Home | About Our Club | Who's Who  | For Members  |  Calendar  | Bulletin  |  District 5130 | Rotary Int'l |

Home on the Range!

President Mike called our meeting to order in his usual timely fashion.

The Preliminaries:

While raffle tickets were being sold by Chuck Baker, Jack Bill was collecting money for those lovely white plates….and rumor has it that he had to dig into his own pocket to cash box to balance! Lurking on the sidelines was Bob Harris where he found numerous Kodak moments.

The Pledge was led by Terry Galazzo and John Meislahn offered a poetic Rotary Moment focusing on "friends and family".

Janet Codding warmly welcomed and introduced our 11 visiting Rotarians.

Announcements:

CRAB FEED IS ONLY 2 MONTHS AWAY! Chris Parr reminded us all that Bob Zeni is still selling tickets. About 300 have already been spoken for, so pull your groups together and contact him directly for individual or table tickets.

Volunteers needed! Since this is our major fundraiser, it is expected that every Rotarian volunteer to assist in some way at this function. Gary Lucas had sign-up sheets at each table. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time.

And Jim Benoit is distributing the raffle tickets. Each Rotarian is responsible for selling at least 10 tickets. They are $10 apiece or 10 for $80. A lovely diamond tennis bracelet will be the grand prize. See Jim for your tickets.

Dave McDonald, who has been heading up our Dictionary Project, told us that the final distribution of our 3rd graders' dictionaries would be this week. If you are interested in assisting with the distribution, contact Dave.

Susan Nowacki thanked Rich Pratt for hosting a very successful "Fireside" last Thursday at his offices. She also announced that, once again, Janet Codding has been kind enough to open her home to us for our Holiday Party which is scheduled for December 6th - details to follow.

Our Sunshine Report included information that Jim Sullivan has had shoulder surgery and that Ralph Lassa is recovering nicely. I'd tell you more, but my lunch partners were very disruptive and little more was heard.

One last bit of sunshine (?) was the announcement by President Mike that Los Robles is again raising their prices effective January 1. To what, we don't know. This is to help defray the cost of the lovely renovations they are planning. Hmmm....And next week's meeting will be held in the Oak Room (across from the restrooms) while those renovations are being done.

Recognition:

Anne Abrams and her six high school cheerleader gal friends spent a recent weekend reunion in The City - sans their Ft. Bragg high school pompoms! And she celebrated her 28th wedding anniversary - I am hoping this was without the cheerleaders, as well. $30!

Not to be outdone, Bryan Jamar was off in Colorado hunting "horny things" (oh, what a guy!). But what he brought home were five elk! The $25 donation will not stop the ribbing, however.

Member Profile:

Stone House proprietor, Ken Davenport, dropped by to tell us that his recent guests, the Gittinses, Harrises and Valinotis, were "primo guests" on his magnificent Montana ranch and he was only charged $25 for having been a wonderful host.

(What a perfect segue! And for those of our newer members who don't yet know Ken very well, here's a profile on him! -Ed)

By the time Ken Davenport was nine years old it was clear that he would not be happy unless he was working. He began his career by delivering the Billings Gazette in Billings, Montana. At 15 he was still delivering, but had graduated to flower arrangements for Volly's Nursery. He moved on to bigger horizons that summer of his 15th year when he and five buddies crowded into a 1929 Ford Coupe Model A with a rumble seat the day school let out and headed for the Coeur d'Alene National Forest in Idaho to sign on with the US Forest Service. By the time Ken's supervisor discovered that he was under the age limit and needed to be sent home, he had already worked his way up from blister rust control employee (digging up forest shrubbery) to telephone maintenance, fire suppression and crew truck driver. He had made himself indispensable, was kept on, and was welcomed back the following two summers.

In the fall of 1945, Ken went into the Navy V5 program and got a military scholarship to California Institute of Technology (CIT) in Pasadena. In 1946 he transferred to the University of California at Berkeley and then in 1947 transferred to Montana State University in Bozeman, where, while working toward a degree in engineering, he supported his young family through a job at Anderson Motors, doing new car setup for retail delivery. In 1949 he shelved his engineering career temporarily, and became the new car sales manager for Yellowstone Motor Sales, the Mercury Lincoln Dealership in Billings, that was owned by Mickey Cochrane, the hall of fame catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers. In 1952 he became the youngest Ford dealership owner in the United States with his Davenport Motor Sales in Big Timber, Montana. It was at the Billings Ford agency where Ken first saw wood-laminated beams being installed, a revelation that sent him on to his next career.

Ken took his impression of wood-laminated beams and formed a new company called Timberweld Manufacturing. He bought a 25,000 sq. ft. government surplus building in Columbus, Montana, and began making wood-laminated beams and arches for roofing supermarkets, schools, churches and warehouses throughout the US. This led to an offer from Fluor Products Inc. of Santa Rosa, who made him an offer he couldn't refuse. In 1963 he sold his share of Timberweld to his partners and moved his family to Santa Rosa.

