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Optimists donates benches in honor of Gabrielle O’Sullivan Breadon
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George Breadon, member of the Optimists, poses with the bench dedicated to his late wife, Gabrielle O’Sullivan Breadon. - photo by Natalie Dillon

MONROE — The Monroe Optimists club donated benches to the Parks and Rec Splash Pad, including a memorial bench for Gabrielle O’Sullivan Breadon, who passed away in February. 

“She was the advisor for the Junior Optimists at the middle school for over 10 years, and she took her job very seriously,” Gabrielle’s husband George said. “She always challenged them to do the most they could and bring out the best in themselves. That’s one of the tenants of the Optimist Creed.” 

George helped design the bench, which included the Irish Claddagh ring, eternal knot and Gabrielle’s maiden and married name. The Claddagh ring includes three major components: a heart to represent love, the crown for loyalty and the two clasped hands to symbolize friendship. The eternal knot, which has no clear start or finish, symbolizes the eternity of life. 

“She has an Irish background — she was born and grew up in Ireland — so the Irish emblems are there,” George said. “Both her single name — which she was proud of being an Irish name — is incorporated with her married name because my name — even though I’m from Ireland — is not an Irish sounding name.” 

In addition to the memorial bench, the Monroe Optimists also donated 14 benches for the Splash Pad. 10 benches feature tenants of the Monroe Optimists Creed, while the other four read Monroe Optimist Clubs: Bringing Out the Best in Youth.” 

The project is just one of many the Optimists have contributed to this year. Breadon said the club donates roughly $45,000 each year to community projects. The funds for these jobs come from cheese curd sales throughout the year. 

“We started frying cheese curds in 1972,” member John Wyttenbach said. “In the first year, we made $742. Over that time, we’ve given back over $1.4 million to the community. We’ve sold $2.4 million in cheese curds since 1972.” 

The Optimists don’t work alone, though. They rely on many volunteers to aid in their efforts. 

“It takes a lot of folks,” Wyttenbach said. “We have 300 people that volunteer to help with cheese curds, many of them not members. We have about 100 members right now, so we have to have a lot of folks help us. It’s a community project.”