Women’s Club cookies a major hit

It was a treat to speak before the membership of the Torrington Women’s Club Monday at the meeting room in Center Congregational Church in Torrington.

It was Claire McDonald, a 1952 Torrington High School classmate and friend ever since, who invited me. I am not a practiced speaker, but these terrific women, who do so many good things for unfortunate area children, and others, have a way of making a guy feel welcome. I didn’t have an uncomfortable minute.

Also, a man from my past, Ed Regner, attended because, as he told Clairy (we 52ers have called

her that for about 65 years now) we knew each other way back when in Burrville, where we both grew up.

Ed is 89, older than me by six years. He enlisted in the navy after Pearl Harbor and became a radar/ radio operator, aboard airplanes flying off aircraft carriers in the Pacific. We didn’t have much time to chat but I intend to give him a buzz soon and quiz him about his experiences those many years ago.

His cousins, four Regner brothers, lived up the line toward Winsted on Greenwoods Road. They were Carl, Ritchie, Bobby and Gary. My brother Matt and I were Green Woods CC caddies and close friends of Bobby. Bobby became a excellent golfer and was a year ahead of us at THS. He was the first to leave us after graduation, enlisting in the navy. Our gang, besides Matt and me, consisted of Bobby, Wayne Berlinski, Tommy London and Jimmy Weingart . Matt, Wayne and Bobby are deceased. I’ve lost track of Tommy, an awfully good guy who got a UConn education and became a pharmacist. Jimmy lives in Orange County, Calif. and once in a while, not lately, we talk on the phone.

The women of TWC wanted to know about the events I covered as a sports writer in my past, which has not been entirely uneventful. I was glad to oblige. My reward was fabulous snacks and coffee later on. I got to take home a few chocolate, coconut, oatmeal cookies. I gobbled them down and now I’m on a mission – find out which of my hostesses created them and beg her to make more. And share them with me. I’ll pay any price. They were that good.

Horses and hats in the Hills

From Connecticut Junior Republic’s glossy-paper newsletter known as “The Junior Citizen’’ comes the news that on Saturday, Kentucky Derby Day, a fundraiser called “Horses and Hats in the Hills’’ will be held at the Tavern on the Green in the Litchfield Inn. The benefit, from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m., will be built around the 143rd Kentucky Derby and besides dinner, open bar etc., will feature a presentation by the Nutmeg Dancers.

There’s also an announcement in the issue about the 22nd annual CJR Invitational golf tournament, scheduled June 19 at Torrington CC. Last year the event drew 300 participants and raised just short of $65,000 for the benefit of CJR. Since its beginning in 1996, it has realized $1.3 million for the Republic.

Patch sentimental favorite

All aboard for Churchill Downs. Have you chosen your Derby winner yet? The Torrington OTB on Water Street will be mobbed that day because a good many people who do not bet the horses do so when Derby time arrives.

Post positions were drawn Wednesday morning. Patch, the feelgood story of this year’s race, was 40-1 last time I looked. Patch had to have a diseased eye removed last year, but he’s a game animal and more than a few bettors will back him (modestly) just to be part of the story. I’ll put two dollars on his nose, not really expecting a return. If Patch did win, it would be the greatest horse racing upset since Jim Dandy won the Travers in 1930.

You older guys remember that one, right? Jim Dandy, a very ordinary horse, went off at 100-1, and racing in heavy mud, beat the small field that included the heavy favorite, Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox.