Story and photos by Mark Wing

Paul Duncan (our Tin Lizzies President) was pleased to announce in Mid-May that New Mexico Covid-19 conditions had improved enough that our club could meet in person! The New Mexico Health guidelines were recently updated so no masks were required for people already vaccinated. The event location was our normal monthly meeting place, the Vineyard Retirement Community on Edith Blvd. at 7 pm.  What was different on this day was that our meeting was at an outside picnic area as the recreation room that we typically use was still closed. In addition, this was a combination in-person and Zoom meeting. Club members Kirk and Kameron Peterson were participating in the meeting remotely with board member Phil Lance taking care of the Zoom setup and monitoring.

Luckily, the weather was very comfortable and we had a park-like setting. It was wonderful to see our fellow club members again after so long a hiatus! Larry and Lorna Azevedo’s grandson, Cole, was visiting from Missouri and was able to attend the meeting. Cole, Larry, and Lorna were the only club members to arrive in a Model T. Cole’s recently restored touring car is a blue 1926/27 with an RAJO overhead valve engine and other performance modifications. It was great to see Cole again!

Also joining us this evening was Les Mathson, who had joined the club almost a year ago, but few of us had met him due to the pandemic shut-down. Les has a very nice and original 1917 Model T touring car that was purchased new in Black River Falls, Wisconsin by Les’ great grandfather. Les and his wife Terry are from Wisconsin, and have lived in the Albuquerque area for six years. After discovering our club through Larry, they’re looking forward to participating in club activities.

Joining us also was Nancy Rodriguez, who had not been active in our club for the past five years. This was due in large part to being a health care provider to her mother, Molly Cunningham, who sadly passed away in 2020. Molly was also a Tin Lizzie member and owned other American classic cars. Nancy is excited about getting her 1917 runabout on the road again after years of garage storage. Welcome back Nancy!

Outside of the unusual picnic area venue, the meeting covered typical club topics such as committee reports and upcoming events. When the meeting adjourned, we snacked on cookies and drinks provided by the Duncans and the Dominguezes. It was great to get together in person again and we hope that we can resume our monthly club breakfasts in the near future.