This longtime KC golfer, educator celebrated his 95th in quarantine ... with a surprise

A 95th birthday spent stuck in an apartment — not exactly the plans George Todd had expected.

His family has thrown a party on quinquennial birthdays ever since Todd’s 80th. On those special occasions, friends and loved ones typically gather to reminisce with Todd about some of his favorite moments — from a hole-in-one in his 80s to working at the same Kansas City, Kan. schools for decades, there were always plenty of stories to tell.

And then the coronavirus pandemic happened.

But his stepdaughter, Melissa Wayne, came to the rescue.

Wayne said her stepfather has always been a social sort. Even after he stopped golfing regularly, he’s spent time with his three closest friends at the local golf course, riding in their carts or playing cards.

Bill Fenton, the youngest of the foursome, worked in the education field with Todd and still visits him weekly. He stands outside on the paved road below his friend’s apartment while Todd looks down from his second-story balcony.

And then they just talk over the phone.

“I call it the Romeo and Juliet conversations,” Wayne said with a laugh.

Wayne, who lives in California, said she knew Todd was struggling with being cooped up in his apartment at Garden Villas of Lenexa for so long, so she reached out to people on those previous quinquennial birthday lists. She found some fellow former educators he knows and asked them to send him cards for his birthday.

“I just asked that they not call him and spoil the surprise of all these birthday cards I was getting sent to him,” she said.

Little did Wayne know that Fenton was curating his own plan. He took birthday cards to the golf course and had people sign them. He planned on taking the cards to Todd and standing outside, below the balcony, like he always does for their chats and then surprising him with them.

But then he decided to take things one step further. He rallied the other two members of their golfing foursome to come stand alongside him, his wife and their wives below Todd’s deck.

Together, they’d sing Todd “Happy Birthday.”

“He’s just such a deserving guy for something like this,” Fenton said.

On Thursday, that’s exactly what they did.

But the group grew from six to almost 15 after Wayne informed others in the area about the event. Wayne, who is quarantined in her own home in Los Angeles, watched via FaceTime with her husband.

“I called him after, and I said, ‘I watched the whole thing on the phone,’ and he said, ‘Can you see me now?’” Wayne laughed.

After they sang, the small group stuck around while Todd opened his birthday cards. They wanted to be together, pandemic or no, so they made it work and it turned out to be a memorable birthday after all.

After almost 40 years of friendship, Fenton said, Todd is worthy of the attention.

Wayne, Todd’s stepdaughter, agreed.

“Although my dad can be kind of shy, I thought, ‘This is a chance to really honor him as a local man who spent his professional career contributing to the community,’” she said.

This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 7:47 PM.