WESTMINSTER : Old Acquaintances Fondly Remembered

Russell Newkirk couldn’t help but smile Friday as he stood before a crowd of 135 and spoke of his good friend Joe Melcher, who regularly cleaned his clock when they shot pool at the Westminster Senior Citizens Center.

“I’m a pretty good player but not near as good as Joe,” said Newkirk, 85. “He was the best pool player here and I miss him very much.”

Melcher, one of eight regulars at the center who died in 1989, was remembered--through laughter and tears--by his friends at the center’s traditional “Auld Lang Syne” party.

For the last six years, members ages 60 to 96 have joined at the end of the year in a unique public ceremony to pay tribute to departed friends by sharing remembrances.

Huldah Hunter, 90, told the gathering she has made many friends at the center, but none were quite as close to her as Hazel Leuteu, who died earlier in the year.

“I knew Hazel when she was in her prime,” Hunter said with tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t think she ever got over the shock of her husband’s death. She just wasn’t able to mingle after he died. But since I had known her for so many years, we’d spend time together.

“She was such a great lady, so kind and giving. I know she’s rejoicing to be in heaven with her husband and loved ones.”

Julia Boroskin lightened the mood when she stood center stage and remembered several late friends, including Bonnie Maddy, who she described simply as “one of the best people I have ever known.”

“She was a beautiful lady and always willing to help. But she wouldn’t listen to anybody,” Boroskin said.

Winnie Rumwell was fondly remembered by friends for her sometimes off-key singing as a member of a local group.

“It was the love of her life,” said Boroskin. “She’d put her nose in that book and make noises. No matter how it sounded, it sure was beautiful.”

The tradition began six years ago when Betty Goyne, center director, hit upon the idea of an annual party to remember friends who had died. The premise was a little risky, Goyne conceded Friday, but her own father’s death made her search for a way to assure members that their friends wouldn’t forget them.

“It seemed a little strange to talk about people who we loved and who recently died,” said Goyne, 52. “But it seemed important to talk about them and remember them. I think death has always been a very taboo subject. We just don’t like to think about it or talk about it.

“But I want every person who comes to our center to know that they are important to us. They’re important while they’re alive and they will be remembered in death.”