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President Tom Arkell called the meeting to order today at 12:35 pm at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club. He began by announcing that Rotarian Dutch Erling passed away on Tuesday, and there will be a memorial next week. Details will be in the Standard. We observed a moment of silence. Grace was said by Norma Medulun, and Don Shaw gave us the perfect note to begin O Canada. Seated at the head table were:
Speaker Introducer: Eugene Gillies
Classification talk Speaker: Mike Pihura
President: Tom Arkell
Sergeant-at-Arms: Bill Campbell
Rotarian in the Spotlight: Mark Zammit
Guest Introducer: Ross MacDonald
(although Presided Tom tried to introduce him as Aurora Tancock)
Today's Guests were
Geoff Doty and Sarah Doty – guests of George Doty
Don Rickers – guest of John Lehnen
Joel Chatterton – guest of Tom Arkell
Margo Pihura - guest of Mike Pihura
Delores Grimstead – guest of Patricia Rooney
- Tom read portions of a letter received from Lee Page, whose daughter had had her hockey equipment stolen in December. Bill Finley, having read her letter to the Standard, took up the quest, with money of his own, plus donations from club members and considerable assistance from Betty Lou Souter. “Mr. Bill gave us so much more than money…he came to us at a very bleak time and gave us a gift that can not be measured in dollars and cents; he gave us faith. To say ‘Thank you” seems so inadequate for what we are feeling. We are humbly grateful for all that has been done for us by so many people.”
- Peter Kudreikis announced that he was still selling tickets for a Valentine’s get together at Rodman hall Friday evening. Unfortunately, Peter called everyone later Thursday afternoon to say that the affair has been cancelled due to lack of interest. What a shame!
- Eugene Gillies placed flyers on the tables announcing this year’s District 7090 conference, which is being held this year October 17-19, instead of in the spring. Nevertheless, Eugene will begin taking registrations in March.
- Tom thanked Cindy Mewhinney for entertaining us on the piano prior to the meeting. Cindy is an excellent pianist, and played a lovely repertoire of love songs.
- Tom also thanked Margo Pihura, wife of Mike, for the valentine’s decorations on all the tables.
Stan Heywood – Feb 10; Tom Arkell – Feb 11; Dave Edwards, Peter Banwell, and Glen Norton – Feb 15; Scott Heelis – Feb 16. Only Tom and Dave were in attendance to receive their roses.
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Tom Arkell & Dave Edwards |
Were solicited by Kelly Buckley. Kelly told us she searched for a suitable joke but couldn’t find one, so she called Larry Ross. That didn’t help! So she told us instead about her harrowing experience during the snowstorm last week. She and her husband were driving back from Port Colborne in poor visibility, and hit a skunk. Since Kelly’s dad was a vet, she felt duty bound to check to see if the skunk was ok. In fact, the skunk was still alive, so her husband insisted they put it in the van and take it to the vet. He told Kelly to put it between her legs to keep it still. Kelly said: “What about the smell?” “Hold its nose”, said her husband.
Kelly then announced a Celtic Celebration, to be held on Leap Day (Feb 29) at Beamsville High School. The evening will feature music by “Poor Angus”, bagpiper Kelly, cash bar, a buffet and much more. Tickets are $25 in advance, and Kelly has them.
Art Wing was happy to have received a letter from NDP leader Jack Layton, and his wife, Olivia Chow, wishing him a Happy Chinese New Year. Egg Roll with that Mr. Wing?
Liz Palmieri borrowed a buck to pay a sad dollar for the passing of Dutch Erling, who interviewed her before she joined Rotary
Pat Rooney emotionally announced that she was very happy to have her sister Delores here with her. Delores cut short her winter in Florida to come home and help Pat and Watson.
George Doty was happy to have his son Geoff, a high-paid carpenter from Calgary, visiting, along with his granddaughter Sarah. Sarah is a scholar, and is also going to participate in the Highland Games in Scotland this summer.
Sam Walters paid $2 to acknowledge Dutch Erling as well as Art Beech, who also passed away recently. They both interviewed him prior to his joining Rotary, and Sam was happy to know them both.
Oraine DeRosa advised that in addition to this being Valentine’s Day, this is also “Random Acts of Kindness Week”. She sent her daughter in Ottawa $35, asking her to buy 7 $5 Tim Horton’s certificates and give them out to whomever she thought worthy during this week. Oraine is looking forward to hearing about the recipients. Oraine also announced that Small Business Niagara is having a trade show at the Four Points Sheraton from 12-8 pm next Wednesday. Finally, Oraine asked if anyone in the club is involved with, or knows someone who is involved with alternative energy solutions.
Bill Campbell was happy to wish Sarah Doty well at the Highland games, and also acknowledged sadness for the passing of Dutch.
Art Wing had the lucky ticket but drew the 2 of Clubs. The pot was $466.50! Not sure how that happened
Ross then told us about member in the spotlight, Mark Zammit. Mark joined Rotary in October 1995, having been introduced by Harold Nash. He is married to Ellen, and they have three boys, Matthew, Benjamin and Adam. Mark is an orthodontist by profession, as evidenced by the fact that Roger Segalin did not need a flash when taking his photo. Mark has many interests which Ross rhymed off, but neglected to mention cycling, which is Mark’s passion. Mark has served on almost every committee in Rotary, which, when listed, prompted Art Wing to declare: “Gee, maybe he should get involved…”
Eugene Gillies introduced today’s Classification Talk speaker Mike Pihura, who joined Rotary March 31, 2005. He was introduced by Eugene.
