Meet Crew Members Irene and Joe

Irene and I went to high school together and were Physical Education Assistants for two years. Back in the day, being a PE assistant, taking advanced PE classes and being a member of GAA (Girl’s Athletic Association) Intramural sports was as close as we came to participating in sports in high school. Title Nine did not coming into being until my high school days were long over. However, Irene went on to participate in AAU gymnastics and swimming and ultimately became a PE teacher. Today, both she and her husband Joe are on staff at West Point as teachers and coaches. When we discovered that we would be in their neck of the woods, it was our fondest hope that we would be able to make our schedules match so that we could spend some long overdue time together.


Joe and Irene drove to Waterford on Friday evening to spend the weekend aboard the Lolligag. It was just like old times as soon as Irene and I saw each other - the chattering and laughing was almost nonstop about this and that and who had done what with whom in the past forty plus years. We looked at pictures, laughed, drank wine, looked at more pictures, laughed even more and drank more wine…Captain Mark and Joe just rolled their eyes at the giggles coming from Irene and me as we looked at high school yearbooks and class reunion photos. It was such a pleasure to meet Joe and to hear all about his experiences as a college athletic coach.



This weekend in Waterford was Heritage Days, celebrating the community’s rich heritage in fire protection and featuring the Button Fire Engine which had been manufactured in Waterford. Friday evening events included a community dinner and fireworks.







Saturday morning following breakfast at the local diner, we watched a parade of fire engines from all eras and then headed to the community athletic field for the “mustering” event. Never having attended a muster before, it was really quite interesting…teams using human pumping power test their skills to see which team can pump water the furthest distance.




All too soon our time together drew to a close. With promises to keep in touch and to join us in the future for a Lolligag cruise, we hugged and laughed some more before wishing each other safe journeys.