Kindred spirits are Laurie Brown, Connie Conklin, Jeanne Garside, Kaye Hamilton, Jan Howard, Jean Rader, Dorothy Sauder, Lee Schmidt and Nancy Thies.
Nancy Thies
The Lunch Bunch was launched on Thursday, September 11, 2003, at The Grill at Quail Creek by two Quail Creek residents who had just met a few days before and decided to have lunch together before playing Ponytail Canasta at the Fitness Center; the Madera Clubhouse had yet to be built. These two had such a great time socializing they decided to meet again the next Thursday and invite others to join them. Week after week our group continued to expand until, outgrowing the largest table in the main dining room, we began to request a lunch reservation in the Terra Cotta Boardroom where we have met for lunch on more than 500 consecutive Thursdays.
Gradually our spouses became acquainted and meet for lunch in the main dining room. Our good times together extend into the community as volunteers in local schools, churches and other organizations. We have taken vacations together, purchased group tickets for concerts and theater performances and celebrated holidays with our traditional potluck and Canasta.
Our incredible bonding and friendship never ceases to amaze us. The members of the Lunch Bunch represent a wide variety of backgrounds and lifetime experiences which span the U.S. from coast to coast. The common thread is that we all met as residents of Quail Creek but the glue that holds us together is our mutual respect for one another and our appreciation for our long lasting friendship. We have shared one another’s joys, birthdays, grand and great grandchildren, family weddings, graduations and milestone anniversaries. We mourn each other’s sorrows, illnesses, accidents and loss of family members and special friends. While we realize that change is inevitable, we celebrate the joy of being with those with whom we regard as kindred spirits.
“Good friends are the rare jewels of life—difficult to find and impossible to replace.”