CAMA-ing to an End

Retired lawyer Robert (Bob) Montgomery, probably the longest serving president in the Community Arts Music Association’s 106-year history, received the organization’s top Bravo! Award for his extraordinary service at a packed dinner of 70 guests at the Birnam Wood clubhouse.

Fittingly enough, it was presented by former award winner Deborah Bertling, immediate past president of the CAMA Women’s Board, who is taking over from Bob, who has spent a record eight years as head of CAMA, including during its centennial and more recently navigating it through the COVID pandemic.

“It has been one hell of a ride!” he told the crowd of music afficionados. “I had no idea when I joined the board in 2011 what I’d be in for.”

A cocktail reception on the terrace with Zachary Hamilton entertaining with his viola preceded the surf and turf dinner with wine from the Montgomery Vineyard in Napa Valley’s Calistoga region.

Guests included Bob’s wife, Val, Mahri Kerley, Ben and Aurora Pringle, Musette and Marie Profant, Ed and Sue Birch, Mark and Beatrice Trueblood, Ed DeLoreto, Greg and Trish Geyer, Christine Emmons, and Todd and Alice Amspoker.