Gossip Sheet # 1 - July 8, 2004
Editor: Doug Geddie

Past President Don Fraser

Grace was ably delivered by Past President Bill Ford who reminded the Lord of previous great Rotary years, particularly 1969.

Ivor Khan got us started on key and we heartily sang the national anthem and then toasted the Queen and Canada.

Head Table: Brian St. Hilaire introduced Past-President Dr. Don Fraser, Incoming President Betty-Lou Souter, Sergeant-at-Arms Peter Lumsden, Past President Earl Alton and Registrar Ross MacDonald.

Birthdays: June 6 – Juergen Knof, June 16 – John Ermers, June 22 – Dave Feasby, June 25 – Ross Burns, June 28 – Bill Cole, June 29 – Terry Wilkes, June 30 – Gordon Armstrong, July 1 – Bill McKay, July 2 – John Lehnen, July 3 – Peter Papp, July 4 – Howard Lackie and Art Wing, July 6 – Betty-Lou Souter. Peggy Davidson started us off-key with Happy Birthday, and it went downhill from there.

Guests: Karen Gon-Dosh, guest of Bill Ford; Laurence LeGros, former exchange student from Belgium; Father Beauchamp, guest of Len Fenig; David Taylor from Camrose, Alta.; Bob Wagner from Niagara Falls Sunrise; Judy and Bob Hearst from Sonoma, California; Jim Shannon from St. Catharines South; Glenn Stewart, father of Brian; Irene Pope, Kathy Martin, Diane Taylor, Mary Turner, Dale Davis, Ken Souter and Greg Souter, all guests of Betty-Lou Souter; and Amy Leaming, guest of Judith Barker.

Bill Cole, Betty-Lou Souter, Bill McKay and Terry Wilkes

Announcements

Wade Stayzer

Wade Stayzer introduced the upcoming programs: July 15 – Chris and Ann Bangham, July 22 – Martha Abra’s classification talk, and July 29 – Janet Johnston on Literacy.

Wade announced that John Snowling will co-chair the Program Committee. He also announced some meeting changes - the previous new member spot at the head table will become the ‘Rotarian in the Spotlight’ seat. Wade appealed to the club to propose speaker ideas and to forward them to him or John.

Rachel Delaney reported from the Ribfest Committee and recognized John Lehnen who has ably chaired the sponsorship committee with lucrative success. Liz Palmieri introduced herself as volunteer coordinator and pointed us all towards the sign-up sheets. She reminded us of Liz’s rules: find your own replacements, and print neatly.

Bob Hurst from Sonoma County, California came forward with a banner. He described his club as 90 Rotarians strong, and 80 years old. He has 23 years of perfect attendance. Banners were exchanged.

Bob Hurst and Brian St. Hilaire

Happy Dollars

Earl Alton carried the basket and began with a story he couldn’t read because he forgot his glasses. He asked Betty-Lou to read the affect beer apparently has on men.

John Snowling picked up the caliber by announcing one year of wedded bliss with Janet.

Brian Stewart and Mark Zammit sitting all by themselves

Laurence LeGros thanked us for hosting her 11 years ago.

Coach Denham announced that he also got married a year ago and is now the proud father of a 7 lb baby boy.

Judith Barker was happy about a $5,000 gift from the Royal Bank, which was the result of having a fortuitous seatmate at a Rotary meeting.

Dave Edwards reported that his daughter graduated from Governor Simcoe with a 97.3% graduating average. He also reported that on June 15 he had successful neck surgery and that his son turned 21.

John TeBrake said that he and his wife, Heidi, loved their time in France.

Doug Geddie and Earl Alton thanked everyone who helped with the golf tournament and reported that we raised $30,000 for the Children’s Centre.

Bill McKay is sorting and cataloguing the Rotary collection at the Brock Library and welcomed anyone who is interested to join him on Friday mornings.

Marci Heit was happy that the folks at Community Care might have a little less pressure on Thursday mornings.

Rachel Delaney

Rachel promoted a free car wash this Saturday at Carstar on Dunkirk Road, with proceeds going to the community.

George Doty was happy, but I didn’t catch the reason.

Lezlie Murch reported that her seven graduates this year all received full US scholarships for further study and tennis competition.

Gene Gillies was happy for Betty-Lou and expressed fond memories of Laurence’s year as an Exchange Student.

John Crossingham had various references to a band known as Broken Social Scene.

John Nitsopoulos reported that his son was in Greece during the Euro2004 final game and hasn’t been heard from since.

