Abbie Watters

In 2013 there was no regular meeting place or time for folks who lived in the Duplexes. The Garden Apartments and Franke Tobey Jones had regular Happy Hours for socializing with other people who lived around them and, of course, Lillian Pratt residents ate their meals with each other.

That summer was hot (for the Pacific Northwest), and some of the Duplexes didn’t have central air conditioning. Late afternoon was especially warm for them as the afternoon sun flooded into their living rooms.

Residents Marty and Barbara Neeb would go and sit in the Gazebo with their cocktails because there was usually a cool breeze that sprang up after 4 p.m. AND the Gazebo was always shady late in the afternoon. The Watters had just moved in to the Duplex next to the Gazebo and were eager to get to know their neighbors. When they spotted the Neebs they poured themselves a highball or a glass of wine and joined them.

Other residents went for late afternoon walks, and as they passed the Gazebo they stopped to chat with the assembled group. As more people saw the gathering, they also stopped by to pass the time of day. Gradually, more and more people joined the group. It was always very informal – just neighbors welcoming neighbors. Ruth Dougherty put an announcement in the Tobey Topics, welcoming anyone who wanted to stop by for a visit to BYOB.

By the end of that fall, the group began to call itself “The Gazebo Group.” They might meet any evening, but they always made an effort to meet on Fridays between 4:30 and 6:00 (or later depending on the topic of conversation.)

As the weather cooled off, the group started to meet in homes. At that point there were usually only 10 – 15 attendees, and it was easy to shove chairs around in the living room and put out folding chairs. That continued from the summer of 2014 through the winter of 2015 – always a very informal gathering.

By the summer of 2015, the group had grown to about 20 people who attended regularly, and we asked for more chairs at the Gazebo provided (piecemeal) by FTJ. In the fall/winter of 2015 we had outgrown our individual living rooms and got permission to meet in the Tobey Jones living room at 5:00 pm while the residents were at dinner.

We continued to meet in the Gazebo during the summers of 2016-2019.  We also became wanderers during the winters. One year, we were allowed to meet in the old Memory Care living room, which has the best view on campus!  (At the time, there was only one resident in Memory Care, and she took her meals downstairs.) We met in the Health Care Terrace in Lillian Pratt, or wherever we could find a place that could accommodate up to 25 people.

The group grew and shrank depending on the health and residence of the people in the Duplexes, but generally was between 18 and 25. Occasionally we would have picnics, or Happy Hours where we would bring finger foods.   Those would swell our ranks to 30 or more. The 4^th of July Picnic has been a fixture since 2015 (except for the pandemic years). Everyone on campus was and is always invited.

During the pandemic, we took our get-togethers on-line. Redmond Barnett and Claire Griffin traded weeks hosting Zoom for our meetings. In fact, after the restrictions on meeting in person were lifted, Redmond continued to offer Zoom on one Monday a month so people who preferred to meet that way could attend.

During the past couple of years, we have met during the winters in the Wellness Center, but we’re always happiest when the weather cooperates and lets us meet at the Gazebo, our home!

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