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Music at the lake makes perfect summer day

A beautiful August Sunday, an even more beautiful Electra Lake and – I seem to be repeating myself – beautiful music made for a memorable experience. (It was time for a new adjective.)

Over the last 20 years, Eileen Brown, Dean Furry and Caye Geer, playing the violin, cello and piano respectively, have given an intimate recital each summer for Electra Sporting Club members and guests at the Clubhouse. They’ve only missed two years, and both times were because of grief – Brown lost her husband, John, and Geer lost her sister.

This year they played Haydn’s Trio in D major, the andante movement of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio Opus 17 and Bizet’s “Intermezzo (Agnus Dei)” from his “l’Arlesienne Suite.”

Every time I hear someone talk about Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann’s husband, they say, “His wife, Clara, was also an accomplished composer.” But it seems like no one ever plays her music, so that was a nice surprise.

This recital always makes me think of being invited to a nobleman’s estate 200 years ago, or perhaps, more appropriately for Electra, in the Victorian days, when they had to make their own entertainment.

(There are numerous mentions in Reading Club of Durango’s minutes of someone performing a piece of music, singing or reciting a poem, so I know they did it here, too. Reading Club was founded in 1882, so it’s been here almost as long as Durango has existed.)

One big difference from 200 years ago or Victorian times is that we’re wearing much more comfortable clothing.

A few years ago, Geer put her foot down and said the crummy piano was getting crummier, which might be OK for the occasional “Happy Birthday to You,” but not so great for Bach and Beethoven. So Nancy Furry held a fundraising drive among the club’s members, raising several thousand dollars to have the piano rebuilt. It sounded great.

This summer was a bit of a challenge, because Furry has been struggling with a painful arm and shoulder with his bowing arm. So they only practiced every Wednesday, while in other years they’ve had fun making music as often as they could during the week.

The event is much anticipated, with more than 70 people gathering for music set to magnificent views. The beauty of Electra was particularly appreciated this year, as for the last two years, the lake was lowered for dam repairs. Thanks to our wet May, June and July, we had enough moisture to fill it up.

Scott and Joey Hughes have been running the Clubhouse restaurant for 22 years as of this summer, and for the last couple of summers, after a major remodel, Joey Hughes has finally had a kitchen worthy of her talents.

They served a buffet of grilled beer bratwursts with sauerkraut, smoked pulled-pork sliders with jalapeño jam, long-grain wild rice vegetable medley, coleslaw with cilantro-lime-honey dressing and a salad of mixed baby green with melons, grapes and poppy-seed dressing. Rainbow sherbet made for a sweet ending for a sweet afternoon.

Visiting Electra is a bit like old home week for me. My parents, Charlie and Kathy Butler, bought a rustic – emphasis on rustic – cabin there in 1965, and many of my best memories growing up were hiking, sailing, kind of fishing and card games at night at Electra. For more than three decades, it was where we hosted company and family reunions, sat on the deck and drank iced tea or, when I discovered a cache of the complete works of Agatha Christie, read on a rainy afternoon.

So I was delighted to get an invitation from Bill and Dorothy Tarpley and Rod and Robin Turner to come for the Electra Trio, as Brown, Furry and Geer dub themselves.

Bravos all around.

HHH

Happy birthday to the first of the Virgos celebrating this week – Wilma Cooper, Creighton Fesler, Heather Lundquist, Melissa Mosley, Bob Mueller, Mike Ollier, Jane Norton, Justice Tower, Jenny Hancock, Susan Davies, Geri Swingle, Mary Nowotny, Cynthia Cathcart, Clara Wolf, Adeline Couch, Amy Johnston, Shannon White, Isaac Magyar, Jeron Plotnik, John Awe, Julian Ciluffo, Matt Mulligan, Josh Spaeder, Gini Benton, Nonie Griffith, Sam Burns and Stephanie Dial.

HHH

Many families do something to honor someone they’ve lost – create a scholarship fund, donate to a favorite charity or perhaps create an event for a favorite charity of the deceased.

But the Pearce family takes it up a notch. Patriarch Bill Pearce died in 2007, but he had spent a big chunk of the previous eight years helping found the Adopt-a-Student Fund for St. Columba Catholic School (along with Jack Wegher) and running a golf tournament to help raise money for it. At his death, the school renamed the event the Bill Pearce Golf Classic.

