by Vera Buescher
DEL LAGO RICHES
by Vera Buescher (originally published in the September, 2024 del Lago Newsletter
In recent weeks our del Lago community has experienced the loss of precious del Lago friends and neighbors. That is to be expected here in The Villages, of course. But this is an important reminder to all of us toappreciate the giants who live among us.
Our del Lago DAC held its first meeting in September, 2000, thanks to the leadership of John Akin. Don
DeVincenzi took over leadership of the DAC when John’s health failed and Don ended up serving two terms as DAC Chair, ending in 2019. We have been well served by DAC leaders including John O’Neil (elected DAC Chair in 2012) and Gary Lohr (elected in 2019) plus currently Emil Pisarri and David Dimmick. Thanks to their devotion to all of us, David Dimmick was elected this year to the ABOD and Emil has agreed to step back in as our current del Lago DAC Chair.
Throughout all those years, del Lago has been blessed with the kindness and thoughtfulness of so many special people. It became traditional each year to ask for volunteers to help put up Holiday decorations in our village – and each year Bob & Diane Marchant opened their garage and invited all the volunteers in to enjoy delicious holiday goodies as a reward for their putting up the decorations. Each evening while the decorations were up, Don DeVincenzi (and often Lois, too) were on-duty in the lawn area at the entrance to our village, restoring the electrical connections that were required nearly daily for the deer and/or angels to glow. When Don retired, he handed these duties off to Emil Pisarri. Currently, Emil leads the angel/soldier/deer decorating volunteers, while Anahid Gregg leads the tree decorating volunteers.
For many years The Villages had great July 4th parades, and no Village could out-do what our amazing Jim Grove and volunteers were able to produce for del Lago. Anahid Gregg has happy memories of working with Jim Grove, Ben Vitcov, Bob Marchant and others as they were producing the various floats. Jim Grove is known throughout The Villages for offering to help other districts with their floats, in addition to providing back-drops and scenes for stage plays and concerts in the Cribari Auditorium, for years and years.
Del Lago residents have made significant contributions to The Villages. Sherm Rosenthal was elected to the ABOD in 2003, and he was a major contributor to the updating of our By Laws and CC&Rs (his eyesight was going, but he insisted on completing the revisions). Don DeVincenzi was elected to the ABOD in 2012, and he served a term as ABOD Chair. More recently our del Lago neighbor Bob Krattli just completed his term as a CBOD Director, and Liz Kung is in her final year as a CBOD Director. And as mentioned earlier, our neighbor David Dimmick is a newly elected member of the ABOD.
Other important Villages assets include our Emergency Preparedness Committee (EPC). Serving for several years as our del Lago EPC Sector Chiefs were Tony Branco and Joe Spatafore. Our neighbor Paul Magruder now heads our del Lago EPC Team of Area Rep volunteers. Ann Berg served as EPC Emergency Food Services Director and later as a member of the EPC Emotional Support Team. Judy Bushey served as an EPC Chair in The Villages 2016-2019; and the current Chair of EPC in The Villages is our del Lago neighbor Mike Ramer. Mike Ramer volunteers not only as EPC Chair, but he also devotes many hours to the Villages Medical Auxiliary (VMA). And once again we find our del Lago neighbor, Mitzi Macon (recently retired President of the VMA), who was responsible for heading up and overseeing the many VMA activities aimed at assisting Villages’ residents to live healthy and independent lives. We ARE richly blessed. In 2004 Margaret Gurley agreed to serve as Secretary and Newsletter Editor for the DAC. When she moved away in 2009, Vera Buescher served in that capacity until 2019 when Everett Jacobson took the duties of producing the newsletter, and Judy Bushey took over the DAC Secretarial role. del Lago’s monthly newsletters were born thanks to the leadership of Don DeVincenzi and the creativity of Margaret Gurley. Without a doubt those Newsletters have proven to be very useful tools in keeping del Lago residents informed.
Over the years Everett Jacobson produced creative newsletters, and it’s great to see the tradition continuing thanks to the on-going Newsletter creators DAC Chair Emil Pisarri and DAC Secretary Valerie Dimmick.
A significant arm of del Lago’s joy and happiness has to do with the “Social Committee” which has reached out to new residents and neighbors over the years and has helped create outstanding social events. It’s impossible to remember all the members, but the list includes Marlene Akin, Diane Marchant, Lois DeVincenzi, Maureen O’Neill, Joan Lohr, Anna Hewitt, Peggy Tritto, Alice Reiley; and, of course, more
recently Melinda Dobbs, Monona Tang, Lucy Pousho and Anahid Gregg. Anahid’s name is well-known by all Villagers due to her indefatigable drive to have Pickleball Courts here in The Villages.
There are other volunteer activities our del Lago neighbors contribute toward. After many years of serving as the aluminum can collectors in del Lago, Jim Grove and Ben Vitcov passed the baton to husband-and-wife team Emil Pisarri and Judy Bushey, who then added used battery disposal to the effort. Plus, Vera Buescher, Judy Bushey and Anahid Gregg have all served as Villages Inspectors of Elections.
One reason for this remembrance, of course, is the recent loss of dear del Lago friends like Bob Marchant, Tony Branco, and Ann Berg. Over the years we’ve had to bid farewell to precious people. Because many del Lago residents have moved here recently, it seems appropriate to share highlights of these del Lago Villages’ riches. I was 62 years old when I elected to move to The Villages 25 years ago. I could never have envisioned all the interesting and wonderful people I would meet plus all the activities and experiences that were ahead for me. It has been truly heart-warming to recall the many highlights, and I hope I’ll be forgiven if I failed to mention someone or something as I recalled the past.
Some parade photos are included for your enjoyment. You’ll recognize some del Lago names included in the photo descriptions.