Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show June 5th, 2008

Greeters, COETA CHAMBERS and JOE CORRAL

LEE LYNCH – A BRIEF RETROSPECTIVE
Rotarian LEE LYNCH has died.  All of us will miss her.  Most Rotarians knew Lee as that wonderful woman who greeted us at every Rotary lunch as the friendly cashier.  We knew of her quiet dedication to the spirit of Rotary and her devotion to the four-way test.  We knew of her generosity.  Today, Rotary President John Moss did what was most difficult – presented a retrospective on her life as the quiet volunteer.  Lee’s obituary appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday, June 8, 2008.  
 
President John read this letter from Lee thanking Rotarians for the get-well cards.  Her letter was written just a few days before she died.  As always, she was thinking of Rotary:
 

May 27, 2008
Dear Fellow Rotarians:
Thank you for all your best wishes.
I appreciate them all. This is what makes
Rotary the organization it is. Hopefully
I will be back with you all soon. Sorry
I can't thank you all individually but
the thought is there.
Fondly,
Lee
 

Lee was a private person.  She declined to do a 10-minute talk because she didn’t like to talk about herself, so here is her unauthorized biography:
Lee was born on Sept 23, 1929 in Seattle, Washington.  She grew up during the Great Depression, and was a teenager during World War II.
Lee graduated from Stanford University in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.  She moved to Los Altos in 1954.  This was less than 2 years after the city was incorporated.  So she was truly in on the ground floor of Los Altos life.  She raised two children, a son and a daughter.
Lee worked as a librarian for Santa Clara County Library System and as a program security administrator for ESL.
There is no doubt that she was one of Los Altos’ most active volunteers for more than 50 years:
 

City (partial list):
           City Council & Mayor 1973-74
           Bond campaign to create the downtown parking plazas (~1956)
           Committee to bring Cable TV to Los Altos
           Library Commission & a Founder of Friends of the Library
           Historical Commission (helped create it)
           Planning Commission
 
Community:                                                                                                                                       
           AAUW
           El Camino Hospital Auxiliary
           Festival of Lights
           Los Altos Library Endowment
           Sister Cities
           Bus Barn Theater
           Chamber of Commerce
           History House Museum Association (Founder)
           Boy and Girl Scouts
           CHAC (Community Health Awareness Council)
           United Way
           Sunnyvale Community Players
           Stanford Associates of the Libraries
           Stanford International House
 
Rotary
            Joined LARC in 1996, the same year as President John, who called her “my Rotary sibling.”  Both were sponsored by Dick Hasenpflug.
            Rotary Foundation Major Donor ($9K+)
            RAP
            LAREF Treasurer
            Art Show – Mayor’s Awards Chair
            Interact Chair
            PNG Treasurer
            Club Historian
            Cashier
            Ten Minute Talk Chair
 

A celebration of Lee’s life will be held from 4-7 p.m., June 30, 2008, at the Los Altos History Museum.  All Rotarians should plan to attend to honor and remember one of our finest members. 
 
Beginnings
President JOHN opened our meeting with a sharp rap of the Rotary bell at precisely 12:17 p.m., give or take.  PP LARRY MADSEN was called upon to lead us in the pledge, but he wasn’t present, so President JOHN stood in for him and did a right fine job.  Next, KURT “BOGIE” HUEG led the group in a song from Casablanca.  Dooly Wilson was at the piano when Bogie asked him to “Play it again, Sam.” So, we all sang “As Time Goes By,” and some felt like Ingrid Bergman was about to sweep into the room.  But she didn’t.
 
Instead, President Elect SETH MANNING introduced visiting Rotarians and Rotarians with guests.  He, too, did a right fine job.   
 
[Credit must go to JOHN SYLVESTER for the musical factoid.  It pays to sit next to experienced Rotarians.]       
 

