WITH THANKS TO OUR LORD

By Pauline de Assis

We are so fortunate to have a day (other than the national Thanksgiving Day in November) for all UMA

members and friends to dedicate in thanksgiving for all the blessings we receive every day; all thanks to

a few people early on, i.e., Vince Guterres, Mano Pereira, etc. who strongly believed that as a group, as

a people of a unique culture, we can come together to give thanks, to praise and glorify God with a

special Mass and luncheon! That, my friends, is what we did again on Saturday, July 27th this year.

Marie Guterres, widow of Vince Guterres, is the person who unfailingly rises to the occasion each year

to chair and organize this event. The Mass has been held at the Good Shepherd Church in Pacifica for

the last 10 - 15 years where it first began. On this beautiful summer day in July then, UMA members

and friends congregated once again to give thanks and to pray to The Lord. Ah, yes, we really do need

to give thanks and to pray, for our world today is in such a topsy turvy state of confusion and chaos.

So, on this lovely, warm Saturday morn,

Father Piers Lahey, now parish priest of St.

Andrew Church in Daly City, graciously

offered to be the celebrant of our

Thanksgiving Mass. Our choir members,

with their angelic voices, were Vilma

Remedios, Mimi Rodrigues, Felise Santos,

Maria (Zinha) Gomes and John Madeira,

with Zinha at the piano. Maria or Zinha,

President of UMA, welcomed all (some

80+) to Good Shepherd Church and thanked

them for attending our annual Mass. The

first reading was by Ozzie Ozorio and the

second by Kiki Oliveira (substituting for

Ray Xavier). Flavia Greuble and Marie

Guterres brought up the gifts. The

Eucharistic ministers were Alice Vieira, Mimi Rodrigues and Virginia (Vee) Silva (in place of Doreen

and Mano Pereira, Mano being under the weather). Fr. Lahey, as usual, gave an uplifting homily and at

the end of Mass, told the people, not to their surprise, that the Mass made good our requirement to attend

Mass the next day, though he did say that Our Lord would be more than pleased if we were to attend

Mass again on Sunday. Of course, many were happy to hear of the dispensation.

After the closing hymn by the choir as well as all present, and with Fr. Lahey's final blessing, the crowd

went out with happy hearts and hungry stomachs to Santa Rita's Hall, just a few steps away, to await a

mouth watering lunch, they hoped. Here's where relatives and friends mixed and mingled with their

latest stories, jokes, etc., sharing a lively camaraderie. Not much later all eyes were on the table where

the food platters were spread. Without further ado, the queue for the famished church goers began and

sure enough, they were not disappointed with the food presented before their eyes. Marie had ordered

the popular and often asked for, beef brisket with turnips; some just love the turnips while others the

beef tendons, also to whet appetites was the sweet and sour fish - how appropriate is that? And we must

have some veggies right, so the green beans and chicken filled the bill?! Well, wow, quite a meal it

turned out to be and some went for seconds until the platters were practically polished clean - mmm,

mmm good! No meal is complete without desserts, so the food table was again filled with dessert plates

of slices of pound cake and brownies. and the now hunger satisfied crowd, with coffee, tea or a soft

WITH THANKS TO OUR LORD

drink at hand, quickly took the sweet morsels to their tables to enjoy while continuing their lively

chatter.

It was really a wonderful get together because not only did we meet old friends, relatives or

acquaintances, we met our goal of thanksgiving, adoration and prayer. A special event such as this can

only be accomplished with many helping hands, so many, many thanks go to Marie Guterres, Flavia

Greubel and others, too many to mention, for this very memorable day of Thanksgiving!!

Shall we go a-Picnicin'? By Pauline D’Assis

Summer is here and the kids are out of school. There are so many fun things for them to do, such as

summer camp, skating, visiting Disneyland, swimming, etc. Even so, the kids and grandkids can enjoy

some quality time with Moms, Dads, Avos, Nanas, Grandpas, or however they call us, and taking them

out on a picnic seems like a great way to spend a summer afternoon. And so it was on August 25th,

2013 when many families, relatives and friends met at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek to enjoy the day -

a family picnic day no less!

It was a lovely warm, sunny day, perfect for a picnic. The organizers, or course, were there bright and

early to set up tables, the BBQ pit, and the food table, together with cold drinks and all the garnishes.

Right on cue the families came pouring in, first to get a shady table for their gang, some tables were

filled with so many young adults and little ones. A refreshing drink was the next order of business.

Friends, relatives and the kiddies then began to mingle and get acquainted.

The BBQ chefs did double time to get all the burgers and hot dogs on the grill as hunger pangs did their

thing with our stomachs. The aroma from the just-grilled burgers and hot dogs wafted through to the

tables and had everyone heading for the food table. Burgers, hot dogs, sausages, green salad, potato

salad all invited the hungry picnickers to fill their plates with their choice of meats and vegetables for

lunch. Cold drinks, sodas and beer certainly helped the food go down. Ah, yes a very satisfying meal it

was to be sure!

Picnic

While the kids ran around and the ladies chatted, some of the men couldn't miss the opportunity to play

cards. So a table of 8 to 10 guys enjoyed the day playing a favorite pastime, their card games. They

even changed tables looking for shade as the sun's rays shifted.

What's a picnic without watermelon eh? No fear, watermelon was certainly the dessert to die for and

there was plenty of those juicy, sweet slices of watermelon to go around; the kids really enjoyed slice

after slice, the sweetness was so refreshingly good!

