Opening Traditions

Chief Pat McKinley looked quite dapper today as he brought the meeting to order asking Bob Radde to lead the Pledge to our flag. John Diere offer the invocation and Leroy Fulton led us in song. Chief Pat presented Mike Oates with the coveted Patch And Mug. (Hereafter known as the PAM or the “PAMMY”) for his tireless efforts bringing people and cities together.

Introductions

Warren Wimer orchestrated the welcoming of guests beginning by introducing fellow Rotarians Don Landers of Visalia and Lois Bergman of Orange.

Bob Jahncke introduced his wife, Beth, Pat McKinley introduced wife Barbara and Pam Montgomery. Zoot Velasco introduced Duane Greenleaf and Marilyn Gianetti, Jason Webb and Richard Abraham were guests of Griff Duncan. Bob Sattler introduced his son Brandon even though it wasn’t his birthday.

Announcements

·        Terri Grassi did an infomercial for the Muckenthaler Cultural Center,  informing us of a new art and ceramics exhibit opening this week. There will be a “Farm dinner” Feb. 8 so ask Zoot for more info. Terri reminded us of the great fun to be had at the March 27-29 District  Conference, especially the “Hospitality Night” where a great variety of food and fellowship is there to be enjoyed.

·        Contact Bob Hathaway if you know if persons who might be candidates for the Ambassadorial Scholarship that our club sponsors. Some of  our members honored Ray Ashcroft’s son by making contributions which went towards the Society of Daughters of the American Revolution to honor a deserving student from the FUHS district.

·        Jay Kremer reminded announced the Programs meeting 7:30Am at Carrows Jan. 15. In particular, we’re narrowing down options for the Valentine’s Day meeting on Feb. 11. If you can share the “Cliff’s Notes” version of how you met your spouse or some touching or romantic story or perhaps a poem or meaningful song or a skit you’d like to sing or reenact for our club, please contact Jay.

·        Dick Daybell has offered an intriguing way to arrive in style to the Lido Isle party that Warren Wimer is hosting on April 26.  For a donation to the Foundation, you can jump aboard for a cruise on his boat. Sounds like fun!

·        Don Ludwig was diplomatic in reminding us to get caught up on  dues.

·        Rick Crane told of the Feb. 17 deadline for the Community Investment Awards applications.

Minard Duncan acknowledged members Pat McKinley, Kimberly Nguyen, Randy McFarland and “supershoppers” Bob Radde and Mike Oates  for helping represent our club at the  Jan. 10 Raymond School Dental Clinic that our club again sponsored.

Recognitions

Little did Drew Napolin realize that as finemaster, he would be contributing 10% of the day’s proceeds when he deposited the first dollar into the net. Since I was escorting Annette around the room, I couldn’t take notes but I remember that some members didn’t put their money in futile hope that there would be eventually be enough to make change fro their high-denomination currency. We’ll be relying on the “Four Way Test” to get these fines collected next week! There will be a “no interest” grace period until next week.

Drawing

After hearing the carefully-selected TV trivia question. Winner Dick Daybell carefully-selected Dan Kiernan who named Ben, Hoss, Little Joe and Adam as the four main characters of “Bonanza”. The $70. Dick  won will surely go towards a digital TV converter box!

Program

Griff Duncan of the Fullerton Civic Light Opera preceded his talk by mentioning The John Raitt Awards for Youth Scholarship competition in which local high school musical theater productions will be judged. Two winners will be among 60 nation-wide contestants at the nationally-televised finals in New York.

Eva Peron’s rise to power as Argentina’s First Lady provides the storyline for “Evita” playing at the Plummer Feb. 13-March 1. Punctuated by some song selections sung by one of his guests, Griff described the storyline of the musical where at age 15, Eva moved to Buenos Aires with a insatiable appetite for fame and recognition. After a mediocre and short-lived career on stage, she attained her fame and popularity on the radio. Using her womanly charms to full advantage, she was able to arrange introduction to a man high in government, Juan Perone and committed matrimony with him.  Although he was put in jail by the government, Eva’s masterful persuasiveness on the radio  rallied 200,000 citizens to facilitate his release. His popularity increased thanks to her efforts and he ultimately became president of Argentina. His sympathetic views towards Hitler and Franco made him unpopular everywhere except in his homeland and Spain. Although she  build many needed hospitals with the $200 million raised, Juan Perone had mixed feelings for Eva because he realized that the impetus for most of her support was really for her own glory. The score for “Evita” is by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Thought of the Day

There are two types of people: those who say they can and those who say they can’t… and they are both right. Henry Ford