Today’s Three-Club Meeting (does that sound like a “three-bean salad”?) was intended as a classic car show at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center. Bill Mathy managed to round up cars from Rotarians and friends. They were parked in a semicircle on the lawn for all to admire. Here’s a partial list (supplied by Bill) of the owners and their cars (there were more):
        Rick Crane – 1970 Ford Mustang
        Randy McFarland – 1955 MG
        Bob Hathaway – Model “A” Ford
        Geoff Spaulding – Chevrolet Corvette
        Wally Swatkowski – 1934 Chevrolet
        Bob Hillhouse – 1974 Jensen Healy
        Lee Brocket – 1976 Jaguar
        Mark Geiss – 2008 Ford Shelby-Cobra Mustang GT
        Jana Bogart – 2008 Ford Shelby-Cobra Mustang GT
         Andt Erkstad – 1966 Chevrolet Corvette
         Judy Flowers – 2002 Chevrolet Corvette
        Ray Hansen – 1999 Volkswagen Beetle
        J Richey/Norm Kerdit – Ford Mustang
        Bill Mathy – 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
        Dick Jones – 2005 Ford Thunderbird

Arriving at the grounds of “The Muck” (as it’s now officially called) we had to check in with our respective clubs and find the appropriate badges and thence to the chow line. Succulent chunks of roast chicken white meat awaited us as the main course, along with a variety of pasta sides and garlic bread plus the usual salad and fruit combos. If you got in the line early, you could dine under the shade of the canopy erected over one half of the tables; if you came later when the line was really long, you got to eat lunch at one of the unshaded tables. (Perhaps a timely donation to The Muck will enable them to afford a second shade canopy.)

The meeting was called to order by the Three Presidents in turn. Fortunately, they agreed that there should be only one pledge, song, and invocation.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by one of our newest members, and our host at The Muck, Zoot Velasco.

Zoot’s lovely and talented wife, star of FCLO’s Miss Saigon, followed by singing the first verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Howard Wood, not to be outdone, led the group in "God Bless America."

Reverend Donald Bell from the Sunrise Club gave the Invocation.

There were so many guests that they were not introduced individually but simply stood for recognition.

Announcements: there were a few. Those making them had been admonished to keep them about Rotary. The following are the ones your reporter could recall:

AYUDA Dental Clinic, sponsored by Rotary, on May 17 at Valencia Park Elementary School on 3441 W. Valencia Drive. See Minard Duncan.

Sunrise Rotary is throwing a fund-raiser Luau on Saturday night at the North Orange County YMCA. It was hinted that any guys attending would be rewarded by receiving a garland of tropical flora.

Vern Andrews is at home recuperating from knee-replacement surgery. He says he’ll be back in operation very soon.

Rick Crane (of the Crane Architectural Group) announced that Maryalyce Jeremiah is being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame somewhere in Ohio.

Recognitions:
Each Club produced its own Recognition Master (formerly known as the “Fine Master” and still known as such among more retrograde clubs). Someone from Sunrise may have recognized a few members. Then the Finemaster from the all-male Fullerton South cub got hold of the mike and proceeded to fine people in all three clubs. Evidently someone had told him that he was supposed to be The Program, because he took up most of the meeting telling embarrassing stories about some 38 of our Fullerton Rotarians while half the crowd broiled in the noonday sun. By the time he had finished, most of the meeting time had pretty much expired.

Our own Recognition Master, Bill Schenk, kept his repertoire to a minimum, recognizing birthdays of members: Wolf Knabe, Wally Bartelt, Bill Schenk, Randy McFarland; members’ spouses: Pamela Clark, wife of Bob Jr.; Lynette Geiss, wife of Mark; Timothy Jones, husband of Diane; and for the anniversary of Suzy and Joe Lins. Walt Barnes was recognized for being there.

The meeting concluded with Zoot Velasco telling us about upcoming events at The Muck.

By the time we adjourned, some of the car owners were already removing their vehicles. Some of us got a chance to look at the cars after the meeting, but the crowd dissipated pretty quickly.