A celebration will be held Monday for Fleet Reserve Association Branch 289 in Imperial Beach, the second largest FRA branch in the world, said Branch President Paul Hanson.
The local branch was chartered May 20, 1963.
All members of the public are welcome to attend a barbecue at FRA Branch 289 on Silver Strand Boulevard where more than a dozen original members will be recognized.
The Fleet Reserve Association was started to protect benefits for members of active duty and Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard veterans but in Imperial Beach it also means community service and family.
Over the years their club house has seen wedding receptions, get togethers after funerals and a fire in the early 1990s that closed part of the FRA for half a year.
Branch 289 regularly hosts Mar Vista High School class reunions and South Bay Darting Association and Optimist Club of Imperial Beach meetings.
Auxiliary members, primarily made up of the family of members, volunteer and support the branch and its members. Together with branch chaplain Don Kelley they make house calls and hospital visits to sick and shut in FRA members and active duty military.
Former aviation machinist Gene Dougan joined the FRA with a group of sailors when he came from Detroit to San Diego in 1972.
The FRA started as a place to enjoy "the camaraderie of getting around after work and having a couple of beers and bang around a couple of ideas."
Later Dougan became a branch bartender.
During that time he witnessed fundraisers, weddings, funeral receptions and even FRA members marrying members.
A bartender doesn't have time for a lot of conversation, he said, but he heard a lot of "old sea stories that go on and on and on and every time they're told differently."
Dougan took part in branch ceremonies to honor members who passed away, even while tending the bar.
"It's quick but it's very touching," he said. "Even when I was tending bar I would stop and get someone else to cover the bar for me."
The FRA isn't on a main thoroughfare in Imperial Beach so people don't always know about the clubhouse, said FRA member Stan Lewandowski.
"We're off the road and nobody sees our building they see the American Legion. They see the VFW more or less," he said.
Lewandowski said he is a member of all three military service organizations but his heart is with the FRA since that's where he started when he came to IB in the early 1970s.
"The thing is that we are a family club, OK? With the food and all that and everything we do," he said. "That's where I do 90 percent of my volunteer work. I've worked in the kitchen. I've cooked all over."
FRA Branch 289 holds an essay contest for students and support the Mar Vista High School NJROTC and school band, he said.
Lewandowski said he's proud that the FRA offers affordable meals to members, particularly for those who often cannot afford to go out or are unable to cook for themselves.
He is also proud that Branch 289 was not built with traditional bank loans. The branch and subsequent expansions were paid for by using promissory notes.
For years Branch 289 participated in the Sun & Sea Festival and annual summer sandcastle parade. Barbecues during those years acted as Branch 289's biggest fundraiser.
"Because people were always walking down 3rd street and we put the signs out and they smell the smell and they'd do that," said Branch 289 President Paul Hanson.
Thanksgiving dinner, a Pearl Harbor ceremony led by FRA member Bill Landry and Little League end-of-year celebrations for volunteers are all special to Hanson.
Protecting the rights of service members and "helping my brothers in arms" is still the priority, he said.
"Because I go to regional conventions and national conventions and lobby, I know the government is trying to take away from our service members now," he said. "I'm not big into political but there's a point where enough's enough."
Recruiting new blood to become members is important to the future of FRA Branch 289.
In the past 10 years membership has declined roughly 50 percent from more than 2,000 members to about 950.
"I'm only 43-years-old and I'm one of the younger members up here right now," he said.
"Everybody else is 50, 60, 70, 80 and they're the ones that are signing off and we're really trying to implement getting younger and retiring personnel so they know what we do to help them on active duty," Hanson said.
Efforts to recruit new members will continue, he said.
The FRA Auxiliary was known as the Ladies Auxiliary until a few years ago, said Paul's wife and Auxiliary President Stacy Hanson. Men are now allowed to join in their efforts to support members and families of members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard who are deployed or in need.
"As a kid my grandpa was a charter members and I remember going there as a kid and it was just about loyalty, protection and service. You do anything you can for the people that serve," she said. "That's still what it's about."
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
