VALENTINE’S DAY MEETING.

The dining room was gorgeously decked out for our special Sweethearts’ Luncheon, with bright, heart-red tablecloths and alternating red and pink napkins artfully deployed in the ice-tea goblets. At the check-in desk, instead of the usual raffle tickets for sale, we were invited to put a business card or generic slip of paper into the cage for a FREE prize drawing.

It was great to see how many members had brought their “spice” (isn’t that the plural of “spouse”?) to share our noon fellowship. At the head table, lovely Linda Meyer helped our leader preside. At each place was a box of See’s chocolates: yet another treat!

After most of the crowd had been fed, PREZ TOM called upon J RICHEY to lead the pledge, after which Songmeister HOWARD WOOD, with his uniformed entourage, was called upon to lead us in song. This week, predictably, it was that great oldie, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” followed (of course) by “Smile.” JOHN DERRY, President of Hope University (our host) offered the invocation following a brief disquisition on the Greek words for different kinds of Love. He stressed the importance of agape which translates, in the King James Bible (1st Corinthians 13) as “charity,” but can also be taken to mean “compassion.”

BOB HILLHOUSE introduced our visitors. Those who were members’ “valentines” were asked to stand and be recognized en masse. Other visitors were introduced individually. Dr. JOHN CHRISTENSEN’s guest was listed on the Information Sheet as “Bill Christensen” but it sounded to this reporter as if he introduced himself as “John’s older brother, Dennis” (although maybe he said “dentist”?). DIANNE MASSETH-JONES introduced Kim Van Atten with American Intercontinental Life Insurance. (Did I get that right?)

MARYALICE JEREMIAH coach of CSUF women’s basketball apologized for losing last week’s game but urged everyone to come out for the next game against … was it Purdue? She said the team has six games left in this season and stands a good chance of coming in either second or seventh. (Hey, guys, they need your support!)

RICK CRANE reminded us that nomination forms for the Community Investment Awards were on the tables and should be filled in and submitted ASAP.

RANDY Mc FARLAND asks that anybody who has taken photos of any club activities this year send them to him right away, so that he can use them in preparing documentation for the District Awards coming up soon. His e-mail address is: Randy@sunnyhills.com. 

Following up on Dr. DICK JONES’s announcement last week, DON BANKHEAD informed us that the next meeting of the Fullerton City Council will take place at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 19th. It’s a bit unusual for us to hear announcements of City Council meetings, but in this case, DON and DICK were a minority of two in a 3-2 vote to establish medical marijuana dispensaries in Fullerton. (In case you hadn’t guessed, they were the two who voted against it.) The measure comes up for reconsideration at the Tuesday meeting. They want as many righteous anti-dope Rotarians as possible to come out to the meeting to support a vote against the measure. All that is needed is to sway a single council member to change his/her vote from “yea” to “nay” and the measure will be dead. Otherwise, Fullerton will be the only city in Orange County that has medical marijuana dispensaries, and will, some fear, become a haven for potheads. The measure will be first on the agenda, right after the Pledge of Allegiance, so if you attend, you won’t have to sit around all night listening to the rest of the council agenda. When a member of the audience inquired where these dispensaries would be located (perhaps with an eye to availing himself of its services), DON replied that dispensaries are currently located in Los Angeles and, especially, in Hollywood. Some years ago, California voters passed a law permitting the medicinal use of marijuana, with a doctor’s recommendation, for persons suffering serious ailments such as cancer and AIDS. Marijuana, it is said, mitigates chronic pain and makes it possible for chemotherapy patients to overcome their nausea and eat. But under Federal Law marijuana is still an illegal substance. Although most medical marijuana dispensaries operate fairly openly without molestation, there is an occasional bust by Federal DEA agents. (John C. Calhoun, where are you?)

Next, JIM WILLIAMS took the floor to announce that long-time Fullerton Rotarian JACK STEARMAN had passed away the night before at the age of 84. Jack joined our club in 1952 and supported numerous club projects over the years. JIM read a touching memoir of JACK written by his son, Jim Stearman, a Fullerton attorney. It was then announced that another long-time member (also since 1952), HILTON DALESSI, had died earlier in the week at the age of 94. “HILT” was one of the founders of Fullerton Savings and Loan (the predecessor of PREZ TOM’s Fullerton Community Bank) and was a leader in the community and in Rotary for many years.

On that happy note that great showbiz impresario RAY ASHCROFT introduced the “VALENTINE PROGRAM”!  First up was a barbershop quartet from the Fullerton Chapter of the Orange Empire Chorus, “The Roundabouts,” so-called because three of them

The Roundabouts

are big wheels in Rotary. The singers are RAY ASHCROFT, Tenor; HOWARD WOOD, Lead; BILL PELOQUIN, Bass (all from our club); and Eli Peralta, Baritone. After singing “Good-bye” to their “Coney Island Baby,” RAY turned the program over to two nice ladies. First he and his sweetheart, Mary Ruth, presented a brief and whimsical history of Valentine’s Day dating from the days of the Roman Empire down to the present.

Next RAY introduced a very “sweet lady,” Glenda Scott representing See’s Candies. Ms. Scott is an account executive with the Quantity Discount Program, which is the wholesale division of See’s Candy Shops, Inc. Glenda recounted the history of the company which started with Mary See making candy for her family and friends in Canada. These happy recipients of Mary’s talents and generosity suggested that she go into the candy business.

Mary See moved to Pasadena, California with her son Charles and his wife Florence, and opened the first See's Candies shop and kitchen on Western Avenue in Los Angeles in November 1921. They had twelve shops by the mid 1920’s and thirty shops in the 1930’s. During the Great Depression they lowered their prices so people could continue to afford their candies. In 1936, See's opened a shop in San Francisco. When World War II came along, and butter and sugar were rationed they cut back on production rather than compromise on quality. If the stores ran out of candy, they would close early. 1972, the See family sold the company to Warren Buffet’s holding company,   Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which has consistently maintained the high-quality standards of the founders.

Glenda informed us that the famous “I Love Lucy” episode from 1952 that had Lucy and Ethel working on a candy factory conveyor belt that kept speeding up faster and faster was filmed at the See’s kitchen in Los Angeles. At the end of her talk, Ms. Scott gave us the recipe for making 800 million pieces of fine candy. Wow! The mind boggles; the tummy chunders.

At the drawing (no raffle ticket number -- no Joker draw) five winners were JAY KRAEMER, BILL HEATON, BILL KINCAID, MARK GEISS, and KEITH MILLS, who were awarded, respectively, a very large box of See’s candy; a not quite so large a box of See’s candy, and cassettes of the Orange Empire Chorus.

PREZ TOM concluded with a Thought for the Day.