Volunteer recognized for work on Elks Lodge ‘park’

Pete Fontaine
Posted 6/24/14

The red brick patio at Rossi Park was set up with a sound system, chairs and four unattended musical instruments. Suddenly, The Seawall Saints began pumping their country-like sounds into the …

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Volunteer recognized for work on Elks Lodge ‘park’

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The red brick patio at Rossi Park was set up with a sound system, chairs and four unattended musical instruments. Suddenly, The Seawall Saints began pumping their country-like sounds into the sun-splashed air as people dressed in flowered shirts and shorts ambled about talking of the recent beautification project behind the Tri-City Elks Lodge on West Shore Road.

And that project, people later learned from Lodge No. 14 Exalted Ruler Mark Eaton, was done “through nothing less than real old-fashioned hard work by some extraordinary volunteers.”

It was those volunteers – a total of 37 people – who the Tri-City Elks honored last Friday night during a special Kickoff of Summer and Official Opening of the Con-Tiki Bar that Dr. Patrick T. Conley and his wife Gail donated to Lodge No. 14 last year.

“Tonight, we’re presenting Exalted Ruler Outstanding Achievement Awards for dedicated service and extra effort to this lodge during the 2013-14 business year,” Eaton told a group of members, their spouses and guests. “This Lodge has come a long way in a short time and it’s these people who have gone above and beyond to make this Lodge what it has become.”

From the clearing of brush, broken down trees and other eyesores in back of Lodge 14 to even a complete makeover of the downstairs dining room and bar, it was the 37 people who received special honors who have enabled the Tri-City Elks to offer a unique venue for a number of events, including weddings and anniversary parties.

“Some of these awards are for Elks of the Month during the past year,” Eaton told a crowd of 200 people who cheered and applauded every presentation. “This is the Lodge’s way of saying thank you to the people who have made this fantastic turnaround possible.”

Eaton presented special citations – all done in calligraphy – to Elks of the Month as well as Dedicated Member honors.

Likewise, there were four individual awards that Tri-City has been presenting for years. They are: Elk of the Year, Bernadette Rodrigues for her work at the Bingo games; Engineer of the Year, Albert “Cookie” Delory for his ongoing work that has led to the refurbished lodge; Dick Warner received Officer of the Year; while Gary Constatino, who recently became a member of Lodge No. 14, was honored as Citizen of the Year.

Elk of the Month awards went to Delory, AnnMarie Greaves, Art Lima, Bruce Caldwell, Carol Delory, Charlie Greaves, David Knight, Donna Warner, Jeffrey Hakanson, John Collins, Larry Darrigan, Lori Eaton, Nick Rossi, Noel Petisce, Richard Delory and Shawn Burch.

Dedicated members award went to: Paul Alexander, Erick Anderson, Russell Anderson, Jonathan Bray, Jane Caron, Sandra Davies, Fred DeLuca, Sherry DeLuca, Peter Dodge, Cheryl Devlin, Tina Levesque, Mike Scanlon, Debra Petisce and James Thompson Sr.

Two of the event’s highlights were the music of The Seawall Saints, which included Steve Greaves, Kelsey Devlin, Andy Larson and Annie Greaves, and dinner that included everything from “loaded cheeseburgers” to watermelon.

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