By Clyde Noel
Once a month a group of retired men meet for lunch and talk about old times.
Sons in Retirement is organized into 170 local branches, from Fresno to the Oregon border, and includes Mission Trail Branch 35, which has a large contingent from Los Altos and Mountain View.
When asked what is the best thing about retirement, most people respond, “I now have the freedom to do what I want to do and not punch a clock.” But they want to keep busy.
Richard Billings, a member from Los Altos, wanted to get involved. He was assigned to the attendance committee, and he signs in guests.
“Everybody needs a badge to be introduced and I’m the guy that does that,” Billings said. “I enjoy the meetings because you meet congenial people who are retired and have a lot to say.”
According to Billings, SIR Mission Trail Branch 35 is the largest branch in the state. It is divided into numerous groups based on interests. Members can join a bridge group, go fishing, play golf or tennis, or get involved in a computer group.
The computer group is called CompuSir. Member Bob Simon of Los Altos created the Mission Trails logo for the Web site. The chairman of Compusir is local resident Graham Wallace.
Naturally, the group is divided into two subgroups, one for PCs (IBM and compatibles) and one for Apple Macintosh.
“We all have computer problems, and this is a chance for us to get together with other computer friends once a month,” Wallace said. “Our club has a lot of interesting speakers, and on occasion we have made field trips to see something interesting in Silicon Valley.”
Wallace said most members (about 95 percent) have a PC, but they meet jointly and then divide into separate meeting rooms to discuss current problems and the latest software.
Some of the recent speakers and discussions revolved around Seagate disk drives; use of an Amiga computer for video production; trends in printers and scanners by a Hewlett-Packard hard copy specialist; and Sun’s Java language.
Wallace retired from Space Systems/Loral, the company that was originally Philco Ford. He was a satellite programs product manager involved in computers.
“As a retired person, it gets me back to the people I worked with over the years here in the valley,” Wallace said. “Every retired guy with a computer should join, especially if he is sick of (junk e-mail) and looking for answers.”
SIR dates back to Aug. 20, 1958, when a group of 14 men held a kickoff luncheon in a San Mateo restaurant.
From that humble beginning, it has grown into a statewide organization with approximately 32,000 members.
According to the group, SIR believes in “Promoting the independence and dignity of retirement.”
The SIR-copyrighted insignia is a rooster, chosen because it is a creature known for independence and dignity.
The CompuSir club has about 50 members who meet the second Wednesday of every month except December. They meet in room 12 at noon in the Hillview Senior Center. Meetings last about 50-60 minutes.
For more information about SIR, logon to www.closerreach.com/sir/compusir.htm.