While serving as assistant to the president of Fluor Products Corp., in charge of the roof structures division, he led the way for Truss-Joist California to buy land and build a factory for building truss joist products for the west coast. By 1965 Ken was promoted to manager of manufacturing for Trus Joist Corp. at Boise, Idaho and was in charge of building and supervising the development of seven TJ factories at Boise, Idaho, Hillsboro, Oregon, Santa Rosa, California, Phoenix, Arizona, Delaware, Ohio, Claire's Home, Alberta, Canada, and Dubuque, Iowa. He flew to each one every month (Nope! No frequent flyer miles back then!)

In 1966 Davenport formed a manufacturing company called K-Lodge Corp. to build cedar log houses for shipment throughout the western US. He sold it in 1969 to Pacific Air Transport and became president of Pacific Air Transport, an airline hauling cargo and other freight from Miami to Quito, Ecuador and the upper Amazon basin. He left that position to go back to Trus Joist as Manager of Manufacturing.

Meanwhile, though, KL Davenport was stirring yet another pot. Back in 1965 he had purchased industrial land in Santa Rosa for the future development of his own industrial center. Over the years Industry West, which started with a remodeled chicken shed, grew building by building. Finally in 1971, Ken left Trus Joist to develop and manage his own property which today consists of 18 buildings with approximately 500,000 sq. ft. on 75 acres, renting space to 76 separate industries.

Davenport was also working on another project. In 1981 he returned to Montana and bought a ranch in the Boulder Valley south of Big Timber, just 22 miles from his Ford agency of the fifties. With Ken's vision and energy, the Circle 5 is now a 2500-acre ranch with a 240-pair cow/calf operation.

In 1997 he added the 1430-acre Elk Creek ranch, 5 miles higher in the mountains. It was at this ranch that PBS series, "Frontier House" was filmed, five minutes of which has made Davenport an international television personality.

Ken lives in Montana most of the time now, where he can bale, dig, grade and build or even fish off his deck, every day. Ranch life suits him as there the work is never done and he can jump out of bed every morning and make plans, (no shortage of projects here!) solve problems, build and rebuild, and make everything bigger and better, just as he has always done.

And speaking personally, Ken is truly a prince of a guy. Our little "6 Pack" (Bill & Pat, Bob & Sandy, and Mary & I) couldn't have been more delighted with our stay at Ken's ranch. He is such a gracious and generous man. He made sure that our stay with him was comfortable, convenient, historical, educational, enjoyable and fun.

We will all treasure our time spent on Ken's ranch in the beautiful Montana High Country...almost as much as the time we spent personally with Ken!

More Recognition...

The ever-traveling John Withers recently returned from another trip to West Point where he attended a football game and spent some time in the restroom with two soldiers armed with machine guns. Don't ask...or maybe don't tell. He said it had something to do with security, but it must have been memorable, as he bought a $1000 table for the Crab Feed to end the conversation!

Bob Reinking recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary - as well as another birthday.Just a smidge over 50, says he. Way to go, Bob! Bob donated $50 for himself and $50 for his lovely bride, Joan.

Von Von Der Mehden held the lucky ticket, but not the lucky marble. Jim Benoit walked away with a bottle of red.

The Program:

Today's speaker was Mark Osmun, Public Affairs Director for the Sonoma County Red Cross.

Within Sonoma County there are 12 paid staff members and 1200 volunteers, attesting to the criticality of volunteer support in order to do the wonderful work of the Red Cross. These fine folks are provided with free training, a program that is coordinated nationwide to provide continuity when workers from different areas respond to a major disaster. In fact, 26 volunteers from Sonoma County went back east after 9/11, each serving 2 to 3, 3-week tours.

Mark also showed us a videotape of the Red Cross efforts during 9/11 that focused on the "massive and immediate" response made during this disaster. By mobilizing resources, establishing assistance centers and numerous other activities, they were able to make a difference in the lives of so many people touched by this event. The outpouring of concern resulted in over 7000 "walk-up volunteers" on day 1.

The Red Cross is a self-sustaining organization reliant on local efforts to operate. There are many ways each of us can help - take a class, become qualified and instruct a class, volunteer, serve on the board or just plain donate money. Unfortunately, donations are down as much as 60% this year and they have to dip into reserves to cover expenses. On a local level, donations account for 56 - 60% of the income with the balance coming from tuition charges for classes and revenue from investments.

After providing "emergency services" to Mark, in the form of a bottle of red wine, President Mike adjourned the meeting.

Your Bulletin Reporter: Tarina Hall		Your Editor: Jim Valinoti

* * * * * 

Changes or comments?

Contact Jim Valinoti at valinoti@sonic.net or (707) 829-2300.

Bulletin Archives