The Chatham Men’s Club began humbly in 1957, when Ted Bigelow invited friends to his garden shed, “The Afterthought”, at 61 Tide Mill Lane to discuss current affairs, local or otherwise, over coffee and doughnuts. Within two years in 1959, the group had increased to 13 with Chatham Fire Chief Chester A. Eldredge hosting the meetings at the Fire Station.
It was evident to the founders in 1965 when membership expanded beyond 25, meeting in St. Martin’s Hall, that by-laws and elected officers were needed. The Presiding Officer now became the Moderator. In 1979, needing even more space, the group moved to the newly opened Parish Hall of St. Christopher’s Church. When St. Christopher’s Parish Hall closed for renovations in 2006, the group met for one year at the VFW hall on George Ryder Road. Since 2007 the group has been meeting in the new Chatham Community Center.
At its first weekly meeting of its 2017- 2018 season, the Chatham Retired Men’s Association adopted updates to its Bylaws, the first since 2009. In addition to codifying changes in its operating guidelines, CRMA members adopted a significant change to the membership rules. Recognizing today’s reality that many men continue working past their first or even second retirements, CRMA adopted the working name Chatham Men’s Club, and opened its membership to all men who are either registered voters or residential taxpayers in the town of Chatham.
The early leaders were:
EDWARD A. BIGELOW, 1957; EMMET WELLER
MODERATORS SINCE 1959
| CHESTER A. ELDREDGE 1959-1970 |
| RICHARD E. DONNELLY 1971 |
| PAUL M. BUHRER 1972-1977 |
| HOWARD M. PALMER 1978-1979 |
| RAYMOND A. WHITHEY JR. 1980-1982 |
| NELSON M. BURROUGHS 1983 |
| WOODMAN PERINE 1984 |
| WALTER K. CABOT 1985-1986 |
| NELSON M. BURROUGHS 1987 |
| EUGENE I. MORRIS 1988-1989 |
| ALLAN H. CHASE 1990 |
| LEONARD H. ERIKSEN 1991 |
| ROBERT V. DONAHOE 1992 |
| THOMAS F. GOGAN 1993 |
| DALE F. GIBSON 1994 |
| CHARLES B. HATHAWAY 1995 |
| HERBERT WELLER 1996 |
| ARTHUR F. CLOUGH 1997 |
| GEORGE W. FISK 1998 |
| ROGER C. WITHERELL 1999 |
| RICHARD H. EVANS 2000 |
| ROBERT C. OLIVER 2001 |
| STUART M. TUCHINSKY 2002 |
| DUDLEY H. RANZETTA 2003 |
| COLIN J. CAMPBELL 2004 |
| ROBERT E. CRUICKSHANK 2005 |
| JON R. FRESHWATER 2006 |
| J. RICHARD KRAYCIR 2007 |
| ROBERT L. DOYLE 2008 |
| FRANK MESSINA 2009 |
| SAL GIONFRIDDO 2010 |
| JOSEPH R. GAGLIANO 2011 |
| DAVID P. VINCENT 2012 |
| GERRY MCDOWELL 2013 |
| RICHARD MORGANO 2014 |
| ROBERT FISHBACK 2015 |
| PETER COCOLIS 2016 |
| THOMAS GEAGAN 2017 |
| TOM CLARKE 2018 |
| GEORGE LANE 2019-2020 |
| JEFF GORDON 2021 |
| LARRY GOODRICH 2022 |
| JOHN KOSIAN 2023 |