The Thursday morning social club

Thursdays are often lost in the day-to-day shuffle as working Joes

anxiously prepare for Friday paychecks, Saturday swap meets and

Sunday services.

But Thursday has become a big deal for at least one Balboa Island

resident. Shirley Knutsen, 75, is president of the Thursday Morning

Club, a luncheon and entertainment program for more than 100 local

women.

The club’s members meet the second Thursday of every month and do

just about everything together -- from walking to eating to knitting

and modeling in fashion shows. Although the Thursday Morning Club

began in 1960 as a travel club, it’s evolved into much more. The

members even golf together and participate in community service

activities, through local charities Women Helping Women and Share Our

Selves.

Knutsen spent her Thursday morning with the Daily Pilot’s Jeff

Benson to discuss her family, the Thursday Morning Club and life on

Balboa Island.

What is the Thursday Morning Club?

The meetings are strictly not business meetings. They’re fun and

many of the members have been members for ages. Our meetings are so

important because they get people to come. We meet once a month at

the Radisson Hotel on Birch Street and MacArthur. This month, we’re

having Las Vegas-style entertainers. Lot of them are singers and

magicians.

It’s a friendship club with a lot of ladies who are in it for the

social aspect. It’s about the things they’re interested in and coming

to luncheons. It’s a wonderful way to get acquainted if you’re new to

the area. The meetings are $23 for lunch and entertainment.

We’d like to get some younger people to come, but the people who

are my son’s and daughter’s age, they’re too busy to play bridge on

Sundays.

What do you enjoy doing with the club?

I’ve been president two times. The first time was in 1994. We

have, in our group, three bridge groups, a golf group and a group

that calls themselves the “Knit Wits.” But that’s more chitchat than

handwork.

I’ve been president since May and I’ll serve until May 2005. Bob

always says everyone calls me to find out some things. I’ve been

around a long time, so I think I know some things.

I also play golf at the Costa Mesa Country Club on the Mesa Linda

course -- the short one. We used to have two start times, but now we

have only one. The most important thing is that we have lunch after

golf. Of all the people who play, I may be the best golfer. I just

love golf.

Can you tell me about your family?

I met my husband, Bob, on a blind date 58 years ago. He was a

sailor stationed in San Pedro on a ship. Anyway, there was a guy who

lived across the street from me who was Bob’s best friend. So then we

went out on our date. Bob was a cute little curly-haired guy, so how

could you resist? I’d just graduated from high school at 17.

We had two kids. My daughter, Kristine Hoffman, is a night school

principal part-time at Orange Coast College. She works with the

district to make sure the teachers in her group are teaching [English

as a Second Language] classes properly to Spanish-speaking kids.

My son is a pastor at Seaside Community Church in Huntington

Beach. His name is Larry Knutsen. They have a really close-knit,

tight, young group. When anyone’s sick, they’re there.

What’s it like living on Balboa Island?

We’ve lived here 35 years and it’s wonderful. I just call it

paradise because you can walk to everything. I can walk to the bank

and to the store and it only takes 15 minutes. There’s really

everything I could want here.

I remember this lady down the street as a young girl. Now, her

kids have kids and they come visit me.

What do you do for fun?

I like gardening. Our problem is that we have such small lots

here. Most of the lots are only 30 feet wide, so you really have to

love your neighbors.

Our house was four years old when we bought it. We paid $80,000,

and it seemed like a lot of money then, but it’s appreciated. It was

the smartest thing we ever did.