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Prior to starting the formal program, President Tom announced the passing of Rotarian Gerry Wooll on Dec. 14th (see obituary at end of gossip sheet) and former member Jack Sebeslav. He also noted that Babs Neuman and Ron Dubciak’s mother passed away this week. A moment’s silence followed.
Our newest Rotarian Aurora Tancock gave the blessing and Don Shaw lead O Canada.
President Tom welcomed all and introduced the head table: Chris Blake, our speaker Lorne Kennedy, Stuart Butler, Sgt-at-Arms, Kenji Matsumoto, our exchange student and Margaret Jarrell, who introduced the large number of guests.
Guests
Visiting Rotarians:Ellard McBane (PDG), Jacquie Herman Wing (President St. Catharines Sunrise), Bob Scott (Chair, RI Fdn and Polio Plus), Ann Scott, [all guests of Art Wing], Frank Parkhouse (St Cath Sunrise), Amy Ellerbush (St. Cath Sunrise), Bob Bruce (PDG), Ralph Montesanto (DG Elect)
Guests of members: Pat Hanson (Jim Hanson), Joe Kushner, Cindy Dunne and Bob Marshall (guests of John Bird), Ann Bangham (Chris Bangham), Alexis deWolfe (Roger Segelin), Josie Scott (Bob Thompson), Sheila Gillies (Eugene Gillies), Dave Tancock (Aurora Tancock), Jan Potts (John Potts), Carol Henderson (Betty Lou Souter), Joel Chatterton (Tom Arkell), Merilee Burroughs (John Burroughs), Cathy Kennedy (Graham Kennedy), Ellen Foster (George Park), Karen Gondosch (Bill Ford), and Adrian Nitsopolous (John Nitsopolous).
Margaret Jarrell invited Kenji to say a few words. Kenji thanked the club for welcoming him to the club and said Merry Christmas in Japanese (which sounded remarkably the same in English).
President Tom welcomed the guests and in particular the many present, past and future Rotary District Governors. He spoke about Gerry Wooll’s propensity for sending letters to our club president’s. It seemed to be a mark of honour to have received a letter (or not in some cases). He also spoke about the concept expoused by journalist Peter Gzowski about the ability of ordinary people to do extraordinary things, saying that Gerry was one such person. Bob Scott, Chair of Polio Plus in Canada, reminisced about his experiences with Gerry and said that this should be a time to celebrate Gerry’s life. He also spoke of the RI goal to match the $100 million provided by the Gates Foundation towards RI’s work eradicating polio. President Tom presented Bob with a $1,000 donation to Polio Plus in Gerry’s memory.
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Bob Scott receives Donation Cheque from President Tom Arkell |
Birthdays
Birthdays celebrated by Gerry Repple, Larry Iggulden, Jane Rufrano, Paul Macdonald and Brian St. Hilaire (who spoiled his mother’s New Years Eve party by being born on Dec. 31st – his future as an accountant was sealed, knowing the tax advantages of being born before the end of the year).
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Larry Iggulden, Paul Macdonald, Brian St. Hilaire |
Announcements
President Tom announced that today is the final day for submitting ballots for the election of directors. He also reminded all to make donation to the foundation before the end of the year.
John Crossingham announced, with his stuffed corgi and speaking in somewhat of a British accent, that it was 4 months to St. George’s Day and he is looking for members who want to make complete fools of themselves, to see him after the meeting.
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John Crossingham previews St. George's Day |
50/50
John Burrows won $519. Fortunately for John, he was joined by his wife Merilee at lunch today. No secret Santa gift for her this year!
Happy Dollars
Betty Lou is thankful for the donation to Community Care
and happy about the announcement of $400,000 allocated to the Port Colborne hospital
Santa Claus arrived in the ‘nick’ of time to do this week’s happy dollars. He started by rhyming off statistics related to his profession – the number of S. Claus in the phone book, the fact that mall Santa’s are paid on average $6/hr (more with real beard), the weight of his sleigh, and true number of reindeers that would be needed to carry all the toys. He then recounted the story of how the angel came to be placed at the top of the Christmas tree (you had to be there to get the full impact of this placement).
John Nitsolpolous noted that his employees at the Holiday Inn had raised $500 for Community Care, which he then matched.
Betty-Lou Souter thanked the club for its support and the members for their personal support. Also thanked CKTB for raising $90,000 in food and money at last week’s event.
George Park announced that during his term he never got a letter from Gerry Wooll (Larry Ross offered George a few of his). He also introduced his guest as our former exchange student from 1981 who is now teaching at Ridley College.
Jacquie Herman Wing noted that she has lots of boxes and letters from Gerry.
Henry Klassen had photos from the Belarus project to share and also offered the services of St. Jurgen to help with the St. George festivities.
Rob Reid thanked Cindy MeWhinney for playing the piano during the first part of the meeting. He was also proud of the fact that through most of his early years in Rotary he was younger than the number of years of Gerry’s perfect attendance.
