Copco Lake, California (CNN) – The famous photo of five friends, taken every five years at the same lake in California, is out for the world to see, despite a man’s recent cancer scare.
Some feared openly that it might be a photo of four friends this year, and not the first five as teenagers.
“I was crushed,” said John Dixon, who lives in Santa Barbara where the friends first met. “We worried there would be an empty spot on the bench where we take the picture.”
Dallas Burney, seated in the middle of a series of photos that repeat the pose of the first shot, told CNN that a large cancerous tumor was removed from his left leg in 2019.
“My cancer – liposarcoma, I knew something was wrong for several months,” said the elementary school teacher.
“I was out of school for five months. I can’t run anymore, but I sure can.”
Bernie took a leisurely walk around Lake Copco on Tuesday evening with Dixon, Mark Rumer-Clery, John Moloney and their host, John “Wedge” Wardlaw.
They haven’t all been together since the last picture in 2017. Bernie’s cancer and the pandemic made reunion difficult.
But first, the food
John “Veg” Wardlaw frying tacos in his protective gear Tuesday night.
Paul Workman / CNN
So they gathered the night before the photo was taken for their other five-year tradition – feasting on “veg” tacos.
Wardlaw stuffs the meat into tough taco shells and pan-fries them so hot, he wears a glove and safety glasses to protect it from splatters.
The jokes broke.
“Salt is the main ingredient,” laughed Wardlaw.
“We’ll all be drinking water at midnight,” said Moloney.
“And #@$! Cardiologist,” quipped Rumer-Clery.
Two friends with a view from the window got up from their seats.
“Bald Eagle,” he said.
The majestic bird, with its trademark white head, looped above the cabin, as if to lend pomp and circumstance to the scene.
Other animal sightings on Tuesday included a bobcat, deer and cattle.
Taco Dinner 2022. Another tradition for five friends.
Paul Workman / CNN
The friends, often lashing out at each other, were across the lake from Oregon.
40 years of tradition
By Wednesday afternoon it was time for the main event.
He took the latest photo on a 79-degree day worthy of a travel brochure cover. As pictures were clicked on the Nikon D800 camera, they dominated their posture and froze. They were seated in the same order and in the same posture as they have been striking since 1982.
Copco Lake, 2022. Left to right: John Wardlaw, Mark Rumer-Cleary, Dallas Burney, John Moloney and John Dixon in 2022.
Courtesy John Wardlaw
A hat always rests on Rumer-Clery’s lap or knee. Moloney holds a jar in her right hand. Bernie’s right hand is on the inside of his right knee.
“It’s good to be back here and know that what we’re doing is not going to end cancer,” Bernie said.
It is about friendship.
The five men told CNN they ended up at a German museum exhibit on friendship. His photo was featured in Costco’s magazine.
Once again, his pictures went viral doing the rounds on social media sites where his appearance was brutally dissected and praised.
“There are some dumb quotes that you can never put in an article,” Wardlaw said.
The five friends have been gathering in the same Copco Lake cabin for four decades.
Courtesy John Wardlaw
“There were reactions to (the three of us) going shirtless. Some said we looked great, and that was brave after 50.”
The age of four friends is 59 years. Rumer-Cleary is 58.
Rumer-Cleary draws attention to what the photos posed surreal and says that sometimes strangers will stop her.
“It happened to me for a few reasons,” said the software engineer who founded Occam Networks. “I’m 6-foot-6 and I have facial hair. They just wouldn’t pick it up with a bat. ‘You look familiar, I can’t tell why.'”
back to the beginning
Five friends, all graduates of Santa Barbara High School, took the first photo in 1982 in their now-familiar pose with an automatic camera timer in their late teens.
Their reunion takes place in the Copco Lake cabin built by Wardlaw’s grandfather in 1970.
They fished, hiked, barbecued, picked berries, and pranked each other over the years for homemade pies.
Moloney describes late nights knocking on walls, throwing firecrackers into bedrooms in retaliation, and constant teasing.
Dixon confessed that she gave Wardlaw the nickname “Wedge” because of her friend’s definition of the shape of her head after the haircut.
“I hated the nickname,” Wardlaw said. “So, stuck.”
Five friends have been taking the same photo in the same pose in the same cabin every five years for the last 40 years.
Moloney is a New Orleans-based photographer. Rumer-Clery is retired and lives in Portland, Oregon. Wardlaw is a filmmaker and photographer living in Bend, Oregon.
Bernie, an Air Force veteran, is entering his 23rd year of teaching in Northern California.
The cancer survivor doesn’t worry about the future of the photo and about its health.
“But I get nervous sitting on that railing,” said Bernie.
“As we age, so does the railing. We get a little older, heavier. That bench and railing sits about 30 feet up. I worry about hearing it crack one day.”
This sort of thing hangs the humor and shows Bernie a picture of a tumor pulled from his leg,
“It looks like a tri-tip,” Bernie laughs, referring to the triangular-shaped cut of meat popular in Santa Barbara County.
All the friends smiled and said in almost a chorus, “Well, this does,
After four decades of jokes and friendship, it’s only fitting that he pokes fun at the tumult that nearly ruined his photo tradition.