Our own Chessa Gill

We heartily welcomed home President Chessa. Alas, the buffet was uncharacteristically weak. The meeting opened with the Evening club’s Exchange Student from Thailand, Dew, who played a bit of music utilizing really strange Thai stringed instruments. It was his futile effort to bring culture to our HNRC.

Guests:

Mucho! Joining us was Gary Ware, a visiting Rotarian from Crossville, TN. New-to-be member Bob Geffe was supported by wife Diana and Joy Mathis. Howard Wilson brought along a SAIC buddy Bill Hoffman, while Susan Sanders was escorted by son Adam. Evening Exchange Student Dew was accompanied by Joe McCormick of DHS. Three outbound Rotary Exchange Students joined us for a bit of Rotary: Pam Bowen’s son Steve, Molly Oswald, and Teal Stetson (both headed for Chile). Teal’s parents Andrea and Mike also soaked up a bit of Rotary. What a great program for these young adults.

Happenings:

Chessa had the sad task of reporting the death of John Windsor’s 37-year young daughter Melissa. She succumbed to a really vicious form of pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed only three months ago. We all grieve for the family and the loss of their only child.

On April 15^th, the Club will be celebrating our 25^th year with a Special Program featuring the District Gov. And sometime in April Chessa will have another Fireside Chat.

The jackpot Card lady remains elusive at least for another week.

Newest Member:

We placed a Red Badge on Bob Geffe, who was sponsored by Scott Mathis. Bob and wife of 30 years Diana started visiting here five years ago and recently decided to make Durango their home. He and his wife were originally from the Chicago area where he graduated with a degree in “Ornamental Horticulture”. Which led to a long and varied business adventure in the Nursery and Landscaping business in Southern Florida. He still has interests in the biz and travels to that area monthly. Scott describes Bob as an active community leader and volunteer, which should make him a perfect Rotarian. Welcome!

This is Your Life:

Honored this week is John Marshall! Born in 1944 to parents who both worked in defense plants, John admits “my HS and college performances were relatively undistinguished”. Two years on active duty in the Army in a mechanized infantry outfit provided the necessary dosage of focus. Armed with a degree in biology and chemistry, he has spent his career in the medical and pharmaceutical products industry. Best thing ever to happen to him was getting a Ph.D. molecular biologist and biochemist, medical school professor, and entrepreneur to marry him. Geri and John opened and operated a business for ten years before selling it for mega bucks to a company listed on the NYSE.

Even their kids are success stories – their daughter also married well. Her husband started and operates a $40mm+, 350-employee construction biz in PHX, while their son managed to graduate from FLC with a 3.8 GPA while still succeeding to get canned at the Durango Diner.

Program:

Your scribe had the honour of introducing our guest speaker, since he was our dinner guest at our home some 12 years ago long before he arrived in Durango. As Director of the Center of Southwest Studies, Dr. Andrew Gulliford has finally secured his dream job shared with my wife and your scribe more than a decade ago. Andy is now responsible for turning the beautiful $8 million Center into “the intellectual heart of the SW”. The Center itself cleverly incorporates the Chaco-inspired “Solstice Peek hole”, which this year will attract a horde of visitors including the Daybreak Rotary Club.

The Center is very active on several fronts. They are rapidly building major artifact collections, including 160,000 photos, all supervised by the only “Certified Archivist” in the region. They are working with at least six major donors, including the well-known Francis Lister. They have already secured the Congressional Papers collection of Rep. Scott McGinnis and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. In the Exhibits arena, the Durango Collection represents 800 years of weaving in the SW. This includes rare Ancestral Puebloan textiles dating from 200 AD, 300 year old Navajo weaving and Saltillo serapes and Rio Grande textiles. A future exhibit will feature the beautiful jewelry created by Ben Campbell. And finally, the Center has developed into a major conference hosting facility. By attracting major associations to Durango, the Center is becoming a major visitor resource. Indeed, Andy has worked with an outfit that provides private jet tours to the SW for the super-rich – and in the process filling up the top two floors of the Strater.

Finally, he has expanded the SW curriculum (drawing upon course in anthro, art, lit, history, sociology and SW studies) and now offers several minors in this area.

Andy invited the Club to join the Center for three days of special events at the end of April, all free! April 28 (7PM) a reception for Ann Hedlund, author of “Today’s Navajo Weavers”. On April 29 (4-9 PM), a talk by master weaver Begay on the achievements of Navajo weavers. The big event is April 30 (1-5 PM): the Southwest Textile Roadshow. A textile expert will review textiles brought in by the public! [My late father bought a bunch of Navajo rugs from Jackson Clark…hum..] Call 247-7456 for more.

Another fine program!!

Next Week:

Program: Double!! Chessa’s Great Adventure and Dennis Lum on Summit Something

Menu: Chicken Fried Steak Yum!

Yours in Rotary,

Spencer, your Scribe

PS: Your correspondent always welcomes your comments: pearse2827@sisna.com