Rotagram for Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Meeting was called to order by newly elected president Jim Ripley. He welcomed everyone in attendance and everyone who does not believe that he is president, “Well, believe it or not, I am your new president and I guess this is really happening. Just so you know, I doubled my medications this morning so I should be good to go.” President Ripley gave an extra huge shoutout to immediate past president Joe Lins, “you did a fantastic job as president of this club, and I truly thank you for all your support.” He then gave his special thanks to the Fullerton Rotary Club members for allowing him the honor of being club president. “To all my fellow Rotarians. I am honored and humbled that just enough of you found me worthy to be your president. I respect the position and heritage of 100 years and promise to fulfill my duties to the best of my abilities until the recall petition is ratified.” Welcome to the new Fulleton Rotary Club President, Jim Ripley!
For our Commencement Ceremonies, Terri Grassi led us in our Patriotic moment. This meeting was on July 5th, so Terri gave a Fourth of July patriotic moment followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. This year we celebrate the 247th anniversary of the birth of our nation.” Scott Dowds led us in our Invocation, with a prayer. “Dear father, we thank you so much that Joe is no longer here. The grace you show and the mercy is just overpowering. Lord, we know that you use the weakest among us for great things. Clearly, you are doing that now, in the choice of our current president. Please bless him with the wisdom and discernment. Give him all the skills that we have in our club, not just to operate at a high level, but for us to be in fellowship in ways that only you can provide. So, we ask you for your blessing upon Jim, upon his board, upon all those involved, all the volunteers, and this awesome group. And we thank you so much for rotary and all the opportunities that it presents. So, please Lord, put your hand upon Jim. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Today’s guest please welcome John Welch from Fullerton South. Today’s announcements, President Ripley announced “Golf for a Cause.” The 2nd annual Golf Tournament takes place on Saturday, July 29, 2023 at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills, California.
Our Finemaster/Recognition Master was Johny Hong. Like all of us, he was surprised that he was asked to be finemaster again. “I am surprised you have me on here.” He welcomed everyone in attendance on this special day. His goal was to collect enough money for the club. Something to remember, to save time, Johny says to “R” for Recognize, and “F yourself” meaning fine yourself. Let the fun begin. He asked Pat Hartnett to stand and be recognized for his birthday, which was today. “How old are you sir, and what do you have planned for tonight?” Pat answered that he turned 63 today and, “I think my wife forgot my birthday.” Johny asked Pat to “F” himself $5. He recognized and compared both immediate past president and newly elected president in a funny joke, “Don’t you guys feel like you’re looking at another Apple release of the new iPhone? I mean, look at them carefully. They say that it got faster, stronger. Battery lasts longer. But all I see is that he got a little rounder.” Johny received great applause for this joke. He asked all in attendance to stand if you they were born in America. He fined them $1. “Next, immigrants who are not born here but are U.S. Citizens or in the process of becoming a citizen? Please stand.” Johny congratulated them and fined $1. He asked President Jim Ripley’s board to stand and be recognized, “I don’t think they want to be “F” but this is our club guys, so thank you so much for your work. Also, thank you so much for letting me have this moment. I appreciate it, thank you.” Johny Hong did an awesome job as finemaster.
Today’s program at hand, come meet Fullerton Rotary Club’s new President, Jim Ripley. President Jim Ripley gave us a mini craft talk, “So what I thought I’d do today is, there’s a lot of new people in the club that don’t know who the heck I am or why I am up here.” First thing he did during his craft talk was pay homage to immediate past president Joe Lins, “You know, Joe. You might feel like a rock because everyone takes your jokes for granite.” President Ripley is a Certified Financial Planner and President of RAI Wealth Management. RAI Wealth Management was founded by fellow Rotarian J.H. Richey. Terri Grassi is also a part of RAI Wealth Management as an Advisor Representative. He credits J. Richey for getting him involved with Rotary, “he asked if I would consider becoming a Rotarian and of course he would be my sponsor.” At their firm, Jim considered himself the shy inside guy, “I was content to stay behind my computer and kind of make things happen.” He remembers thinking of a service club as being out of his comfort zone but also considers this a blessing in disguise. “One of the things I want to express to the Newest Nines folks is I did go out of my way to do as many service projects as I possibly could. And that was the best way to get to know people and to fit in quickly. In the beginning I only knew Terri Grassi and Rick Crane, who was my neighbor in Chapman building and I even knew Marty Burbank.” President Jim Ripley’s story begins here in Orange County. He was born at St. Jude Hospital in August of 1962. He remembers the O.C. being kind of rural back then, “St. Jude’s was just a double wide trailer in the middle of a sheep field,” he joked. President Ripley is the baby of his family, and according to him, he was spoiled and got away with everything. “The way I look at it, mom and dad just kept having babies until they found one, they liked.” President Ripley jokes that Financial Planning is his second career because as he thought he was going to be in the entertainment business. “I