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The Graduates - A Program for Seniors at Royersford Baptist Church
The idea of forming a Senior Citizens group originated from Doris Kramer in 1993. No utopian aspirations inspired the seniors to go along with Doris. Just a desire to come together as a group, participate in educational experiences, visit points of interest, becoming more aware of the cultural richness of our community, enjoy a day a month together, and becoming an additional expression of the Church ministry.
Doris coordinated the first get-together, enjoying a Potluck lunch at RBC on May 1, 1993. Following with another meeting we finally got organized with a lunch at the Ortiz' home on September 7. Over a dozen interested seniors gathered, baptizing the group as The Graduates (Doris' idea). Doris served as coordinator for some time, succeeded by Chuck Forsberg later on. We decided not to require membership dues, but solicit a contribution to cover fuel cost whenever the Church van was used. Extra money collected serves to cover mailings.
A year of activities was planned at our organizing gathering. The coordinator had the responsibility of arranging the events, communication, transportation, and securing a place to have a meal. This arrangement persisted for several years until the responsibility became too heavy for only one person. The last coordinator who served was Chuck Forsberg. Not finding a replacement, at our annual planning meeting held in August, Jose L. Ortiz volunteered to write the monthly letter of invitation, if each person or couple assumed responsibility for at least one event per year. Haydée Ortiz also volunteered to lead the "business meeting" and share notes. Irene Whitenight continued to maintain a record of the paper work produced. This arrangement distributes our tasks fairly well, making all of us participants and responsible for the group functioning.
The adjacent communities and even other states provide sufficient museums and fine attractions to keep us interested and busy. I do point out that we haven't seemed them all. We have visited the same place twice since there are membership changes, and the visited places change also. In addition, the tour guides are always different individuals with different expertise, interpreting their own history differently. After being divided in two groups and coming together again, it's interesting to "compare notes", and have seniors saying, "My tour guide didn't share that".
Our membership is kind of fluid, and includes seniors who are not RBC members. So we invite all those who'd like to enjoy a day of education / enjoyment / fellowship to join us. Or participate on any activity you would like to experience with us.
For a better idea of what we do, we share the current year program of activities that started on September 2009, finishing on August 2010:
Date Activity
Sept 1st Visit to Doris Kramer
Oct 6th Farm Museum
Nov 3rd Cheese Factory
Nov. 19th Panto @ People’s Light & Theatre Play: “Snow White”
December Christmas musicals
Jan 5th Winter Picnic
Feb 2nd The Muhlehnberg Museum
March 2nd Lunch at Collegeville Diner
April 6th Bryn Athyn Cathedral
May 4th Winterthur Museum
June 1st Judy Yeoman’s Memorial Picnic
July 6th Playhouse (Play TBA)
Aug. 3rd Planning Meeting
To complete your understanding of who we are and what we do, please contact any of the participant seniors. They would share their personal story about the Graduates. You could get information from the RBC office by calling 610 / 948-4170, or by communicating with José Ortiz at
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or by calling 610 / 948-9120. |
