THE BEGINNING
Early in the summer of 1959, John Lake, Director of the War Memorial, approached Edward Gehrig on the subject of forming a club for senior men. Mr. Lake had felt for some time that there was a place in the community for such a group. He asked Ed’s opinion and Ed said it seemed like a good idea and he would think about it.
Ed discussed the idea of such a club with others. Some thought the matter would never become a reality. Nevertheless, Ed called seven of his friends who agreed to meet with him at the War Memorial and discuss the idea. On July 15, 1959, nine men attended this exploratory meeting. In attendance were: John Lake, Ed Gehrig, Eugene Hoelzle, Harold Merrill, Sam Shenefield, John Kuivinen, Wilbur Kamm, Lorenz Hittle and Stanley Schlingman.
The idea seemed like a sound one at this first meeting and each promised to bring a friend to their next meeting on August 20,1959. Eighteen men attended and more discussions were held. At the third meeting on September 4, 1959, forty men were present and the question of who would be officers was raised. Walter Wakeman proposed that they appoint the following officers:
President – Ed Gehrig
Vice-President – Gene Hoelzle
Secretary- Harold Merrill
Treasurer – Art Dannecker
All present agreed on the selection of these men. Those selected agreed to serve and the Senior Men’s Club was on its way. The first Constitution and By-laws were drawn up at this meeting and the consensus was that the main object of the Club would be to promote better understanding among men of the Grosse Pointe area and to operate for social, charitable, literary, and educational purposes. Dues were set at $5.00 a year and meetings were to be held bi-monthly on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.
The first general meeting of the Club was held on September 15, 1959. Red Jones, a well known American League Umpire, was the first speaker and he was introduced by Ty Tyson, former radio sports announcer for WWJ. After this first meeting, the 82 men present broke up into groups to play cards.
At this opening meeting, president Gehrig made these comments: “To have reached the age of retirement is a credit to a person. Everyone is not granted this privilege. After all, we have been through three wars, a depression, and various illnesses in getting there.” Adopted from: History of Senior Men’s Club of Grosse Pointe, The First Six Years 1959-1966 by Harold Wiek in collaboration with William H. Cook.
~ John Hammel, Historian