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By Ron P. Coderre
The sun shone down on Foster Country Club July 13 as The Arc of Quinebaug Valley celebrated the 25th Annual Gardner Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament. A field of 32 foursomes followed ceremonial first ball golfers Self Advocate Coordinator Jamie Lazaroff and Erica Salvas, who initiated the tournament with drives ‘straight down the middle.’
As Chairman of the Board Gene Michael Deary reminded the golfers as he introduced Lazaroff and Salvas, “The Arc of Quinebaug Valley has a rich tradition of more than 60 years of meeting the needs of the people it serves.”
Spirited competition followed the ceremonial first shots as three teams vied for the 2012 championship. In the end after much scrutiny and review by Foster head golf professional Brian Benson and course general manager Bobby Forrest, the winning foursome of Robert Poirier, Ronnie Therrien, Thad Bertrand and Don Chantavongh emerged from the pack as the champs. The winners fired a 12 under par 60 over the challenging par 72 Foster layout.
The winners were determined by virtue of matching cards, edging second-place finishers, with an identical score, Dr. Jack Mooney, John Darigan, Jim Guillot and Mike Christina. Just behind the top two teams with an 11 under par 61 was the foursome of Jeff Rawson, Jim Logsdon, John Eklund and Neil Bernier. A special prize was awarded to the group of Mary Ellen, Luke and Emily Mayo and Karin Croucher who crossed the finish line at plus nine, 81 following 18 holes.
The skins game pot was shared by a quartet of foursomes. The Poirier group, with a birdie on the tough par three, third hole; the Mooney foursome took a skin on the 16th hole; while the Westview Rehab group of David Panteleakos, Jim Kellaway, Jeff Pycko and Justin Olsen won a skin on the par four, sixth hole. The final skin went to the foursome of Alan and Bruce Woodis, Paul Kozelka and Paul Archer with a birdie on the par three, 17th hole.
Closest to the pin winners were Eric Gembowski (3rd hole); Bill Cummings (7th); Mark Verdone (17th); and Doug Lemasunier (18th). Gembowski won the special closest to the pin raffle.
“Once again the community has demonstrated its support of our agency in a big way. The spirit for the work we do was present today, as everyone pitched in to make this a very special day for Arc,” said Administrator of Development Linda Lamoureux.
The tournament was supported by Platinum Sponsors Rawson Materials of Putnam, The G-Seven Catering Company of Thompson and Frito Lay of Dayville. Gold sponsors were Gerardi Insurance of Putnam and Danielson, Fluid Coating Technology of Putnam, Northeast Computer Services, RPC Associates of Putnam and Wheelabrator Putnam Inc.
“We’re very strong supporters of Arc because we strongly believe in the mission of the organization. It’s an honor to be part of this event,” said Jason and Amy St. Onge, owners of G-Seven.
Prior to the start of the awards program, the agency honored organizing committee member David Stuyniski of Frito Lay with the presentation of the Gardner Johnson Award. Stuyniski was instrumental in securing many of the sponsorships for the tournament.
According to Susan Desrosiers, Arc Executive director, the tournament is expected to net approximately $20,000 in support of agency programs. She thanked the organizing committee for its effort in the success of the tournament. The tournament was chaired by Susan S. Johnston. She was assisted by Jeff Rawson, Josh Peach, Julie Ann Dupont, Pam Brown, Linda Lamoureux, Greg Thompson, Patrick Kuhn, David Stuyniski, Emily Groves and Sandi Riemann.