The tradition of good times this time of year has been legendary in itself. Ever since I can remember, the month of March always meant something special to me. From the early years in school to the present, I have always tried to make St Patrick’s Day a happy time for not only myself, but for all those that I consider close….about everyone. Back in the late 70’s, a close friend, Al Clark and I decided we would start St Pat’s Day at 6AM and continue to have fun throughout the day. As years passed, this event grew and grew to the point that now our kids and those of our friends, and their friends all meet this one day.

Back in 1998, my son Tim thought it might be fun to start a count down to St Pat’s Day with a golf tourney the Saturday before. Well, like the big day itself, the golf outing became very popular. Despite being played in whatever weather the course allowed us on the course, we played. I believe it was 2002 that it had to be the coldest and windiest day of the year. The snow that fell blew horizontally, but the course said have fun and we did. Fortunately they had a big fire in the fireplace that year…we all stopped in to warm up. This all added to the hype and each year our player list grows and they all want to play despite the weather. We of course then have a get-together afterwards.

 A couple years ago, we decided to make this a fund raising for a good cause that all the players could rally around. It was decided our veterans were the best of the worthy suggestions so we started putting a share of the entry fees, along with raffles, etc., to raise money for this worthy cause. I decided we would channel this money through the O’Fallon Elk’s Lodge #2587 and St. Peters American Legion Post 313 who I know have an outstanding veteran’s program with the vets at Jefferson Barracks Hospital and what ever else they thought would benefit this very elite group of military men and women. This led us to asking for support from anyone, or any business that could find it worth their while to contribute in whatever way they could.

To be continued…………….

Tom Connors