The Program
Betty-Lou Souter's Induction

Martha Abra with Brian St. Hilaire

President Brian explained the background of our Complin Cup donated by Charlie Complin, a former president and district governor. It is to be given to a Rotarian who, in the opinion of the President, has made the greatest contribution to the ideals of Rotary. As Charlie quoted, “There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” Brian then presented the cup to Martha Abra.

President Brian reminded us that our Club was founded in 1921, and has since had some 83 presidents. He introduced those in attendance: Sandy Crews 62/63, Don Fraser 63/64, Don Shaw 66/67, Bill Ford 68/69, Hugh Mahoney 72/73, Jim Hanson 76/77, Harold Nash 78/79, Larry Ross 81/82, Dave Stevenson 82/83, Bob Ruttan 83/84, George Shepherd 84/85, Bill Finley 86/87, Bill Orr 89/90, John Bird 92/93, Peter Banwell 95/96, George Park 96/97, Doug Geddie 97/98, Foster Zanutto 98/99, Dave McAdam 99/00, Rob Reid 00/01, Earl Alton 02/03. President Brian then introduced the widows of past presidents in attendance: Helen Beasley (Hal 70/71), Anne Macdonald (Evan 74/75), and Betty Complin (Charlie 67/68). Members who have presided over other clubs were introduced: John Penwarden, Fonthill, and Bill Cole, Agincourt.

Induction of the Directors

Dr. Don Fraser came forward to induct the new Executive of the Club. Don joined in 1955 and but for three meetings in one year has had perfect attendance ever since. He asked Club members to rise and pledge their support to President Betty-Lou. The Board of Directors were brought forward and they too promised their support. The Board and Executive were formally installed.

The Past President’s Pin and Presidential gavel were presented to Brian St. Hilaire by Earl Alton.

Earl Alton and Brian St. Hilaire

The President’s Pin was presented to Betty-Lou Souter by Brian St. Hilaire

Betty-Lou Souter and Larry Iggulden

Incoming President Betty-Lou presented President-Elect Larry Iggulden with the President-Elect pin.

Brian St. Hilaire and Betty-Lou Souter

Past President Brian St. Hilaire introduced President Betty-Lou. Betty-Lou began by saying that the last time she said, “I do,” her life changed dramatically. She recalled a call from Past President Anne Bain three years ago, offering her a trip to Japan in exchange for a small weekly obligation. She in turn tried the same trick on husband, Kenny, with the same offer of a wonderful travel opportunity. Betty-Lou acknowledged Gene Gillies who introduced her to Rotary.

Earl Alton, Brian St. Hilaire, Betty-Lou Souter and Larry Iggulden

President Betty-Lou stated that after the Convention experience she felt she had become a more complete Rotarian – recognizing herself as a member of an organization of 1.2 million people. She stated that when good things happen in our world, Rotary is not far away. She stated that the Osaka convention featured many outstanding speakers who repeated the hope for a world where all children can thrive.

In our Centennial year, Rotary President Glen Estes identified the theme as Celebrate Rotary – lending a hand and performing acts of service in four key areas: the family of rotary, health concerns, literacy, and clean water management for everyone in the world.

On the flight home from Japan, President Betty-Lou reflected on how we could make our club strong and vibrant? We must all work together to strengthen our membership. We must make the Rotary experience as positive as possible so membership retention is not an issue. She hopes for five new sustaining members, who will commit to supporting Rotary on an ongoing basis. She hopes that in April 2005 that we will all take part in the Service above Self volunteer month. She hopes that we might resurrect our twinning program and reach out to a Rotary Club in another part of the world. She hopes that we might bestow the Service Award for Professional Excellence to a non Rotarian in our community who personifies exceptional professional achievement consistent with the ideals of Rotary.

She hopes we can all dream of a world where no child goes to bed hungry, sick or in need of medical attention. It is so much easier when we do it together – in our club, in our community, in our district, and around the world.

She asked us to join her in celebrating Rotary, 100 years young.

Larry Iggulden thanked Betty-Lou and praised her commitment, her laudable goals and objectives, and assured her that we are all ready to assist. He urged her to follow Bill Fords’ tradition of not setting the bar too high for the next President to follow.

Betty-Lou Souter and Brian St. Hilaire

50/50: Rick Merritt for $23. The pot grows

Betty-Lou closed the meeting with a quote from Paul Harris. “If this Rotary of ours is destined to be more than a mere passing thing, it will be because you and I have learned the importance of bearing with each other’s infirmities, the value of toleration.”

Ten Day Notice: Ian Ladd. Classification, Automotive Body Repair. President of Carstar, Dunkirk Rd. Proposed by Rachel Delaney.