“We’ll be back.”

Those were the parting words of the more than two-dozen members of different Red Hat Society chapters in Manteca and surrounding areas to the staff at Kelley Brothers restaurant after their recent luncheon meeting.

This was not one of the groups’ regularly scheduled get-togethers. It was actually a hastily organized meeting with one mission: to help save the downtown restaurant from closing its doors due to the economic downturn. Restaurant owners Joe Kelley and Mark Abram went on the record recently via a story in the Manteca Bulletin that they may be forced to shutter their doors at the end of the year if business does not pick up by at least 10 percent.

The ladies of several Red Hat Societies in the area did not want to see that happen. This dining destination downtown has been a favorite venue for their meetings through the years. Some of the members have their own individual reasons to join the cause, sentimental and otherwise.

Joan Collins, Vice Queen of Bling of the Diamond Lil’s of Manteca, said the Kelley Brothers has always been the venue for their annual St. Patrick’s Day extravaganza. This gathering is not just for the members of their Diamond Lil’s chapters, or for the other groups in Manteca, she said. Many Red Hatters from Stockton, Modesto and other cities come and join the fun as well.

LaDonna Settlemoir and her family have a sentimental connection with the Kelley Brothers Brewing Company and Brickyard Oven restaurant. Pointing to the shiny stainless steel beer-brewing contraptions in the back of the spacious ground-floor room of the restaurant toward the bar area, Settlemoir proudly announced that those were fabricated by her son, Perry, who is a master welder. LaDonna is Queen of Queens of the Manteca Diamond Lil’s. In Red Hat Society parlance, Queen is the equivalent of a club president.

Cynthia Chuvichien of the R’Hattitude Red Hat Society in Los Banos has just one reason for joining the effort to keep Kelley Brothers open: food.

“Their food is excellent. This is the best brie I ever had,” she said of the meal that she ordered at the recent meeting.

Her sentiment was shared by the other Red Hat women who came to the luncheon. Considering they only had two days to make the phone calls to other Red Hat Society groups for the hastily arranged meeting, Collins and Settlemoir who let their fingers do the walking soon after the Kelley Brothers story came out in the Bulletin were surprised to see the more than two-dozen women who wanted to be part of the effort to save the restaurant. Several of the women came from out of town. Queen of Diamonds Pat Riley of the Red Hat Outlaws chapter came from Stockton. Members of the Hat Flashers chapter came from Atwater. Merced’s Sisterhood of Rambling Hats – San Joaquin Valley’s Favorites – members along with Queen Vicki also made an appearance. Other out-of-town groups represented were the following Red Hat Society chapters: Divas and Diamonds, Hattitudes, Red Hat Pussycats, Happy Red Hatters, and Bodacious Babes.

Besides coming to the agreement to continue patronizing their favorite restaurant, the Red Hat Society women also vowed to help spread the word about Kelley Brothers.

One other sentimental reason why they want to see the restaurant saved is the rich history of the building which once housed the old El Rey Theater whose claim to fame is being part of the classic and once popular Trivial Pursuit game. When El Rey burned to the ground, the movie that was being shown was “The Towering Inferno.”

As promised, the Red Hat Society women will be back for another luncheon meeting at Kelley Brothers on Nov. 16 at 1 p.m.