LABOR DAY BREAKFAST - Special Edition

The heat and rain abated just in time to gather in great weather on Ed and Dolores Krome’s beautiful lakeside garden patio with lots of Grandview neighbors on Labor Day morning.  Our Thanks to Ed and Dolores for hosting us!

This was a Special Edition of the Yacht Club’s Labor Day Breakfast because we used the Labor Day theme to honor those who have served on the various Grandview Lake boards and committees, and lead or have led the other major undertakings that make or keep Grandview Lake a great place.

Pictured above are just some of the great people who have labored hard to make Grandview Lake such a great place. (Photo courtesy of Lenny Verebay)  A listing of all of the 1983-2013 Board of Directors members, including many who were present at the breakfast, but not in the above photo, is shown later in this article.

With many of those wonderful folks gathered together up on the porch (see photo above), we honored them and those not present by reflecting on just some of the things that are great about Grandview Lake. They are not that way by accident;  it took some fine people to take the initiative to make things great and then keep them that way.  For instance:

It’s great that we have a beautiful lake – the main attraction, right?  But what if no one took it upon themselves to monitor and maintain the dam every single day and make sure it gets fixed when it needs to be?

It’s great that the tributaries feeding the lake are kept clear of fallen trees and branches and that the pond to trap sediment is cleared out from time-to-time.  What if no one took it upon themselves to do that?

It’s great that above the perimeter road we see nothing but beautiful hills and woods that make this place that much more special and unusual.  But what if no one had taken it upon themselves to buy and protect that land when the lumber company was about to timber it, and then sell it?  Or what if no one took it upon themselves to keep all the flora and fauna from being destroyed by an overpopulation of deer?

It’s great that you don’t have to lug gas cans from your car trunk down to your dock and spill gas as you fill up your motorboat. But what if no one took it upon themselves to install the gas pumps and keep them maintained.   And what if no one took it upon themselves to keep the boat launches and trailer parking areas orderly and maintained?

It’s great that on your behalf someone confronts those that don’t abide by the covenants or lake safety practices.  But what if you had to always do that yourself, or just live with “anything goes” chaos?

It’s great that you can flush your toilet!  But what if no one took it upon themselves to monitor the operation of the system, and bite the bullet and replace the sewer plant instead of having the state shut it down because it didn’t meet their changing standards?

It’s great that someone is making it easier for us to amend our by-laws as times change, instead of having 10 separate sets of covenants for different parts of the lake.  But what if no one took it upon themselves to perform this long arduous and thankless task?

It’s great that you can catch fish in our lake because someone makes sure it gets stocked.  But what if no one took that task upon themselves?

It’s great that you can walk a hiking trail that been cleared of fallen trees, drive around the lake without litter everywhere, and that we have flowers planted at the entrances.  But what if no one took it upon themselves to do that?

For display at the breakfast, Mimi and Jim Riffle, and Donna Sasse, put a ton of effort into listing those who served on the Board of Directors over the years and who are still living and have a lot here at the lake. It also includes years of service and projects they were instrumental in accomplishing. Harry Sanders also helped by adding his recollections.   It will be helpful to the Grandview Lake history project that is being undertaken.

If you put on your reading glasses you might be able to make out the names on the above cropped photo.  Sorry, but the 3-column format of this blog doesn't lend itself very well to this. To get a better look,  it will be framed and hanging in the GLOA office.  Take a look at it next time you are there. 

We also had a trivia contest about who did what.  Stay tuned as we will find a way to dole out those questions and answers one at a time for the next little while.

Thanks again to Ed and Dolores Krome for hosting, and to Donna Sasse, Mimi and Jim Riffle and Harry Sanders for their research.