All 100+ members of HNRC

Guests:

Chessa invited her husband Jay and her long-time friends Curt and Pat Bianchi to lunch. Rotarians Kenneth Walker from Ardmore OK is back, along with Bill Black visiting from Midland TX. Mike Kane from Fire-Ready joined us again – and sponsored part of a Hole during our Golf Tournament!! Phil Bryson from Brainstorm returned and Keoki bought lunch for his German friend Volkmar Schmidt. Tyler Silvernail sprang for lunch for his girlfriend Sarah Lane, a schoolteacher in Ignacio. John and Billy Albert were guests of Charlie while Tami invited her friend Su Compton, who runs a tour bus business. Finally but not least, Patty Burkholder bought lunch for Skip Cave and Tom Harrington, the departing and arriving respectively Deans of the School of Business Administration at FLC. Both are former Rotarians.

Our Newest Member:

Tyler Silvernail became a Red Badge member. Sponsored by Frank Valen, he is a long-time Coloradoan and manages the Dollar Car Rental on Main Avenue. And at 23 years of age, he definitely improves the demographics of our Club!

Persons of the Week:

In Chapter Five of his bio, Bud Deering covered the years 1959-60. He was part of a team responsible for delivering nuclear weapons for the Strategic Air Command. He spoke of living and flying on and off aircraft carriers. Very interesting!

Another honored veteran Bart Cross told a fabulous tale of the events of January 1945 fighting the Germans in Europe. It is too good of a story to share here…if you missed it, I urge you to ask someone who heard and enjoyed his bizarre/unique experience.

Programs:

Celebrating the Past Year: Retiring President Chessa Gill acknowledged the key players who helped make the past year so very successful. They included Mike Sandberg, Burt Coleman, Tom Brossia, Ward Holmes, Nancy Hammond, Bill Cartwright, Frank Valen, Jill Wark, and Steves Redding and Govreau. Great job all!! Then we all sang to her – the opening verse was “Here at Camp Durango/Things are pretty blue/We have lost our weekly inspiration/As Chessa’s replacement, Mike will never do…” The song concluded with “She’s been our prez and she’s been tops/Chessa has made our Rotary bop/What a year we’ve had with Chessa Gill” Indeed so.

Heralding the New Year: Incoming President Mike McGuire introduced the four major service chiefs, who in turn spoke of their hopes and plans for the upcoming year. Dave Ganevsky heads Club Service (Newsletter, Programs, Public Relations and Website) and Angie Beach leads Vocational Services (Interact, Scholarships, Rotary Youth Leadership Award and DHS Business Incubator). Bill Cartwright takes on Community Service (Capital projects, Fundraising and Sustaining projects) and Charlie continues with International Service (World Service Projects, Rotary Foundation / Paul Harris and Youth Exchange). The Club thanks these volunteer leaders! Dave Ganevsky has already treated his committee to a planning session, complete with agenda and his wife’s Kelli’s fabulous paella and shrimp.

Next week July 8, 2004:

The Club meeting will be held at Grandview coinciding with the new Mercy Hospital groundbreaking. I believe it is scheduled for 11:00 am – with catering by City Market. Ward will forward a reminder with directions to members on Wednesday.

Yours in Rotary,

Spencer, your Scribe

PS: Your correspondent always welcomes your comments: Spencer