Doug Geddie remembered Jack Sebeslav as a fine colleague and Rotarian and spoke of his dedication and leadership in the early years of the TV Auction.
Rachel Delaney announced that there will be a Rotary Day at the Sunday Jan. 20th 2:00 game of the Ice Dogs. The Family of Rotary Committee is organizing this and further details to come.
Jim Denham told a joke about a child wanting to live with the Toronto Maple Leafs because no one gets beat by them. [one needed to be at the meeting to get this]
Ross Burns was pleased that Santa had not been affected by his experiences with naughty ladies in the mall.
Jagdish Mehta spoke of Gerry sending him some parsley tea
Guest Speaker
Chris Blake introduced Lorne Kennedy. Lorne has acted for more than 30 years, including 12 seasons at the Stratford Festival and 7 with the Shaw Festival.
Lorne read with much character and gusto a chapter from Kenneth Grahame “The Wind in the Willows”. He was joined part way through the reading by a chorus of mice, whiskers and all, (aka Rotarians Delaney, Reid, Cole, Usick, Geddie, Sevenpifer and Palmieri), accompanied on the piano by Cindy MeWhinney.
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Lorne Kennedy reads The Wind in the Willows |
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An Angelic Choir of Rotary Mice |
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Whiskered Debbie, Rachel & Liz |
George Parke thanked Lorne for the wonderful recitation. George who is usually quite verbose was almost at a loss for words, he was so engaged by the reading. He said that Lorne’s talent makes us realize how grateful we are in Niagara to have wonderful Shaw actors in our community.
President Tom thanked Lorne and said that a dictionary will be presented in his honour to a local school.
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Lorne Kennedy & Tom Arkell |
President Tom then talked about the difficulty he was faced with in trying to find an image for a Christmas card this year. He said that next year’s president should have no trouble since Roger Segalin had snapped a few shots of our own mouseketeers! He also thanked Doug Geddie and Chris Blake for organizing today’s program, to Cindy MeWhinney for her wonderful piano playing and also read out Christmas greetings from Kenji’s parents.
In closing he asked us to be mindful of Gerry Wooll’s family’s wishes for honouring his memory:
In lieu of flowers, it was Dad’s wish that you take a few minutes to do an act of kindness to someone in your community who is ill, elderly, or less fortunate; or, to make a donation to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Hospital Foundation.
NEXT WEEK’S PROGRAM
There is NO meeting next Thursday, Dec. 27th. The next meeting is Thursday, Jan. 3rd – Club Assembly and announcement of election results.
Gerry Wooll
With deep sadness, Lorraine Warner (Bob), Mary Scandrett, & Susan Wooll announce the death of their much loved father, Gerry on December 14th. He died peacefully at his home in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He was the loved “Bum” of Graeme (Becky) Scandrett and Sarah Scandrett, the special “Poppa” of Melissa Warner and Christopher (Melinda) Warner and the adored “Mup” of Cait Wooll. He was also the special Great Grandpa Bum to Molly Scandrett, Sydney & Logan Warner, and Davin Warner. Dad was predeceased by our mother Audrey (Whittaker) in September, 1995.
He was born in Peterborough, Ontario on September 15th, 1913. Dad joined the Royal Air force in 1939, and flew 85 missions before retiring as a squadron leader. He was seconded after the war by the RAF to De Havilland Aircraft Company as a test pilot of the Mosquito.
Dad co-founded Genaire Limited in 1951 where he continued to work each day well into his 90’s. His political career dates to the early 50’s, when he was elected to the Niagara council. From 1961 to 1964 he was Lord Mayor of the Town, serving also as a member of the Hydro Commission, The Public Library Board and Police Commission. Dad also served as a Public School Trustee, sat on Brock University’s Board of Trustees, and was also a member of the Council of Regents for the Ontario College of Applied Arts & Technology.
Dad was an elder in St Andrews Presbyterian Church and served as Superintendent of St. Andrews Church School. He joined the Rotary Club of St Catharine’s in 1952. He held several offices including Club President, District Governor, Director of Rotary International and Chairman of the Polio Plus Campaign Canada. Dad co-founded the Niagara Foundation of which he was president for 22 years.
He was the Chairman of Air Industries Association of Canada and led several aerospace trade missions. He was inducted into the Livery of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators in 1984.
At the age of 81, he founded Serve Our Sick and successfully rallied support to save the Niagara-on-the-Lake Hospital from threatened closure.
Visitation will be held on Wednesday December 19th at the NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE CHAPEL of the MORGAN FUNERAL HOMES 415 Regent St, Niagara-on-the-Lake. The funeral service will take place on Thursday, December 20th at 3PM at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Simcoe St, Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The family wishes to thank Sandie, Danute and Fern for their loving care.
In lieu of flowers, it was Dad’s wish that you take a few minutes to do an act of kindness to someone in your community who is ill, elderly, or less fortunate; or, to make a donation to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Hospital Foundation.
“Per ardua ad astra” – “Through adversity to the stars”
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