Widows, widowers meet monthly

Inside the Back to Basics Life Skills Center in the former Reedtown School, a group of men and women gathered for lunch on a recent Saturday afternoon.

There were red and white shaped hearts all around the room and participants were playing games just ahead of Valentine’s Day.

The gathering was a celebration, but not in honor of Valentine’s.

The Widows and Widowers Club was celebrating their second anniversary as a group.

The club’s president, Lottie Hillman, said she felt the need to get area widows and widowers together so people with common interests would have friends to turn to and enjoy spending time with.

“I thought we needed to do something,” Hillman said as she looked back on to the club’s founding two years ago.

“I started writing down names of people that I knew of and I invited them to get together for lunch.”

Every second Saturday of each month has been spent the same way since.

“We just have a good time,” Hillman said.

“We get together and eat and play games and just have fun.”

The club’s chaplain, Bro. Charles James, said the afternoons together allow club members to share time with people who have been through the same experiences and gives them the opportunity to develop friends that they might not spend much time with otherwise.

Vice-president Hattie Freeman said the Saturday afternoons are spent enjoying food and games and “everybody enjoys it,” she said.

“It’s just a wonderful organization.”

The club is open to anyone who is a widow or widower and there are no membership fees.

The club’s officers are: Lottie Hillman, president, Hattie Freeman, vice-president, Stephanie Bean, secretary, Sarah Sargent, assistant, Charles James, chaplain, and Antha McCollum, treasurer.

For more information in the organization, call Lottie Hillman at 256-332-5339 or Antha McCollum at 256-332-5209.