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Mazel Toy!

Forever Friends

Through thick and thin, this group has stuck together for 40 years.

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JORDANNA HOCHMAN

Special to the Jewish News

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hat is the secret to a last-
ing friendship? For 40
years, the Couples Club
has answered this question
successfuly. The Couples Club — Judy
and Neil Benjamin, Helen and Fred
Brown, Judy and Shel Gold, Sima and
Jerry Parr, Janet and Herb Pont, Beverly
Stewart, and Bob Stewart and Vicki
Rodriguez — know they only need each
other to keep their friendship strong.
In 1959, six men decided to start a
social club for couples. Five were school-
mates since their days at Detroit's
Durfee Junior High, and they thought a
couples club would be a wonderful way
to maintain their friendship. The club
gave their spouses the opportunity to
meet their husbands' friends while
becoming friends themselves.
Says Janet Pont, "It let us establish a
cadre of friends as couples, and we just

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Detroit Jewish News

Celebrating 40 years: Standing, from left, Marty and Eleanor Gaifinke4 Bob Stewart,
Jerry and Sima Parr, Neil Benjamin, Helen and Fred Brown, Herb Pont and Shel Gold.
Seated are Vicki Rodriguez, Judy Benjamin, Janet Pont and Judy Gold.

clicked as a group. We really enjoyed
each other's company."
The Couples Club gets together
about eight times a year in a different
member's home.
At times, the women played mahj
while the men played poker, with a late
supper or snack following the games. In
Janet's opinion, Shabbat dinners have
been some of the most memorable and
beautiful times shared by the group.
Summer picnics for all the members
and their growing families have also
been highlights. One summer, 12 club
members, with 19 kids in tow, took a
trip to Canada's Wheels Inn. "We think
it is still recovering," says Janet. Many of

the members' children are close friends,
and some have stood up at each other's
weddings.
In many ways, the Couples Club
grew up together. "We grew together,"
says Helen Brown, "and will grow old
together, too." Through early married
life, births, weddings and even difficult
times, the members rallied around each
other.
In December, the Couples Club cele-
brated its 40th anniversary on a
Caribbean cruise. They had T-shirts
made to commemorate the event, and
invited a guest couple, Eleanor and
Marty Garfinkel, whom everyone knew
and liked.

There were only a few guideline
for the trip. "We decided we didn'
always have to be with each other,
says Pont. "There was no set scheo
ule, we only had to meet for din-
ner." This flexibility made the trip
more relaxing and enjoyable. Whe,
the group celebrated Chanuka
aboard the Royal Caribbean, the `-\
other passengers joined in.
It isn't what they do together, b
simply the fact that they are toget
er, that makes the Couples Club
special. "Everyone is so emotional
supportive," says Pont. We know
we can always call on each other,
and this goes for the men as well
the women." When Pont thinks .'
about the club, she gets a wonder
warm feeling. "We are genuinely
happy for the joys of each other,"
she says, and their mutual respect
and affection is infectious.
According to Pont, "The differen
among us just don't matter." [I