The first meeting of the Old Guard of White Plains was held on October 5, 1954.

The Korean War had just ended. Eisenhower was president. The McCarthy hearings were being held in Washington. Gasoline was 21 cents a gallon. Postage was 3 cents. "On the Waterfront" won the Academy Award as best picture. "Let Me Go Lover" and Rosemary Clooney's "Hey There" were the hit songs. Elvis Presley came on the musical scene with "That's Alright Mama," marking the birth of rock and roll. A new Ford sedan was under $2,000.

An Idea

Early that year Rabbi Lawrence Schwartz, head of the White Plains Council of Community Services, appointed Robert Henderson to chair a committee on community education in the Division of Aging. Henderson, a White Plains resident, had recently retired from his job as a chief librarian at the New York Public Library. The committee's mission was to make existing services to seniors - known then as "the aged" -- better known and to develop general community interest in their problems. Henderson was joined on his committee by three women - Miss Marjorie Wilkins, Mrs. David Rosenberg, and Miss Helen Clark.

When the committee met on June 4 of 1954, members decided to look beyond existing services because they felt that the most pressing need involved retired business executives and professional men. These were men who were capable and self-sufficient, according to the committee, but somewhat lost in retirement after their long careers. They needed an outlet to find opportunities to make new friends.

Helen Clark, who was director of the state employment bureau in White Plains, suggested that some kind of an organization could be the answer. She pointed to a group called the Old Guard in Summit, NJ, as an example. It was one of eight Old Guard clubs in New Jersey.

The basic idea, as Henderson later quoted Miss Clark, was: " Keep your friendships green," or as Samuel Johnson said: "If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man …should keep his friendship in constant repair."

Armed with a letter of introduction from Miss Clark, Henderson visited the Summit group. He was very enthusiastic about what he saw, and in late June met with five men - all strangers to one another -- to discuss the feasibility of starting a similar group in White Plains. The group was to be nonsectarian, nonpolitical and interracial. It was to be organized not primarily as a social club but rather with the basic purpose of offering opportunities for creating friendships and to suggest ways in which members might serve their community.

Organization

By the end of September, Henderson had put together a group of 27 interested men and it was agreed to draft a constitution, with Henderson as interim chairman. They decided to meet weekly on Tuesdays at the White Plains YMCA at 10:30 a.m.

A constitution was adopted and officers elected at the first official meeting on October 5, 1954. Henderson was elected head and initially was called the director.

Benjamin Carroll, editor of the White Plains Reporter-Dispatch newspaper, was the speaker at the first meeting, which was attended by 35 men. Twenty-six were from White Plains, 6 from Scarsdale, 2 from Pleasantville and one from Rye. So from the beginning, some Old Guard members came from beyond White Plains. Their average age was 71 years old. Today it is 83. Dues were $2. Lunch was served by the Y for 75 cents.

While there was considerable discussion about the name of the club for several years, the Old Guard name continued to stick. At the first meeting it was also decided not to meet on holidays, so the second meeting was not held the next week because of Columbus Day. The summer of 1955 saw a number of weekly trips to interesting places around Westchester that were counted as meetings. During the first four years meetings were held on all but eight Tuesdays. Starting November 11, 1958, the group has an unbroken string of weekly meetings.

From the beginning the Old Guard has had an extremely varied background in its membership, which has been a major element in its success. By the first anniversary membership had grown to 67. Today we have more than 150 active members.

There seems to be no argument that participation in the Old Guard extends life for many of its members. In fact, Henderson lived to age 96. And some of our current members are 90 or older.

As our founder, Robert Henderson, said, on the occasion of our 20th anniversary, "We are grateful to God for the friendships formed, and the happiness brought into our retirement years by the Old Guard."

Currently the Old Guard meets at Memorial United Methodist Church on Bryant Avenue in White Plains. The group left the Y at the end of 2004 when the Y no longer could assure that space would be available for weekly meetings.

--Adapted from a presentation by Old Guard Member Edward Hardy at the 50th anniversary dinner dance, Sept. 9, 2004