Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Woody Baldwin Web Site

Posted by Lawrence at Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The web site begins.

3 comments:

  1. I post/forward this Email to me from Dick Boureau

    First of all Happy 90th Natal Anniversary Woody!

    I am a Founding Member of Boston Prime Times. I was one of the 42 people who showed up to the very first meeting on 15 August 1987 at 15 Hamilton Place. Woody greeted my arrival and bluntly indicated that since I was good looking and had fairly good penmanship I could be the Greeter and make name tags for the guests. This was the very first time that I had been introduced to Woody but it was not the first time that I had come across him. It turns out that Woody & Sean bought a pop corn machine in their retirement and set-up operations in the park beside Filene’s in Downtown Crossing, almost immediately across the street from where I worked for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. I became quite the regular customer and missed him & Sean when they shut-down operations.

    At the 2nd meeting Woody asked me to join his Executive Committee because the group was growing and he needed help keeping things growing. One of Woody’s favorite catch phrases was: Have you hugged a Prime yet today? I noted that bookkeeping was not one of Woody’s strong suits so I volunteered to be the Club’s Treasurer but Woody would not relinquish the newsletter. He enjoyed banging it out each month oh his trusty old type writer; I don’t even think it was electric.

    My favorite remembrances of Woody & Sean were on our theatre weekend trips to New York City. Our gentlemen would swoop-in on the Big Apple and the locals and visitors would not know what hit them. We would all dine together at the Milford Plaza and then go off in smaller groups to our favorite shows, always with the understanding that we would rendezvous later in the evening at Charlie’s East for cocktails and additional entertainment. I was at these rendezvous that Sean took center stage and sang for us. What a voice! He got every one so engaged that eyes were welling with tears.

    At a point in 1991, since Prime Timers had grown to 10 chapters all through the hard but most enjoyable work of Woody, I had the idea of having the Founding Boston Chapter host a Convention at the Provincetown Inn. I got my Board’s permission and then called Woody in Austin to gain his permission. I was sending our Prologue to all of these chapters monthly and realized that those to whom I was sending them to were merely a bunch of names and how nice it would be to put a face on them. Of course Woody knew them all! Woody was delighted with the offer and we had the very first Convention at the Provincetown Inn in October 1991; there were 132 attendees and at least one representative from each of the then 11 chapters.

    It was at this Convention that Prime Timers International was formed with Woody as the President and me as his Vice President. Years later the International name was dropped and replaced with World Wide; that’s a story for another day. We all owe so much to you Woody. Look at the thousands of great men you brought together! Indeed, our time has come! I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at the 9th Bi-Annual Convention in Toronto! I haven’t missed one yet.

    Eugene,
    What a great idea; thanks for taking this on! Woody deserves all that can be bestowed upon him!

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  2. The web ste is complete. The full biography is available online at the site or as a PDF download. My thanks especially to Gene Gates for all his hlep and to Woody for being such an amiable felow about the whole process.

    There are stories I've missed getting and if you have something please send it along. There will be a revision cycle at some point. The initial response has been good. Woody had an interesting life and despite my failings as a writer the story seems to get through.

    Enjoy,
    Lawrence R. Peterson

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  3. Posting this Email which came in via the web site:

    I've been a member of Prime Timers in two cities (Fresno and Palm Springs) but it wasn't until today that I learned about Woody founding that organization.

    I must say that much of the story of Woody brings tears to my eyes. I've been deaf most of my adult life and certainly know how useless such a state can make a man feel.

    I accidentally found out about Woody. My husband I raised a daughter from infancy and she's now 34 years old, married and we are grandparents. She's moving to Austin from California in the first week of March, so I've been reading everything Austin that I can, knowing it's going to be awful not getting to see her. I wondered what gay life was like in Austin, so that was part of my reading. I looked to see if Austin had a Prime Timers chapter and there I found mention of Woody Baldwin.

    Really. This is a wonderful tribute to an exceptionally good guy and I say that having never known of him. It's people like Woody who are our heros. You, too, Mr. Peterson, for doing this great work of love.

    Sincerely,

    Ray Harwick
    Cathedral City, CA

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