Doing Lunch!

For nearly 25 years, anywhere from five to 25 members of the Class of 1962 have met each year on a Friday in August at a central location in southern New England to have lunch together. They have purposely kept this annual luncheon simple. They don't sail, play golf, invite their wives, schedule a speaker or call the gathering a reunion. They get together simply to catch up with each other, eat lunch and watch the boats go by. Dave Doern and class agent Bill O'Leary organize the annual lunch, while Phil Byrne makes the arrangements at the New York Yacht Club in Newport, R.I., where they have met for the past decade.

"We meet from about 11:30 until 2 o'clock," Byrne said. "That's not enough time to work in golf. This started in the late '70s with three or four class members. Bill O'Connor, Ed McGuire and Bob Ryan and others would meet. Doug Hoyt has been instrumental in organizing this. We gave him a free lunch this year for all his work. Sometimes there were five or six members of the Class of '62, and then it got to be seven or eight. We've had as many as two dozen. It's usually just the guys in the class. We often have a few 'mystery guests.'"

The "mystery guests" are class members who live at a distance and drop in unexpectedly. Jerry Comcowich, who lives in Hawaii, was last year's surprise guest. The only other surprises class members experience have happened when first-timers to the lunch have mistakenly dropped by the Newport, rather than New York Yacht Club and found no one there-at least no one they knew.

"We settled on the New York Yacht Club facility in Newport about 10 years ago," Byrne said. "It's in the John Nicholas Brown mansion and sits on the water. It's all very casual, no ties or jackets. We have lunch, talk and watch the boats go by." 

Members of the Class of 1962 who met for lunch at the New York Yacht Club in Newport this past August include (front row, left to right): Bill O'Leary and Bob Curran; (middle row) Mike Sullivan, Dave Doern, Mike Doherty and Jim Mulvihill, and (back row) Doug Hoyt, Phil Byrne, Bill O'Connor, John O'Sullivan and Tom Reardon.