Still strumming

Tom Forquer

Seniors with little instruments put large grins on the faces of those

who watched them.

Wearing a colorful variety of flower print shirts and dresses, the

Oasis Strummers, a ukulele club from the Oasis Senior Center in

Newport Beach, played, danced and sang to an audience of about 50 on

the Heritage Stage at the Orange County Fair on Thursday.

They kicked off their set at the fair’s Senior Day with “God Bless

America,” a Strummers tradition.

Though the band member with the sheet music arrived late, the

seniors still managed to keep the audience entertained with solos

performed by a few brave men.

Songs such as “Lady Be Good” and “Baby Bumble Bee” got the

predominately elderly audience singing along, while “My Little Bimbo

Down On The Bamboo Isle” seemed to strike a chord with at least one

young person.

“We’re just a bunch of crazy old people playing the ukulele,” said

Ralph Lingenberg, who was filling in for group leader Tony Cappa.

Though it took her a little while to get up from her seat,

89-year-old Millie Monroe of Newport Beach could still do a decent

hula dance with a smile on her face.

Another of the five hula girls, 22-year Strummers member Thelma

Clinkard of Westminster, said that despite their age, “We still have

fun.”

“The main thing is seeing very old people still being young at

heart,” said Marilyn Marsino of Anaheim. “It’s good to see there is

still a lot of life left in them.”

The club of 137 people meets every Monday at the Oasis Senior

Center in Corona del Mar. When the club was featured on TV

personality Huell Howser’s “Visiting” series in 1999, attendance increased dramatically, Clinkard said.

Though the group does not offer formal training, Egasse said that

through the simple chord charts they use, “I learn new chords all the

time.”

Leo Dempsey of Newport Beach said that some people don’t come to

meetings to hula dance, sing or play, but simply to listen.

“A lot of people don’t have anything to look forward to and they

love this,” Dempsey said.