Time for some games for the kids - sure enough Larry Collaço, Joanne Ribeiro, Zinha (Maria) Gomes,

etc., all helped to round up the kids for the egg toss, sack race, etc., with prizes for most of the

participants. They sure had a fabulous time playing the games - and winning a prize, what fun!

Candy Roliz with her handy dandy camera and tri-pod had everyone gather under a huge tree for a group

picture or two before anyone could get away. Of course, there were a few who did just that but they had

a good time nevertheless.

As the afternoon wore on it signaled the time for quitting and clean up even though some didn't seem

ready to call it a day. It was such a delightful summer afternoon; everyone - families, friends, relatives

and especially the precious little ones, even some out-of-towners, came and thoroughly enjoyed

themselves. Only with careful planning and lots of willing helpers could this come to pass! We owe

many, many thanks to the organizers - Joanne Ribeiro, Flavia Greubel, Larry Collaço, Ozzie Ozorio,

Zinha Gomes, Vic and Ellen Boisserree and a host of friends who pitched in to lend a hand. Well,

hooray - another fun filled event ended the day for UMA! Thanks to everyone for attending - way to go!!

UMA FamilyPicnic

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By Joanne Ribeiro

On Saturday, August 31, 2013, forty-five golfers gathered at the Rossmoor Golf Course for the fourth

annual UMA Golf Tournament. This was our best turnout ever and a good time was had by all. The

weather was perfect throughout the round, which began at noon with a shotgun start on the first 6 holes.

The format was changed this year to a two-person (pair) better ball coupled with a blind two-pair team.

So, no twosome knew who they would be paired up with until the awards were announced at dinner.

2013 UMA Golf Tournament

2013 UMA Golf Tournament

AWARDS SCORE NAME

Perpetual Trophy - Man 83 Johnny Monteiro

Perpetual Trophy - Woman 91 Teri Crosby

Low Gross - Man 83 John Monteiro

Low Gross - Woman 91 Teri Crosby

Low Net - Man 65 Lionel Guterres, Jr.

Low Net - Woman 67 Cathy Pementell

Team - 1st Place 123 Terese Alonco

Team - 1st Place 123 Polly Bernson

Team - 1st Place 123 Alvaro Alonco

Team - 1st Place 123 Johnny Monteiro

Team - 2nd Place 158 Dorene Davis

Team - 2nd Place 128 Cathy Pementell

Team - 2nd Place 128 Jay Clarke

Team - 2nd Place 128 Pierce Clarke

Team - 3rd Place 131 Mike Clancy

Team - 3rd Place 131 Diana Wong

Team - 3rd Place 131 Gary Ferras

Team - 3rd Place 131 Lenny Gaan

Closest to the Pin - #2 11' 7" Joanne Ribeiro

Closest to the Pin - #4 19' Rick Oliveira

Closest to the Pin - #10 11' 10" Marcela Tannenberg

Closest to the Pin - #14 10' 2" Melinda Olea

Closest to the Pin - #16 11' 4" Francis Silva

Longest Drive #18 - Man Jim Remedios

Longest Drive #18 - Woman Kim Zakar

UMA NOITE TROPICAL by

Raquel Remedios

On a balmy evening on Saturday, September 14th

, UMA held its annual dance, Noite Tropical, the

highlight of our social calendar at the Twin Pines Senior Center in Belmont, CA. We had a good

turnout this year, with 109 attendees including UMA members and friends.

The evening got underway with the social hour with most guests arriving promptly at 5:30 pm. People

meeting and greeting, renewing old friendships, and many meeting for the first time in decades. The

ambience was one of fun and gaiety, and the evening promised to be a most pleasurable experience for

everyone.

Just prior to dinner, Emcee Ray Xavier, welcomed everyone and thanked President Zinha Gomes and

the Social Committee headed by Flavia Greubel for their hard work in contributing to the success of the

Noite. The committee prepared a fine menu for the buffet table: chicken curry w/okra & potatoes,

minchi, baked ham, assorted vegetables and steamed rice. FM desserts of bebinga de leite and arroz

pulu were set out in platters for each table, finishing off with a white birthday cake donated by Ozzie

Ozorio on the occasion of Marie Guterres’ birthday which was the 14th

.

At each of the tables, the tropical motif and décor were manifest with the beautiful hibiscus arrays by

Magdalen Pereira and program, menu and table cards by Raquel Remedios.

Music by Bob & Geri Sequeira began promptly at the end of dinner service. There was something for

everyone, from the era of swing, big band , jive, rock & roll, line dancing, Latin numbers to the music of

the ‘ boomers’; and even a floor show – Marie Machado gracefully performed two Hawaiian hula

dances to the delight and surprise of the revelers. In between the dancing, there was a break for the

Raffle and it goes without saying that a few lucky winners were overjoyed.

After the Raffle, the ‘band’ played on and the dancing continued; and alas, as with all good things, it

was time for the last dance and the end of an enchanting evening.

Noite Tropical

Chairpersons, Magdalen Pereira & Virginia Xavier, President Zinha Gomes, VP Flavia Greubel and the

Social Committee are to be congratulated for having organized this successful event. Thanks and

appreciation are also due to the many helpers and friends who assisted in the preparations, bar, kitchen,

server duties and cleanup. Last but not least many thanks to Johanna Terra for her unstinting efforts in

collecting names and payments and urging participation in this annual gala.