Bulletin for July 13, 2009
President Susan Nowacki's First Meeting
By Bill Dodson
Preliminaries
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President Susan Nowacki, eloquently dressed in a period Victorian gown with a crown of flowers, called the meeting to order of this very fine chapter of a great (the best!) organization at the St Rose Meeting Hall. Of course, her attire was a reflection of her taste of golly old England from her recent attendance at the Rotary International Conference in Birmingham (that’s pronounced Birming’m) England.
We arrived to tables festooned with loaves of brown bread, fruits and cheeses. Shortly thereafter we were treated to a delicious meal of roasted red meat and fowl (probably slain with bow and arrow by the gamekeeper at the Nowacki castle estate) and root vegetables. Hats off to Gerard, the royal meal planner.
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Pledge: Louie Capuano led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rotary Moment: Bo Kirshen provided us with a thought provoking Moment regarding which end of ourselves we use to accomplish the things that we do.
Our Greeter: Janet Codding introduced visiting Rotarians Debby Zack and Mark Burchill from the original Santa Rosa Club.
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Guests: President Susan introduced her guest Dean Nowacki and new neighbor and previous member Arnie Carston & former member Paula Wrenn who was visiting us from her home in Cloverdale. Rich Pratt introduced his wife Kathy Murphy, Bill Dodson introduced future member Jay Takacs.
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Announcements & Such
Red Badges to Blue Badges: Tracy Kline and Kris Lapore, having recently completed their craft talks and other necessary duties, were presented with their permanent member badges via a hear ye, hear ye statement read by President Susan from a rolled scroll. And then fined them a $5 initiation fee. Welcome!
The SCARC dinner will be July 30 at the Dutton Ranch. There was a raising of the hands to see who was planning to attend. President Susan noted that new blue badgers Tracy and Kris will attend compliments of the club.
Diane Winsby, our current membership chairperson, announced our President’s goal of five new members during the first half of her term and five more during the second half. She has organized a challenge contest with the Santa Rosa East Rotary Club with more details to follow at our July 27 meeting.
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Raffle
Phil Talamantes didn’t pick the right marble. Kris Lapore won the bottle of wine. And our President gave Tracy Kline a bottle of wine for her work in helping Susan put together her slide presentation for our program.
Recognition
Phil Talamantes was fined $30 for sneaking off to Hawaii with his two grandchildren.
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Rich Pratt and Kathy confessed to spending a month in Italy eating good food and drinking good wine. While enjoying the architecture of Palladio in and around Verona, they also attended the opera Evita for Rich’s birthday! $20 for the food and wine, $20 for his birthday.
Ginny Pitts was fined $20 for going to Michigan to a niece’s bridal shower.
Neil Silverman has been taking great photos again and promises to provide a slide show for us soon. $20 to the club.
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Brian Herndon was fined $5 for sitting too close to the President.
Jim Valinoti confessed to a week in Puerto Vallarta with his birthday wife Mary and his adult children to the tune of $25. Jim suggested a ‘Canopy Tour’ for the brave of heart. Think zip lines.
Ken Prouty noted he has been married for ‘more than 50 years’ as of July 4 and had a great dinner with our symphony director Bruno Ferrandis. $20 fine that Pres Susan matched because her anniversary is July 3.
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John Withers was fined $10 for counting his money at the table.
And Mark Burchill stood to tell us he and his closest friends had a great time last weekend cruising down the Petaluma River with Jim Hinton. They enjoyed Jim’s boat and his martinis complements of Mark’s purchase of this item at the Crab Feed Auction. No fine.
Program: Queen Susan Reigns
President Susan gave us a taste of what the 100th anniversary Rotary International Convention was like in Birmingham England. She and husband Dean started with a Rotary sponsored tour of Ireland that they shared with 38 other Rotarians. They shared ideas, visited a shuttered Waterford factory and kissed the Blarney Stone at Blarney Castle. There were also visits to Ross Castle, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity Church, whiskey (or, more correctly, whisky) tasting, and trips to the Guinness factory with Susan’s fellow incoming President (Rohnert Park-Cotati Club) Mary Graves and her husband, and a stop at Johnnie Fox’s Pub.
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The convention included many banners and there was a focus on the importance of fellowship in Rotary. Pres Susan praised our Ginny Pitts for her extraordinary efforts within our own club. The grand opening featured two stages with plenty going on continuously. She enjoyed Mia Farrow’s speech about polio; there were breakout sessions and a presentation about ‘shelter boxes’ by a nearby Rotarian in San Rafael. She shared our experiences with our annual crab feed and learned about Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare with their many children.
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They attended a ball at Warwick Castle with 6500 of their closest friends which included a trip up the dark shaft of Guy’s Tower. They went on to enjoy sites at the towns of Bathe and York.
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All these adventures energized and inspired our President Susan to charge head first into her year guiding our club.
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Well, we have started another year as ‘The Cool Club that Gets Things Done and Has Fun’. We all look forward to an exciting and successful year under the new leadership of President Susan Nowacki. Hear Ye, Hear Ye.
| Bulletin Reporter: Bill Dodson  |
Bulletin Editor: Jim Valinoti  |