He is married to Margo who was a Rotary Exchange Student, and they have a son, James. Mike is an audiologist who owns and operates the Family Hearing Clinic at the Lakeshore Plaza. Mike holds a doctorate in Audiology from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, School of Audiology in Philadelphia, is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and is board certified. He is also a member of the College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario. He is also an Instructor at Brock University, and his hobbies are Classical Music and Photography. Mike has participated in the following Rotary Committees: Youth Leadership, Dinner & Registration, World Community Service, Children’s, Seniors/Visiting, and Program, and after three years in Rotary, his average attendance is over 78%.
Mike began his talk by paying a happy dollar to tell us about his adventures in Valentine’s card picking. Like a typical guy, when he got it home and opened it, he found out that it wished a wonderful Valentine’s Day to “a wonderful man”. I bet Margo was impressed.
Mike was born in Toronto, and grew up in Kitchener. Until he started school at 7, his first language was Ukrainian! By grade 5 he got interested in music, and when the local high school put on an Expo ’67 concert, he was hooked. He took lessons, and studied accordion and then moved on to drums, about which his parents weren’t too happy. He eventually got to join the high school band and was then invited to join the Kitchener-Waterloo Junior Symphony. He also joined a high school Jazz Band, which led to Music Camp, which led to an invitation to join the real K-W Symphony…with no audition required. So, before he knew it, he was in 3 Orchestras and a Jazz Band, while still going to school, was invited to teach music, and did so in the evenings. Needless to say, he was very busy…then the symphony hired him as its Librarian, responsible for ordering all their sheet music. They performed at the Stratford Theatre, and Mike was also hired to perform when the Ice Capades and Disney on Ice were in town. Whew…Classical music and teaching music were his LIFE!
By the time grade 12 rolled around, Mike decided he had had enough of school. He took a year off and practiced 8 hours a day. He also earned his Grade 8 in Percussion. This, of course, required a truck to carry around all the equipmentHis goal was to audition for a place at the prestigious University of Texas Music Program, and it paid off. Mike was accepted!
One year at the school told him that it was not for him, however, and he came back to Canada and studied Biology and Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario. He commuted back to K-W on weekends to play in bands: Weddings, Dances, Oktoberfest etc. He financed his education this way, as a three hour commitment on a Saturday night paid well. So well, in fact, that he was also able to afford flying lessons...strictly as a hobby of course!
When he got his BSc in 1976, he went to work for Hostess, is the Quality Assurance department…gee, tough work tasting every batch of chips! He continued the flying lessons, getting not only his private pilot’s license, but also his Commercial, Night and Instructor’s licenses. Before long, he was offered an Instructor’s job—flying was his new Career! After that, he continued to build up flight hours, attaining his Multi, Night, IFR and ATR (Airline Transport Rating) Licenses.
In 1978 he joined Millard Air, flying DC-3’s (remember Casablanca?) and DC-4’s with cargo. This was mostly night flying, and they had some interesting cargo, including fire equipment, gold (did you know you can fit 95 gold bars [$100 Million worth] in a DC-3?) and chickens (28,000 chicks fit in a DC-3). The destinations were endless…one time they flew computers for IBM to Boca Raton Florida. The computers in those days were so huge they were loaded on by forklift. So Mike radioed ahead to make sure there was a forklift to meet them in Boca. Unfortunately, that also happens to be a popular drug landing spot, so they were met by about 50 police cars! Welcome to Florida, Mike. Another time, they broke down in St. Augustine Florida and ended up sunbathing at the end of the runway by the swamp. They found out later about the alligators…
While living in Toronto at that time, Mike met up with Margo again. He had actually taught her in Kitchener. They got married in 1980. Just afterwards, he got tired of the nighttime flying and joined Business Air in Goderich. This was a “shirt and tie” flying job, and they did corporate charters, flew celebrities etc. he also got to fly LearJets, and met the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Dave Nichol (the President in President’s Choice) a few Ontario bureaucrats (ho hum), and Mohammed Ali. But the lure of the LearJets persuaded him to come to St. Catharines to fly for Dana, which was fun for about two years. After that, he got bored. In 1987, after his son was born, he and Margo took a leap of faith, and Mike went back to school, hoping for a more stable career. He studied hearing science at Brock. Some of this was due to his own background, being a drummer, then a pilot, he was always worried about his hearing. He then did his Masters Degree in Audiology. Shortly thereafter, Brock called him to teach there, which he still does to this day. Mike gave us a little of the course content, which is huge!
He then opened up his private practice for the hearing impaired. They test both adults and children, who are very difficult to test. In many instances there are red flags which indicate serious medical problems, and Mike is quick to refer them to other specialists. In 2001, Mike realized that he was practicing, and teaching, and wanted to be the best he possibly could at both. He began a three year odyssey of online learning (at night!), and obtained his doctorate in audiology in 2004.
Mike loves his professions, both audiology and teaching. In 2007 a US study proclaimed that audiology is the #1 best profession. Being a professor is #3. Mike has both!
Mike advised that the latest and best enterprise in his life is Rotary…and he loves it! He then gave us a five minute pictorial, of musical instruments and airplanes. He also demonstrated some sophisticated software for hearing aids. He also thanked Eugene, Cindy for the music, and Margo for the decorations.
Doug Geddie thanked Mike for his presentation. Doug knew Mike when he was flying the LearJets for Dana, and said everyone at the airport could tell when there were passengers on board, depending upon how “dramatic” the takeoffs were! There was apparently considerable envy of Mike. As well, he reiterated the fact of how classification talks allow all of us to get a better understanding of our fellow Rotarians. (Editor’s note: Who knew that Mike was such a character?!!)
Tom Arkell added his thanks and presented Mike with the dictionary to be donated to an inner city school.
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Mike Pihura & President Tom Arkell |
Jackie Van Lankveld, Speech Pathologist with the Niagara
Peninsula Children’s Centre
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