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Happy Birthday to you ... Mail Tribune / Jim Craven From left, 727 Club members Lyn Hennion, Dave Rasmussen and Patricia Williams pose in front of a KC-97 at the Medford airport Thursday. ... and you ... and you ... and to all the '727 Club' members By BILL VARBLE Don't even think about any worthy purpose when you talk about the 727 Club. "It has absolutely no redeeming social value," Lyn Hennion says with a laugh. "We don't try to do anything worthwhile." Like the Bob Day Festival or the Betty Club, the 727 Club is strictly for fun. Members have gathered faithfully on today's date at the Medford airport since 1995, except for the years they didn't get around to it. The club is for people whose birthdays fall on July 27. They picked the airport because a Boeing airplane has that number. Hennion says it started when she and a few others - Dave Rasmussen of Jacksonville, Ed Kupillas of Eagle Point, Clair Killen of Ashland - found out they had the same birthday. This year, club members are approaching the date with typical thoroughness. "We don't have any particular plan," she says. "The Red Baron is providing some box lunches. We'll all talk. Being Leos, we're all type A personalities. Nobody's real shy." At 29, Patricia Williams, of Medford, says she's been the youngest of maybe a dozen members. "They talk about what's going on in their lives," Williams says. "The year before last, I'd just found out I was pregnant. This time I'm bringing my 17-month-old and my 4-week-old baby." Club members made up a bingo game in which the squares were people born on that seven-two-seven date: producer Norman Lear, skater Peggy Fleming, actor Keenan Wynn, critic Vincent Canby, writer Alexandre Dumas. They made up "What Year Is It?," a game in which people tried to guess which July 27 things happened, like the year Mikhail Baryshnikov made his American debut (1974), the year Greg LeMond became the first American to win the Tour de France (1986), the year the U.S. Navy went wireless on its ships (1902). The subject of aging comes up. "I think I have the least to say," Williams says. "A lot of times you're intimidated, not having as many life experiences. But they are so welcoming." Killen wrote a poem called "Back and Forth" in connection with the club. It goes like this, in part: "Remember long ago when we /couldn't grow older quick enough, /wanted to be 10 at 6, 16 at 10, /21 at 16, at least for boys. "This reaching to be older went on /for a long time till about 45. /Fifty gave birth to denial, so 50 /was like 40, women 30 smiled. "Sixty was like 50 and then 70 /was 70 and each year from then /was old and older. Nothing to do /with how I felt. At 75, hold on. ... "The trick is to stay alert, invest in health, /be active, ever curious, mindful, generous, and for sure don't misinterpret the smiles /of a good-looking younger woman." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.