Friends don't let distance come between them
Buffalo Skee Club
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

The Buffalo Skee Club reunites every two years, each time in a new destination around the country. They will hold their ninth reunion September in Williamsville. The club is pictured in Connecticut, back row, left to right, Dick Wainman, Sally Russell, Jim Bentley and Skee Gilbert. Front row, Dick Berger, Peter Russell, Carol Wainman, Patricia Berger, Georgia Bentley and the late Mrs. Carol Gilbert.

In a downtown Buffalo office five men did their part to take the branch of a faltering insurance company to respectable levels.

When their work was done, they left, one by one. But the bond they formed in that office has never faltered.

Schuyler "Skee" Gilbert of Williamsville, former manager of the Buffalo branch for Travelers Insurance, said he was transferred to the Queen City to turn things around.

"The office was in bad shape," he said adding that this was in 1959.

So he made some changes, taking out an ad in JC Magazine to find new employees. Dick Wainman, who had just ended his service with the military, was hired.

Gilbert said Wainman was performing well, so he told him that if he wanted to be promoted he would have to find his replacement. He found Jim Bentley, who had also recently got out of the service.

Both Wainman and Bentley were Wellsville natives.

Bentley was told the same thing. He hired Peter Russell, originally from Hamburg.

Also hired to work at Travelers Insurance was Dick Berger, a current Amherst resident.

Together they brought the Buffalo branch, ranked 285th out of 300, to within the top 50 branches. One by one, the men were transferred to branches in the Northeast, but they stayed in touch.

When Gilbert retired two decades ago they gathered for a reunion. During that meeting they discussed having a reunion every two years.

Then and there, The Buffalo Skee Club, penned from Gilbert's nickname, was founded.

For the past 20 years the Skee Club has met around the country to reminisce, sightsee, attend a sporting event and create new memories.

To date they have visited Severn, Md.; Lake George; West Point; New Haven; Hernando, Fla.; Park City, Utah; Washington, D.C., and Charleston.

In September 2008, the group will have its ninth reunion in Williamsville.

"Whenever I tell someone about Skee Club they say, 'It's impossible; no group can stay together that long,'" Gilbert said, adding that the wives in the group have become like sisters.

He added that the other four members of Skee Club have computers to stay in touch and harass him about getting one.

So he sent one such harasser a letter with a bunch of stamps, stating, "I don't want a computer; send a letter and shut up." He laughed as he told the story.

The group is like family, always having a good time when they get together.

"It's as if we had just seen each other last week," Gilbert said about the groups' closeness.

The men in the club have been friends for about 50 years.

At each reunion one of the couples acts as host and supplies a commemorative gift for the occasion. Gilbert displayed a tote bag that had been given to his late wife, Carol, at one gathering. The tote has spaces for photos which have been filled with snapshots of their different travels.

In speaking about The Buffalo Skee Club, Berger said he wanted to share its story of longevity but also have it in The Amherst Bee, so he and Gilbert could send copies to the other members. They could then say they have to keep the club going because they were in the paper.

The three other members live in Utah, Florida and Pennsylvania.