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It is with great joy that we are able to resurrect the Progressive Dinner this year! It is a Park favorite and will be a terrific evening!
This year is noteworthy, we have come out from under Covid and we have been fortunate to be able to feature two of our architecturally magnificent houses. The house that will be the venue for cocktails was the home of the same family for 117. Coster House, designed by William A. Bates in 1899, for Charles H. Coster, is located in a prominent spot on Tower Hill Loop, with lake views.
It was purchased by Charles Myers, about 3 years ago, beautifully renovated by new resident Ryan Lynch, along with Randy Florke, it now will be our first stop on Saturday, October 1st for cocktails.
Alex flew over 30 missions during WW2, most famously commanding “City of St. Louis” and was decorated with numerous medals for distinguished service. He told tales of his flying days, piloting bombers in WW2, surviving a horrible crash in 1942 (he was not at the helm!), or his beloved sailing adventures. He most generously donated the new boathouse to the Tuxedo Club a few years before his death. He happily told me of flying Bob Hope and his band for their USO tours, he was given a gold watch as a thank you from Hope.
His mother now holds court in the bar at the Tuxedo Club, her portrait hangs over the fireplace, with her beloved dog.
Alex was a true character and loved his house. He happily mowed the lawns, tended the plants, had tennis players stay for Gold Racquets, hosted big, fun dinners, and loved sitting on the amazing porch with a drink and his pipe. Someone once asked how he kept his pipe dry when he was sailing in a storm, his answer, with his eyes twinkling, was to grasp his pipe and turn it upside down!
In later years Alex could be found having lunch at the Orange Top Diner with the town DPW guys, pretty much every day, entertaining young children on his way out, then he would stop at the front gate, and his arm would reach out of his car with a cup of tea he was delivering to Laurie, the gate guard!
Our cocktail host, Charles Myers, who bought the house from Alex’s estate and has lovingly restored it. It is a wonderful house and still retains so much of the warmth and original details. It holds many happy memories and we are very pleased to make a new one there on October 1st, Alex would be so very happy to look down upon, smile, and light his pipe once again!
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