Ladies of the Lake meet to eat, chat and care
HAUSER – It started 14 years ago as casual gatherings of friends to celebrate birthdays and sip a few drinks.
Soon, though, the original handful of Ladies of the Lake, as they’re now dubbed, decided to make their get-togethers official. And they opened the door to any interested Hauser residents who wanted gab-filled monthly luncheons punctuated by a homemade dessert, bursts of laughter and long-lasting friendships.
“By word of mouth and phone, it just grew,” said Mary Ann LaRue, one of the original Ladies of the Lake.
Hauser’s Ladies of the Lake is a second-season sorority of sorts, with low-key socializing as its primary purpose. The group meets every second Thursday of the month at a local restaurant. The venue has changed over the years – the group now gathers at the Borrowed Bucks Roadhouse in Hauser – and some members have come and gone.
The group now has more than 20 women on its roster, and the monthly lunches have regularly garnered about a dozen or more.
“It’s just a good way to meet people around the lake and keep people updated,” said Lady of the Lake Donna Ray at the group’s October gathering at Borrowed Bucks.
“And just gab. And gossip,” interjected LaRue. “But that’s the fun part of it.”
They get caught up on the day-to-day happenings from the last month. Talk about kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. And they love to poke fun.
“Does anyone have any cheaters?” asked Ray, squinting at her menu to order lunch.
“Oh, cheaters?” said LaRue, handing her a pair of reading glasses.
The women take turns bringing sweets to the monthly meetings – “and of course, there are no calories,” LaRue joked. A dollar raffle also is collected every month and a name drawn for the winner.
Lady of the Lake Jan Werst said she hopes the group expands its focus to include community service projects, such as adopting a family for Christmas or setting up a scholarship fund.
“That’s all in the future,” she said. “We’re just growing now.”
The ladies do pass a hat to collect rainy-day money, funding acts of kindness for one another. For example, Ray, who has been a member for three years, received flowers recently after she struggled with an illness.
“I can’t tell you how uplifting it was,” said Ray, wiping her eyes.