Aurora Methodists' ice cream treats sweeten wedding anniversary
A surprise delivery of ice cream highlighted the Aug. 28 meeting of Not Dead Yet, an Aurora social group for seniors age 65 and up.
Celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary, Emmy Lou and Herb John of Aurora arranged free ice-cream bars for the biweekly NDY gathering at Wesley United Methodist Church in Aurora.
About 15 persons attended the event on the church lawn.
The Johns were married on Aug. 28, 1965, at Kingsley Methodist Church in Milwaukee, Wis. A reception followed in the church basement fellowship hall
Why ice cream for their 55th anniversary? Emmy recalled, "In the early 1970s, Herb and I organized a make-it-yourself ice cream gathering for the young adults at Wesley UMC. We used several hand-cranked machines.
"In later years, this morphed into the United Methodist Men's annual ice cream social as a fundraiser for Blackhawk Boy Scout Troop 11, chartered by Wesley UMC, and the Wesley nursery school scholarship fund. Since we could not have the social this year, due to the pandemic, we decided to keep up the tradition in another way."
Weather permitting, NDY meetings are held at noon under shade trees on the church lawn. Participants bring their lunches, lawn chairs and face masks and practice social distancing.
The next gathering is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 25.
Launched in June 2019, the group initially met at a North Aurora restaurant. After pandemic restrictions prevented in-person luncheons, outdoor meetings began in July.
Aurorans Wendy Evans and Ruth Ann Little, members of the church, co-facilitate the group. Evans said the meetings are about folks 65 years old and older sharing conversation and common interests.
"There no longer was any kind of group for the seniors to get together," Evans said. "We decided that we may be seniors but we're not dead yet."