By Don Culwell

With a welcomed break in the weather (the rain was gone and a colorful sunset shone out over the bay through the trees past Janet and Philip Miron’s deck), the pleasant environment and the cool evening air set the stage for a fine evening at South Fork. The group was entertained by Jerry Manion and his string band that was dubbed The South Fork Nature Boys…their soft tunes and verse were obviously a big hit among the docents and spouses as the evening progressed…the dusk was lighted by strings of lights and numerous pot candles.

Dinner for the evening was provided by the Gates Rogers Foundation Board members (Janet’s tasty smoked pork and grilled chicken made a hit along with all the other fine dishes). Dinner plates piled with good food were carried to the pool table in the game room or out on the deck where music could be enjoyed.

GRF Board Chair, Don Richardson, welcomed the honorees of the evening (the South Fork docents) and Don Culwell, Programs and Services Committee Chair, thanked all docents for their exceptional and enthusiastic leadership with both class groups of students who spend the day at South Fork and the numerous weekend activities that are led by the docents. As a “Thank You,” docents were each given special T-shirts inscribed with SFNC and either “Advice from a Tree,” “Advice from a River,” or “Advice from a Lake.” He noted that “The grandeur of South Fork would not exist without the enthusiastic docents and their presentations for the public…THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

The evening concluded in the candlelight with music from the stringed instruments of the “South Fork Nature Boys”……Jim Solomon and Verniece Harness and Bob and Joyce Hartmann were even seen to dance a few steps on the planks of the deck…the evening on the bay beside South Fork had been another fine one!