursey’s home was presented with the club book when they arrived. But that wasn’t all the members took home from the picnic. Our treasurer, Dave Calabrese, struck a bargain with a local T-shirt vendor and managed to create T-shirts from the cover image of our first newsletter, the one submitted by Malcolm. The T-shirts were ready for the picnic and Dave passed them out to all who had placed orders. They were very well received! (We mailed one to Malcom ).
Figure 5 President Bob DeGoursey sporting new Club T-Shirt modeled after first newsletter. Four current and former club presidents are in this picture. Counterclockwise beginning with Bob DeGoursey standing to the left: Bob DeGoursey, Merrill Moone, Jim Varas, and Bob Burdick
Finally, the anniversary committee agreed to Bob DeGoursey’s suggestion that the club celebrate our 50+ years by setting up an informational tent at the fall car show in Brooklyn, CT that is hosted by the Yankee Yesteryear car club.
Figure 6 Celebrating 50+ Years at Yankee Yesteryear Show, Sept., 2019
Bob first set up a tent with numerous photos and artifacts at the picnic held at his home. Then everything, including Bob’s antique travel trailer, were set up again weeks later at the Brooklyn show. We had a good showing of members who also brought their old cars (it was a 50 mile ride for most folks) and generated lots of interest among show attendees.
The celebration may be over but our members are reinvigorated and ready to create more history and fellowship as we continue a tradition that began back in 1966.
The celebration may be over but our members are reinvigorated and ready to create more history and fellowship as we continue a tradition that began back in 1966.
Figure 7 The cover of our 50th Anniversary book given to all members. The book is also available online in the Members Only section of our website.
Additional Photographs that relate to our 50th Anniversary Celebration:
(click on any photo to enlarge & see slide show with captions)
(click on any photo to enlarge & see slide show with captions)
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