ROMEOs gather for lunch, good times
SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA
The Punta Gorda ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) gather at Tortuga's Seafood Restaurant for their weekly lunch date. Each week, the men meet at a different local restaurant to chat, tell stories and "get away from the wives."
SUN PHOTO BY BRENDA BARBOSA
The Punta Gorda ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) honor founder Jim Lordi at the group's weekly lunch date. Each Tuesday, a core group of about 18 men get together at a local restaurant to socialize. Many of the men have been meeting weekly for nearly 20 years. They don't go anywhere without the flag and the plaque.
One day, sometime in 1995, Punta Gorda resident Joe Kelley walked into the bar at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club to meet his buddy Jim Lordi, who was busy hatching a plan that — incidentally — didn’t involve any of the wives.
Lordi was a real social butterfly, Kelley explained, the kind of guy who could spark a movement. That day, Lordi’s plan happened to be the ROMEOs, or Retired Old Men Eating Out.
