The members of the Girls Card Club recently placed bricks bearing their names and personal descriptions in the Emmaus Remembrance Garden. Although designing and placing one’s own brick is somewhat unusual, the members of the club share a long and unique history.

In 1959, four local women began meeting for pinochle and camaraderie.

One Friday night each month, the group gathered to play cards, eat dessert and relax. Across the years, the number of members fluctuated; currently six women, two of them from the original quartet, remain active participants. The elder of the original pair is 87 years young.

Their activities periodically expanded beyond monthly card games. Together they enjoyed daylong shopping excursions and more extended trips to the Poconos and Walt Disney World.

Still spunky and full of fun, “the girls” have bowed to the limitations of age by adjusting meeting times from evening to midday; dessert remains central to the festivities.

Sadly, several members have died. When the group discovered the Emmaus Remembrance Garden, they honored their deceased friends with inscribed bricks. They then decided to design and place their own bricks while they could still enjoy them and the garden. Each chose wording she feels best describes her.

In his brief address to the club members, Emmaus Remembrance Garden Executive Director Dr. Mike Waddell said creating their own inscriptions and placing the bricks as a group was a wonderful way “ ... to remember [the] really good times.” The ladies agree.

As they say, the Girls Card Club has always been “about unconditional friendship ... laughter and fun.”