St. Columba was both his alma mater as well as his children’s and grandchildren’s. When his grandson Dillon Egger, also a St. Columba alumnus, was tragically killed in a car crash two years later, the tournament took on even more meaning for the Pearce family.

It was held this year on Aug. 16, earlier than normal because of the planned course improvements at Hillcrest Golf Club that will begin in September. (It’s better to hold a school-related fundraiser in the fall, when families aren’t on vacation, and everyone’s in a school frame of mind.)

Nine teams did come out to support the cause, and lest you think that means they didn’t raise any money, think again. Between raffle donors (and sales) and hole sponsors along with entrance fees, they brought in almost $8,970.

The generous list of sponsors included A & L Coors, Bank of Colorado, Bank of the San Juans, Bob Lieb Family, Boys & Girls Club of La Plata County, Brennan Oil, Paul Cahill, Joe Colgan, RoseMary DeHaven, Doubletree Hotel, The Durango Herald/Directory Plus, Bob Egger, Firestone of Durango, First National Bank of Durango, Grassburger Restaurant, General Palmer Hotel, Kennebec Construction, Knights of Columbus, Don Kring, Karin Lovett, Kroegers Ace Hardware, La Plata Electric Association, Magnificent Seven, Mercy Regional Medical Center, the Ore House, the Palace Restaurant, Lisa Lee Pearce, StoneAge WaterBlasting Tools, Inc., the Strater Hotel/Mahogany Grill, George Thompson, Urban Market, Gil VanLunsen and Zia Taqueria.

The Pearces said John Vickers and his staff at Hillcrest Golf Course helped schedule tee times and provided lunch for all the foursomes who spent a beautiful day on the golf course. The pros at all the golf courses in La Plata County don’t begin to get the credit they deserve for helping put on so many charitable golf tournaments in the area. If the golf doesn’t go smoothly, nothing else matters.

First place winners were Kelly Brennan, Louie Esquibel, Casey Stewart and Ryan Lowe; second to Mark Gaughan, Sara Gaughan, Larry Gaughan and Skip Gaughan (a nice family golf outing); and third to Matt Amres, Mike Best, Chris Quimby and Brian Vaughn. All received credit to the Hillcrest Golf Club Pro Shop.

St. Columba Principal Kevin Chick said despite people’s impressions, the school works on an extremely tight budget. Tuition is $3,200 annually, but for families with more than one child at the school, it goes down by $500 for each additional student. In other words, if a family has three children at the school, a not uncommon scenario, the first goes for $3,200, the second for $2,700 and the third for $2,200. The gap between tuition fees and the actual cost per student is $3,000.

The Adopt-a-Student fund also helps families with multiple children, as well as those who need tuition support and three to five who receive 100 percent support. Sometimes families have had a life event – loss of a job, loss of a family member and so on – some are lower income who want their children to attend St. Columba, overall a wide variety of family situations and needs.

Bill’s widow, Doris Pearce, and their son Gary Pearce lead the charge, so to speak, in putting the tournament together, but the whole family pitches in, including Debbie Egger, Karyn Callaway, Janice Lewis, Lorrie Leeds, Brian Pearce and Greg Pearce.

“Lee Trevino said, ‘There are two things you can do with your head down…play golf and pray’” Doris Pearce said. “We were fortunate enough and blessed to do both.”

The Pearces are what I would call an old Durango family, although I know there are people who think you have to go back five generations to qualify. They’re the kind of people who built Durango and helped it prosper between oil and gas booms.

They’re a tremendous example of how to turn sorrow into something wonderful, building a better future for our community’s children. I, for one, would like to say thank you to them and all those businesses who supported the tournament and helped them make it such a success.

HHH

Enjoying the last anniversary of August are Floyd and Laura Jaramillo.

HHH

Here’s how to reach me: neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375-4584; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk. Please include contact names and phone numbers for all items. Follow me on Twitter @Ann_Neighbors.

I am happy to consider photos for Neighbors, but they must be high-quality, high-resolution photos (at least 1 MB of memory) and include no more than three to five people. I need to know who’s who, left to right, and who to credit with the photo. Candid photos are better than posed, and photos should be submitted as JPG or TIF attachments.

Because of incorrect information provided to the Herald, the amount of money raised at the Bill Pearce Golf Classic was incorrect. The tournament raised almost $8,970 for the St. Columba School Adopt-a-Student Fund. Anniversary greetings were made to Sandy and Phyllis Max. Dr. Sandy Max died Aug. 17, and the couple would have celebrated their 60th anniversary this week.



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