For the second meeting in a row, our new prez Terri Grassi received a round of applause when she opened the meeting. The honeymoon period is already longer than what is usually afforded a new president!

OPENING TRADITIONS

       Terri asked Wally Swatkowski led us the pledge to the flag of our great country.

       Art Levine limited the invocation to “one page, one side”, but meaningful sharing of thought.

       Bill Mathy, aptly conducted the “Visitors and Guests” portion of the agenda. Though no visiting Rotarians made an appearance,  Bob Radde deferred to Ray Hansen for the introduction of Pat and Jim Shupe and Josh and Riley, the parents and kids of the day’s speaker, respectively. Rays wife, Nancy attended as did Gloria Radde.

Other introductions:

Scott Smith by Terri Grassi

Tony Faisal by Drew Napolin

Lanny Couvillon by Scott Dowds.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Wally Bartelt made a special presentation of a Resolution by the State Senate honoring our own Bill Peloquin who did such a great job as District Governor last year! You made us proud Bill and Wilma!  Congrats and thanks!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pres Terri shared that the special “Reading by 9“ pins distributed at today’s meeting were given in recognition of our participation last year.

Jim McKamy encouraged participation in the Poker tournament to be held at Farmer’s and Merchants Bank.

Rick Crane encouraged sign ups for the July 30 “All Fullerton Rotary Clubs” get together at the Flyers game.

Minard Duncan shared that 1 in 5 adults are illiterate but pointed no fingers as he described the Rotary District and LA Times goal to collect 40,000 books for children. Please bring children’s books (in new or good condition) next week. Scholastic Books will match with a book. Volunteers are needed to collect books at the OC Fair for this program.

Greg Hickman enticed Rotarians to Christian Life Center for a free screening of the film, “The Chronicles of Narnia” on July 28^th

Bob Clark,Jr. announced the Thursday at 8PM “Film on the Fox” screening of the Beatles movie, “Hard Day’s Night” and reminded us to mark calendars for the Oct.20 Boys and Girls Club auction.

Jay Kremer invited Rotarians to join the July 20^th 7:30AM Program meeting at Carrows.

RECOGNITIONS

Drew Napolin handled the finemaster honors and in true actuarial form, shot from the hip as he asked carefully designed questions of this week’s birthday and anniversary Rotarians. One question was, “Have you been able to keep your shoes clean while walking your dog in the dark?” Through the miracle of number crunching, amazingly accurate fines were accessed.

Bob Hathaway never did admit to his age, but Scott Dowds did as did Wally Swatkowski who claimed that he walks his cat.

Spousal birthdays were claimed for Wilma Peloquin and Linda Bartelt won’t admit her age to Wally. Anniversaries recognized were JB Braun, Ed Little and Rick Price. When asked what the key to happiness in marriage is, Ed just replied  “…It’s amazing…”  and Rick Price said, “Do what you’re told”.

Joyce Capelle (I thought she was retired!), Minard Duncan and Vern Andrews presented a Rotary award at a recent Junior High School graduation ceremony. There are not secret messages in this Rotagram except this sentence.

Dan Kiernan shared his itinerary  of his road trip around the northwest and is now nervously awaiting his gasoline bill.

Jim Young moved to Morningside on the day of his stint as Paul Harris in the Demotion night play.

Jeff Hutchison was unsuccessful in getting his daughter to elope to Nevada, so she is going to commit matrimony locally.

John Phelps will need more time to share his recent trips to Nepal, Vietnam and Mount Everest.

RAFFLE

Bill Schenk helped Terri Grassi get in competition form for the Poker tournament by letting her pre shuffle the deck of cards. He had one chance to pick one of two Jokers, but won the consolation prize of $10. instead.

PROGRAM

Ray Hansen introduced Jill Hodges who shared the ups and downs of her life including the ordeal of bone cancer at age 11, which required amputation of her left leg above the knee. A teacher at the junior high level, Jill shared tips she used to overcome disability.

Faith in God and herself, the support and love of Family/Friends and the fortune to Find that thing that motivates/inspires you. These will allow freedom to really optimize your life. While the challenges and experiences she has faced in her life were not always fun, Jill has come to recognizes that much of her confidence, strength, leadership and ability to face challenges has developed as a result. Jill has worked with “Team in Training” to help her prepare for triathlons and to approach her goal of raising $5000 for the Lymphoma Society.  She is quite a woman, conquering a challenge that only 50% survive. She feels very fortunate and is a great role model for her friends, family and her lucky students!

CLOSING THOUGHT

Shared by Terri - “Happiness is not by chance…it’s by choice!” by Jim Roan