By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
What a surprise it was when the Crestline Breakfast Club planned a surprise birthday party for their friend Beverly Burkitt who was turning 95 years young. The surprise was she didn’t come to brunch that Sunday, because she had other things to do that day! What a surprise!
Some of the Crestline Breakfast Club members with Beverly celebrating her 95th birthday.
The Crestline Breakfast Club was begun over five years ago, in March of 2019, when Debby Porter, who had been a stunt woman in the movies, had moved to Crestline and wanted to meet and network with others in her new community. She met people and invited them to breakfast to just talk. She set up a small Facebook group through which they communicate and decide when and where to meet each week.
Over the years, some have joined the weekend breakfast club, some have moved away and some have married, but 25 currently are on the Breakfast Club list and weekly around 10 to 12 attend and talk about nothing, but always about pets, especially Porter’s pigs, kids and what’s upcoming in town. They always welcome new friends and visitors.
Debbie met Beverly years ago and Bev, who they lovingly call “Mama Bear,” has been a consistent member. Her humor, wisdom and life experiences are listened to by the others. She was previously very active with the Crest Forest Senior Citizens club, even teaching a class there on how to play the harmonica, until she broke her arm last year, which unfortunately forced her to cancel the class, as she took several months to mend. She is now better and lives independently but has great family support up here.
A 95th surprise party takes a lot of planning, including arranging for a location, buying special decorations and, of course, baking a cake. They even set up a separate Facebook message page so Beverly, who is Internet savvy, wouldn’t find out.
The real twist in the story is the German chocolate cake – Beverly’s favorite – was actually baked in Beverly’s own oven by Marti, one of the Breakfast Club’s members, on Saturday. She never caught on and then, the next day, Beverly surprised everyone in the club by deciding that morning to go down the hill to visit with family. The club loved eating the delicious cake but they missed Beverly, so they rescheduled for the next week. This time they told Beverly and her family so she wouldn’t accidently miss another one of her birthday parties.
The special decorations said “95 Years-Happy Birthday” and a crown and sash were brought for her to wear, making her a birthday princess. She also received a scepter, which she bopped many with during the afternoon, either knighting them or telling them to be quiet. She received many gifts, including books, which she loves, and other items.
The party received a lot of attention inside the restaurant at the time. Other diners remembered that the seniors had sung Happy Birthday to Beverly earlier that week at Leisure Shores, and they joined in again. Beverly was quite the center of attention in the whole restaurant and enjoyed the spotlight that afternoon.
Debbie Porter was thrilled the Crestline Breakfast Club has risen above her original concept of just meeting others and some real friendships have developed. She is thrilled Beverly has become such a special member of the club and that others have also embraced this special lady.
Unfortunately, just four days later, Beverly somehow fell in her home and broke her upper arm and is on the mend again. Her friends were there helping her, until she gets back into the swing of things. Club members are suggesting she should be bubble-wrapped to stop her bones from breaking. She said she was glad she didn’t miss her birthday party a second time as it was quite fun!
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