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President Tom Arkell called the meeting to order. Carol Henderson led us in grace and Don Shaw set the tone for O Canada. After toasting the Queen and Canada President Tom announced the passing of our longtime fellow Rotarian and friend, Bill Ford.
Bill passed away peacefully at home on April 15, 2008 at the age of 92. Predeceased by his beloved wife of 48 years Edith.
Bill served in the Canadian and British armies in WW II. He was wounded during the liberation of Holland as an officer on loan to the British army (CANLOAN). Bill graduated from the University of Toronto as a Chartered Accountant and had a lengthy business career with Silverwood's Dairies and MacGillivray Partners Chartered Accountants.
Bill took great pride in serving his community and had a particular interest in education. He served as past Chair of the Board of Governors of Niagara College and Chair of the Ontario Council of Regents for Colleges of Applied Arts.
His keen interest in life-long learning extended to his earning a bachelors degree in Philosophy from Brock University in 1984. He was instrumental in forming the Brock Philosophy Society and established a scholarship in his name for deserving students.
One of Bill's greatest accomplishments and joys was his 50 years of service with Rotary International and their charitable work on behalf of crippled children and other deserving causes as a member of the St Catharines Club. Bill and Edith enjoyed some wonderful travels to Europe and Asia on behalf of both Rotary and the Council of Regents.
Bill also contributed to the St Catharines community through his volunteer efforts for the YMCA, the Grantham Curling Club and the Lancaster Lawn Bowling Club.
Bill was a member of the Church of the Transfiguration and took great comfort from his association with the church and his many friends there. This strong relationship resulted in Bill establishing an endowment fund for religious education for the church through the Niagara Community Foundation.
President Tom introduced the head table as follows: To thank the speaker, Stuart Butler; to introduce the speaker and our guests, Brian Stewart; our guest speaker, Dr. Matthew Taylor; our Sgt-at-Arms, Peter Lumsden; Rotarian in the spotlight, Scott Crocco.
Brian introduced our guests as follows: Dr. Jim Nicol, guest of Foster Zanutto; Paul Allan guest of Goug Geddie; Trish White, Stacy Parker, Lauri Rigido and Anna Geronimo guests of Tom Pikar.
President Tom announced that visitation for friends of Bill Ford will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday April 19, 2008 prior to the funeral service at The Church of the Transfiguration at 11 a.m. A reception will follow at 12:30 p.m. at the St Catharines Golf and Country Club. In lieu of flowers a memorial donation may be made to the Church of the Transfiguration Education Fund of the Niagara Community Foundation, the CNIB or the charity of your choice.
John Crossingham advised us not to miss next week’s celebration of St.George’s Day. A talented roster of actors including Graham Kennedy (who will be appearing as a Saint) will present a long lost play by Shakespear.
Jagdish Mehta brought us good news of a water supply system built with the help of funding from our Club. The system supplies water to a village near Mumbai (Bombay). Jagdish visited the village and reported that the village women and children are very happy with the system as they no longer have to walk two kilometers to carry water back home.
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President Tom & Jagdish Mehta |
Collected by Bob Lawler
Bob Lawler passed the new basket for happy dollars and was happy to put in a loonie to celebrate the great weather.
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Bob Lawler with New Basket! |
Matthew Taylor was happy to be back in Canada after being out of the country for 7 weeks.
John Crossingham was sorry about the passing of Bill Ford and will miss his humor.
Rick Evans was happy to announce the 50th anniversary of Sandercott & Evans and Mr. Sandercott’s 90th birthday.
Brian St.Hilaire, Ken Taylor and Betty-Lou Souter were all happy to pass on great anecdotes about Bill Ford.
Ron Sloan was happy to be back from Florida.
Doug Geddie was happy that he and John Lehnen were able to attend the Masters.
Marg Jarrell won the chance to win the 50/50 but failed to pull and ace and the pot continues to grow.
Ron Sloan & Bob Ure
Brian Stewart introduced Scott Crocco, our Rotarian in the spotlight. Scot became a member of Rotary in December 2007 and was introduced to the club by Scott Heelis. Scott is a newly minted lawyer, called to the Bar in June of last year and is now practicing as an Associate with Heelis, Williams, Little & Almas. Scott completed his undergraduate studies at Wilfred Laurier University then went to Dalhousie Law School to complete his Bachelor of Laws. One of Scott’s passions is music and he plays keyboard in a Blues/Rock band. He also enjoys studying Spanish and put it to use on a recent trip to Argentina. Scott was born and raised in Fonthill and many in his immediate family still reside here. He is happy to return to his roots and eager to make a contribution to the Community.
Dr. Matthew Taylor - Dental Assistance in Guatemala
Brian Stewart introduced our guest speaker Dr. Matthew Taylor. Matthew Graduated from the University of Alberta in 1963 and has practiced Dentistry for 45 years. He has practiced 41 of those years in St.Catharines and has been a member of the South Club for 40 years and is he immediate past president of the Club. Matthew’s wife Georgette is an RN and fellow traveler. They have 5 sons and 7 grandchildren.
Over the years, Matthew has volunteered his time helping people with their Dental problems in several countries. He has gone to Guatemala 5 times, once to Mexico and once to Kenya. His latest trip was to Guatemala. He was accompanied with his wife, Georgette who assists him.
In Guatemala, 60% of the population are of Mayan decent and speak 22 dialects of the Mayan language. They are poor and the illiteracy rate is 90%. They are a gentle passive people who are generally physically small in stature. The men are usually 5ft tall and the women are 4ft 10 inches tall. They tend to have large families resulting in a population with an average age of 14 years. The men work on plantations, which are thousands of acres in size and grow palm trees for palm oil production. They work 12 hrs/day and usually make around $2/day. The men sometimes get dental assistance at their place of work but this is not available to the women and children.
Women and children have little access to dental care and to make things worse, tend to drink a lot of Coca Cola. On this trip Matthew, his dental assistant and Georgette went into the mountains to treat patients. They load up a truck with a generator, dental chair and all the necessary equipment and make stops in towns and villages.
On this trip he and his team performed 484 extractions, 450 fillings and 1 root canal. Matthew performed 70 extractions in one day and as a result, his wrist was swollen. Matthew was appreciative of the work of Dr. Ken Taylor in his efforts to bring medicine to poor countries and on this most recent trip was able to bring suitcases of medication to Guatemala.
Stuart Butler thanked Matthew for his good work and for his presentation today. President Tom also thanked Matthew and a dictionary, in his name, will be presented to a school with an inscription recognizing his presentation today.
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President Tom & Dr. Taylor |
Ten-Day Notice
Paul Allan proposed by Doug Geddie. Paul is a Financial Advisor with freedom 55 Financial. Previous owner of Mantis Media for 15 years in Toronto. Now lives in St.Catharines. Member of parents committee at Glenridge School, coaches minor hockey, volunteer at St.Catharines Golf Club.
Next Week:
St. George's Day Celebration
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