By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
August 11, 2002
Even before the sun burned off the morning dew, 48 golfers 47 men and one woman took to the greens for charity with an 8:41 a.m. shotgun start.
Sixteen teams of three each registered Saturday at Lakeview Golf Course for the 1st Annual Alzheimer's Association Golf Tournament to raise money for the progressive, irreversible neurological disorder.
Watkins and his two teammates, Pat Liggett and Bobby Eason, drove from Newton. Liggett arranged for the men to play in this, their third charity golf tournament this year.
Liggett said his uncle has Alzheimer's disease. And after seeing what it's done to him and how it deteriorated his life, Liggett said, it was hard not to participate in the fund-raiser
Watkins and Eason also have first-hand experience with the disease.
Watkins had a similar experience, saying that "you're dealing with someone you love, but, by no fault of their own, they're not the same person."
Elizabeth Bridwell, chairperson of the golf tournament and a volunteer with the East Central Branch Alzheimer's Association, said the association hoped to raise $1,500 from the event.
Branch coordinator Barb Dobrosky said last year the association helped more than 1,200 caregivers and people affected by the disease through workshops, monthly meetings and educational materials.
It will be three years in October that the East Central Branch of the Alzheimer's Association has helped the Meridian and Lauderdale County community, Dobrosky said.