SEQUIM — Twenty years ago in early September, four widows got together to form Sequim Senior Singles.
“We thought senior singles will be lonely, and it’s better than going out to the bars and picking up people,” Alice Knudsen, the only surviving founder, joked at Hardy’s Market, 10200 Old Olympic Highway, where the group meets every Wednesday.
Besides Knudsen, now 86, the founding members were the late Diane Schoofs, Pat Pascale and Ann Kittrele, she recalled, while a group of about 15 met for the weekly “coffee chat” at the store’s lounge area.
“Our first meeting, we had eight people, and in two years it went to 106,” Knudsen said. “Before Diane passed away, she asked me to continue it.”
Today, the group has 116 members, said Bobbie Dahm, Sequim Senior Singles president.
Dues are $20 a year and members pay their own way for activities.
“It’s not like we are sitting on our butts,” Dahm said.
The group’s objective is “to provide a dignified way to meet and make friends and to sponsor various activities and/or interest groups for the members.”
The group — which accepts members ages 50 or older who are single, divorced or widowed — has more formal luncheon meetings every first Sunday of the month at the Sequim Senior Activity Center, 921 E. Hammond St.
Those meetings are catered by Cameron’s Cafe at the center.
Incoming members are asked about their activities and interests.
Sequim Senior Singles members meet regularly for bridge, cribbage, dinner out, golf, hiking, pinochle and poker.
Dahm is joined by Harriet Davis, vice president; Laura Singer, secretary; and Ron Spring, treasurer.
Bob Schober, 81, wasted no time in meeting up with the Senior Singles. He served a two-year term as the group’s president four years ago.
“My wife died eight years ago, and I joined right away,” he said, adding they were married 52 years.
“I was kind of in a depressed mode, and I thought it was a way to get me out of my shell.”
Schober said he loves to play bridge and will teach any club member how to play.
Schober said the group even has a member who is a grief counselor who recommends Sequim Senior Singles to people mourning a loved one.
Dahm calls the group “comfortable.”
“We don’t feel like we’re under any pressure,” she said.
Sequim Senior Singles has a Halloween Party scheduled from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 29.
For more information, phone Dahm at 360-582-9873 or 360-477-0019.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.