3/14/2007

A ‘Dream Team’ ends with a dream
By Don Klein

There was once a "dream team" in Ocean Pines. Four retired couples doing lots of good things together, making their lives full in retirement. Then it became the "nightmare" team. There was a tragedy and although the team is no longer, a dream was born.       

"We had a pretty tight knit group," Ken McLaughlin remembers. "Four buddies and their wives. It was great." Starting in 2002 they played golf together, dined at local restaurants regularly and became close friends.

"We called ourselves the dream team and had golf-shirts made," he said. "The wives got into the act, calling themselves the dream girls, also with shirts of their own."

Then one of the four men, Carter Noble, began showing difficulty walking and fell occasionally on the golf course. Nobody knew at the time but it was the initial sign of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

When Mr. Noble died in 2006, nine months after he was diagnosed with the ailment, it crushed his friends. At the same time it gave birth to a campaign to help others. The dream team formed the "Walk to D'Feet ALS in Ocean Pines/Ocean City." Mr. McLaughlin and his wife, Anita, became co-chairs of the annual event.

"We formed the committee in June 2005 and held the first walk on November fifth of that year," Mr. McLaughlin said. Mr. Noble, by now unable to walk, participated by riding in a convertible over part of the trek of the three mile walk beginning and ending at the racquet club. He died two months later.

Mr. McLaughlin still gets emotional when referring to those dark days. As a tortuous sequence of diminished capacity overtook their buddy, the dream team was launched into despair and determination. "The dream team became the nightmare team," Mrs. McLaughlin chimed in.

The fatal disease, technically known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, systematically robs its victims of their physical well-being. In Mr. Noble's case, "He first developed difficulty swallowing and lost his footing a lot," Mr. McLaughlin recalled, "then he could not talk."  

"I remember driving him to a Kiwanis Club meeting and he wrote something on a pad he started carrying with him all the time and showed it to me," Mr. McLaughlin said choking up. "He had written 'I wish I could talk.'" He recalls other wrenching incidents such as difficulty swallowing food during a restaurant visit and helping him, with the aid of another friend and Carter's wife, Jeanne, to get the now seriously disabled Mr. Noble up a flight of stairs when his legs no longer worked.

"We had the second walk in September 2006 and the third walk is scheduled for October this year," Mr. McLaughlin said. On March 24 there will be a fund-raiser for the ALS Association at Merry Sherwood Plantation on Route 113 in Berlin. There will be snacks, wine, beer and sodas served and many items will be auctioned off starting a 4 p.m.

The McLaughlins, from Queens in New York City, decided to retire in Ocean Pines, a location they were not aware of until they visited Ocean City on vacation years ago. He was an accountant-partner in a mid-sized Manhattan firm when he retired and moved here in 1997. He opened A. J. Future Financial Planners in Village Square, Ocean Pines, now run by his son Andrew.

The other members of the dream team were Ray and Bev Pugh, and Bill and Marilyn Fanning. Their attachment to Carter was so strong that when he died the dream team could not entertain the thought of a replacement. The team folded but the individuals remain close friends.

Although the walk is an annual affair, Ken and Anita spend a good part of their day working on the details. "We are on the phone for hours every day working on the 'Walk to D'Feet ALS,'" Mrs. McLaughlin admitted.  So far they have raised $37,000 in ALS donations in the two previous walks.

Carter Noble demonstrated great personal strength as ALS weakened him physically. He attended Kiwanis meetings almost to the end with the help of friends who drove him to meetings. He presided over family gatherings attended by his four children and 14 grandchildren.

"Carter set an example for all of us," Mr. McLaughlin claimed. Asked why the dream team disbanded after his death, Mr. McLaughlin said, "We couldn't accept a replacement for him so we kept our memories and ended it all."

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