On August 27, the 11th annual Cherry Grove Community Association, Inc. (CGCAI) Community Honors Awards Dinner took place at Heaven ’n’ Earth, and three worthy Grove couples and one late prominent Grove thespian were honored for their contributions. CGCAI Vice-President Joyce Yaeger chaired the event, and Sam Green and Chris Lacovara, Richard Cooley and Jack Ruolo, Ceejay Rosen and Peg Ryan and, posthumously, Maggie McCorkle, were the honorees.
CGCAI President Diane Romano introduced Sam and Chris as “two of the best people you’d ever want to meet,” helping people through their work in health care and law, respectively. “They always open their hearts and their lives to their friends,” Diane continued, and “They feed people who are hungry,” as volunteers for God’s Love We Deliver. To celebrate turning 50 last year, “they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro,” and this year, “they’re going to become parents.” Thanking Diane, Sam declared, “What an honor it is to be included in this group of giving people!”—the 2016 award winners. Of Cherry Grove, he said, “We are so grateful to be part of it” and expressed gratitude for “what Cherry Grove has given us.”
Grove Archivists Michael “Coco Love” Coffindaffer—former Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG) President and Grove Homecoming Queen—and Brian Clarke introduced Richard—AKA past Homecoming Queen Urban Sprawl—and Jack by reenacting a moment from the “Roaring Twenties”-themed Doctor’s Fund Benefit Show rehearsal, with Jack and Urban playing Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky in “The Son of the Sheik.” The film, Coco pointed out, is silent, “but the rehearsals were anything but silent!” Coco donned a boa and Brian, a turban and a moustache, to show us the qvetching and protesting that went into the vignette’s creation. Accompanying Jack everywhere, we were reminded, was his late dog Chip, who even went with Jack to a service at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, with newcomer Nick now assuming the role of man’s best friend. Coco commented that makeup-and-wig master Richard’s “personal beautification program” is devoted to making Cherry Grove beautiful “one face at a time” and she quoted Richard’s quip from James Belzer’s 2008 APCG show “Our Favorite Things”—when asked to work wonders on the show’s would-be Hedwig of the Angry Inch, Richard retorted, “It’s a makeup brush, not a magic wand!” “I love Cherry Grove!” said Jack, after Joyce presented the award.
Grove Doctor’s Fund President Joanne Tavis described Ceejay and Peg—volunteers with the Doctor’s Fund; APCG, for which Ceejay once served as President; and Concerned Women of the Grove—as “two women of the Grove who have been committed for many years and deserve this recognition.” Peg said, “We’re honored to be here tonight and receiving this award from the community … I love this community so much!” Ceejay added, “This community Cherry Grove, this state of mind Cherry Grove, has been our home for years,” where they have found “a world of friends that we love and adore” and “hours of laughing our asses off!”
Joyce deemed the late Maggie McCorkle, veteran of APCG shows from the early 1950s until 1998, “one of Cherry Grove’s founding mothers—the unofficial keeper of the integrity of the community,” as she introduced Maggie’s longtime friend and former partner Audrey Hartmann, who accepted Maggie’s award. Audrey reminded us of an oft-repeated quote from Maggie, “Cherry Grove is my home,” and pointed out that, at Maggie’s memorial in 2005, Thom “Panzi” Hansen, now APCG President, compared the Grove without Maggie to “Paris without the Eiffel Tower.” Audrey also spoke of Maggie’s active role in opposing Robert Moses’ happily thwarted plan to pave over and build a four-lane highway through Fire Island in the 1960s.
In closing, Diane saluted Panzi and the work of APCG’s Board, CGCAI’s frequent partner in community efforts.