The Three-Quarter Century Club, a yearly free banquet honoring Perry-area residents aged 75 and older, was held for many years on the second Thursday in May as a way to thank the area’s elderly for their contributions to the community.
The annual meals were sponsored by the Perry Daily Chief and prepared and served at a local church. As originally conceived in December 1930, the club “will have no officers at its head, will have no dues or no obligations or responsibilities on any part of the members.”
The club was organized by G. E. “Whitey” Whitehead, who was publisher of the Perry Daily Chief when he presided at the Three-Quarter Century Club’s first banquet on Thursday, May 14, 1931, at the Congregational Church in Perry.
Whitehead became the Chief’s owner in 1943 and ran the paper until his death in 1964. Whitey’s son, Steve Whitehead, followed in his father’s footsteps and operated the weekly paper until his own retirement in 1987, when he handed the reigns to his daughter, Lori Lott, who sold the business in 2013, bringing the banquet tradition to an end after 81 years.
Or so we thought.
In fact, Perry native John Fazel started an imitation Three-Quarter Century Club in 2000 in the Northern California city of Orinda. Fazel remembered Perry’s Three-Quarter Century Club as “a one-of-a-kind recognition for their senior citizens.” He decided to try the same thing on the west coast, and the idea caught on.
Fazel has now served for 20 years as the director and master of ceremonies of the banquets, with primary sponsorship coming from his fellow Rotarians in the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club.
Fazel, 84, was a 1955 graduate of Perry High School. He is the son of Roy and Dorothy Fazel of rural Perry, and his father, along with uncles Dwight Fazel and Earl Fazel, operated Fazel Brothers Seed Co. in Perry beginning in 1935.
“My parents were involved for many years,” Fazel told ThePerryNews.com, “when my mother took her mother and stepfather as far back as the late ’40s and then continued after they reached 75 years of age.”
The COVID-19 global pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 Orinda event and with the virus still posing a risk to Americans, Fazel decided to host this year’s Three-Quarter Century Club banquet online via Zoom.
“Zoom opened up many new possibilities,” he said, “by allowing us to invite our friends and family members who live around the country and the world to join us for some fun and hear a great speaker.”
The banquet’s keynote speaker will be George Hardeen, who will share stories about his world-famous great-uncle, Harry Houdini, who was called the “world’s most celebrated magician” in the early 20th century. Hardeen is also an old friend of Fazel.
“We also celebrate our oldest man and woman as our King and Queen as well as the longest married couple,” Fazel said. “I expect one of our senior men who turned 104 this year to join in. You won’t believe what George does for fun. This past winter he went up to Lake Tahoe and went skiing not once but twice. We should be so lucky!”
Such high praise means all the more coming from Fazel, who in 1993 ran 372 miles across California in 12 days in order to help promote the transcontinental American Discovery Trail, and he chaired the committee that mapped the trail across California.
This year’s Three-Quarter Century Club meeting will be held Wednesday, Sept. 29 from 1:30-3 p.m. Pacific Time (3:30-5 p.m. Central Time). Register for the event on the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club website, and you will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. The event is free and open to attendees of all ages.
“This is the only one of its kind in the world that I am aware of,” Fazel said, “but I hope other communities may begin one of their own. Our seniors look forward to it every year. I hope you will be able to tune in and invite your family and friends and create your own little party.”
