Lynda Constantine
I bet I’m the only person who has ever compared snow skiing to Asian food…..you can just go so long without and you’re craving it!! I think it was in 1984 when I joined the Tulsa Ski Club with then husband Jim Constantine. He had to give me a push because I loved the beach more and you didn’t have to pack as many bulky clothes! However, we joined and ever after never missed a chance to participate in “Flatlands”. That was an organization of 8 or 9 ski clubs from states without mountains so we would meet once a year at different ski resorts and have races and banquets. Friends were made and fun was had competing for the coveted first place trophy.
Back in the 80’s, Tulsa Ski Club was around 2000 members strong and met monthly at the Candlewood Club (no longer). It was a great group of people from all walks of life who loved skiing, sailing, diving, biking, hiking…..did I forget anything? The overnight buses made trips affordable for people who might never have tried to go to the mountains. Of course you could fly or drive on your own as well. Being on the membership committee back then was a really big job. I’ve also been summer and winter trip chairman, traveled to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, Banff, Innsbruck and in the summer, to Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Cayman Islands and more than I can remember.
I started my own business in ’75 as a Pittsburgh Paint distributor and also carrying wallpaper and window treatments so it was sometimes hard to get away on all the trips I wanted to take but I managed to play as hard as I worked and the TSC helped make it all possible. I wouldn’t trade anything for all the memories made and friends that have come and gone over the past 40 years. A lot of us “old timers” have aged out but a great new generation is up and coming and it makes me very happy to see Tulsa Ski Club carried on. I’ve been skiing with Lee Benest since 1997 and we are preparing to go to Telluride in a couple of weeks to the annual Flatlands meeting and help try to “bring home the trophy”. Winning race medals gets easier the older you get!