started playing the drums when I was about 10 years old. I turned professional when I was about 15.” He remembers buying a fake I.D. at the swap meet so that he would be able to play at the bars. “It worked most of the time. It was fun!” During his high school years, he worked at a music store that helped introduce him to a lot of people in the business, “they seemed to think I had some talent and I ended up working a lot of gigs on the weekends while I was going to college.” He caught the industry bug and wanted to become a recording engineer. “I had a bunch of equipment. I was recording for my friends who were making demo tapes. I even made a commercial once that aired.” For the record, he learned a valuable lesson in law with that commercial, “you can’t just take someone else’s song and play on the radio without their permission.” During these times, Jim met his father-in-law before he met his wife Karen, “he was a great pianist. He asked me to join his jazz trio.” According to Jim, his father-in-law had been a substitute teacher of his high school stage band and he wanted Jim to date his daughter, “We never dated in high school. We didn’t start dating until we were both in college.” Jim went to Golden West College where he was in the Recording Arts Certificate Program, with an emphasis in electronic engineering, “this was in the early 80’s.” He credits the digital revolution taking over with drum machines replacing drummers and bands losing gigs to Disk Jockeys. According to Jim, it only took about two years for the music industry to change, “I realized this isn’t where I am meant to be going. I was really depressed.” He credits running into an old friend, a gifted guitarist, who was working on a degree in business. “Maybe I should do the same.” He got all the pre-business classes taken care of and transferred over to Cal State Fullerton. “At the time, my future wife and I were dating pretty regularly, and we decided, hey, maybe we should get married.” They waited on getting married until they both had finished their degrees. “She graduated in June of 1987. I got to walk for graduation, but I had one more class to take over the summer. I finished the class on Friday, August 14th and walk down the aisle with my wife on Saturday, 15th.” Jim and Karen have been married for 37 years. They both waited about 10 years to have kids, with his daughter being born in 1997 and 18 months later came his son, who shares the same birthday as Pat Hartnett, July 5th. “Mr. Hartnett, if you don’t have a party to go to, I am having one.” President Ripley currently lives in Redlands, California, “which is way out there and I commute almost daily.” His job is here in Fullerton, his clients are here in Fullerton, and he is not making an office move anytime soon. He remembers what life event took him to Redlands, “my wife decided on a career change. She was teaching kindergarten.” Karen has a degree in child development but thought to herself that she couldn’t be a teacher for the rest of her life. She went back to school and found nursing, and because she already had a degree, they would fast track her. She worked in the cancer unit for pediatrics for 10 years and it hit her hard. So, she went back to school of nursing and eventually received her masters and later her doctorate. President Ripley and his family have been living there since 2008. He says his kids love growing up in Redlands. As far as Rotary, when he became President Elect, he asked Joe to a lunch meeting for some advice, “I didn’t want to do anything different. I don’t try to reinvent our Rotary Club. I think it runs pretty well.” He does think that the club is lacking a fundraising program. He wants to create a premier fundraising program with the help of his committee members. President Ripley also wants to adapt Fullerton South’s programs like the Japanese Student Exchange and their annual golf tournament. He introduced his board of directors, Joe Lins, Theresa Harvey, Leslie McCarthy, and Joyce Capelle who were all present. Matt Howells, Brett Ackerman, Tom Knoll, Matt Reekstin, and President Elect, Cathy Gach, “these people will be the ones I look to if we do proceed with Fullerton Uncorked.” As for speakers’ gift, he struggled with that, “Amazon always comes through for me. This is a non-sanctioned Rotary International item that I found kind of interesting. But I decided ultimately not to go with it. “He brought a Rotary medicinal bong! In lieu of a speakers’ gift, Jim and Karen decided to match what has been budgeted for speakers gifts by the Club and make a donation on behalf of each speaker to Working Dogs for Warriors. “There are too many military veterans suffering in silence. I reached out to the president of the organization and as it turns out, he was past president of Fontana’s Rotary Club. We hit it off and he understood what I was trying to do. I am hopeful that at some point we’ll get him out here and do a presentation.” Working Dogs for Warriors is a non-profit dedicated to helping our Nation’s Warriors by training, and donating Service dogs to veterans and first responders.

Last thing on the agenda; President Ripley kept the Opportunity Drawing, which was worth $42. Lucky ticket holder 6470473 wins the money. “Well, believe it or not, I think I just did my first meeting as president. I know, way cool. Next week’s program Giselle will be doing her craft talk. I am looking forward to that. The pressure is off me. So anyway, please remember to hit that like button and subscribe to keep updated on future meetings. With that, meeting is adjourned!”

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7/523	NEW PRESIDENT JIM RIPLEY'S FIRST MEETING Ripley's Believe it or Not Guess Who's in Charge
7/12/23	NEW MEMBER CRAFT TALK Get to Know Giselle Monterrosas and her plans for Joya Scholars
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this edition was published in Fullerton, CA
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