Special to the Herald

Back in 1982, director John Hughes made the popular coming-of-age movie called “The Breakfast Club.” It was about teenagers from different backgrounds who bond while serving Saturday morning detention at their high school.

Well, flash forward. We’ve left high school and adolescence far behind. But the power of friendship is still a tie that binds for a group of gentlemen who gather every Wednesday at the Newport Creamery in Cranston for their own breakfast club.

They have dubbed themselves the ROMEO Club (Retired Old Men Eating Out), a name used across the country by similar groups.

Here in Cranston, they are easily identifiable by the inscribed, bright red baseball caps they wear. Their weekly meetings give them a chance to share a hearty breakfast while covering just about every topic you can think of – politics, education, sports, aging with dignity and the importance of good company.

“We look forward to it every week,” says Marcel D’Auteuil of Cranston who, at 72, is one of the younger members of the group. Their membership numbers are informal, but they estimate that there are about a dozen or so in the group.

It all started about 18 years ago with Lou Marciano, who is well-known for his coaching history at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence as well as his career in public health. Marciano, now 99, was part of a legendary football coaching staff at Mt. Pleasant in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and coached wrestling there as well. The World War II veteran later became a leading public health administrator for the Providence School Department and then the Rhode Island Department of Health.

He recalls running into an old friend he had lost touch with one day many years ago, and suggesting they meet for breakfast as a nice way to reconnect. More friends joined over time, Newport Creamery in the Garden City Shopping Center became the designated meeting spot, and the ROMEO club in Cranston was born. At age 99, Marciano, whose nickname is ‘Doc,’ is one of the older ROMEO club members and, like many of them, has an impressive history of public and community service.

“We have members from all walks of life,” said D’Auteuil, an Air Force veteran who has long been active in the Rotary Club of Cranston as well as the Auburn post of the American Legion. “We enjoy getting together and sharing stories.”

At last week’s Wednesday breakfast meeting, Marciano and D’Auteuil were joined by ROMEO members Ray DiMillio, a businessman from the Matunuck area of South County, and Ara Boghigian of Cranston. Now 89, Boghigian was a member of former Providence Mayor Vincent ‘Buddy’ Cianci’s administration and director of public housing for the City of Providence’s Housing Authority for approximately 20 years. He also studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a commercial artist.

D’Auteuil said it was unusual for only four to be present, but they still enjoyed finishing breakfast with a birthday cake for Boghigian. They joked that the collective age of the ROMEO members exceeds 700 years, but they are also clearly proud that those years include many contributions to education, sports and civic service in Rhode Island.

One member is Vin Cullen, legendary basketball coach and Hall of Fame member at the Community College of Rhode Island. During his time there more than 50 years ago, the teams he coached won a seemingly endless streak of games and the college’s field house was named in his honor. He was also the school’s athletic director.

Although some members are more well known than others, D’Auteuil said that the ROMEO breakfast club is largely about friendship and staying young by staying active. “We have a lot of good conversations,” he said. “And we also have a strong sense of community.”

Editor’s Note: Barbara Polichetti, a Cranston native, is a regular contributor to Beacon Media publications.