New Members Membership chair LARRY CHU introduced two new members: DANTON BRINGAS and DAVE BERONIO, sponsored by JERRY MOISON.  Danton is the CEO of DABSA Construction, on Second Street in Los Altos.  Dave is VP of Business development for Heritage Bank and owner of Midges Fly Shop for the past 25 years.  Both new Red Badgers received a standing ovation as is our protocol perfected by Past President AL TRAFICANTE during his presidency.

Announcements
The District needs applicants for Group Study Exchange Team Leader for a trip to the Philippines in March 2009.  Applications must be submitted in July.  See President JOHN.
 
GINNY LEAR let us know that DAN O’DONNELL added a microphone extension to the podium for height-challenged speakers.  She then used the extension to good advantage to announce the good news that Rotarian BILLY RUSSELL is back with Rotarian TRACY MURRAY at Cedar Crest.  Hope Tracy’s husband doesn’t get jealous.  We love you Billy!
 
SAM PESNER needs dirt on President John for the kick-out dinner and party.  If you got some, call Sam.
 
JEANNE MACVICAR announced that she will be bartending at Maltby’s for Relay for Life from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday.  All tips to RFL!
 
PP LARRY MADSEN, late for the pledge, advised that Mountain View Rotary is planning a golf tourney June 13 at Shoreline.
 
STEVE POMEROY visited the Rotary Club of Dublin, Ireland and learned that it was the first club outside the U.S. and was founded in 1911.
 
NANCY DUNAWAY announced the new Los Altos Movie Nights schedule.
 
JACK KELLY announced that DAVID BERGMAN will no longer be Sgt. at Arms with SCOTT FLEMING.  Instead, MIKE ABRAMS will pick up the baton.  Go Mike!
 
COETA CHAMBERS announced that the Earthquake Relief Concert will be held too late for the Rotator deadline.  If you didn’t go, you really missed it!
 
KATHY BERRY said KENDRA GJERSETH still chairs the Relay for Life for Rotary and the group is hosting a car wash on June 19 from 2-6 p.m. at Lozano’s in Los Altos.  Get into your bathing suit and join Kathy and Kendra.
 
Jerry Moison’s 10-Minute Talk
Jerry was born in 1946 in Pittsburg, Mass.  He did not have a silver spoon in his mouth.  Rather, he grew up in a poor family and lived in a 600 square foot second-floor apartment with his family with no hot water until he was 12 years old.
 
Of French Canadian decent, Jerry was not expected to attend college.  He was more likely to join his brother and cousins working in the paper mills of the North East.  But, he got caught cheating on a biology test and his teacher said he expected better of Jerry.  So, Jerry decided to prove him right and the next quarter got high honors in his class.
 
He joined the Air Force in 1965 and went to computer school where he learned that he had a brain!  After the service he attended junior college and was one of the top four students in his class. 
 
In 1970 Jerry got into sales, and in 1972 obtained his real estate license.  He formed a company called ADAPT in 1974 with an insurance company friend.  He then started at Coldwell Banker, leaving in 1987 to form Moison Investment Company, which is now the 34th largest private investment firm in the U.S.
 
In 1989, Jerry joined City Team, where he really learned about “service above self.” 
He met his wife Carol in 1974 after being introduced by a friend.  They have a son and a daughter. 
 
Jerry says that what makes him happy is doing things that are in the service of others.  “The more I give, the more I’ve gotten,” Jerry said.  We’re glad he’s giving himself to Rotary.
 
Program: Foothill College
Foothill College President, Judy Miner BA, PhD, presented a program outlining the highlights of current activities at the college.  She advised Rotarians about the new campus center, student services, life sciences, and Lohman Theater, all in progress at the college. 
 
She informed the club about new faculty brought on to develop curriculum for green technology and to serve students not now being served by the college.
 
She said the college celebrated its 40th anniversary of the Celebrity Forum with Dick Henning and is already looking ahead to the 50th event.
 
She spent the last half of her talk fielding questions from the Rotarians.  It was pleasure to have her back again to keep us informed about the activities at the College.

 
New Restaurant Helps With Rotacare!
Vaso Azzurro is the latest restaurant to donate dinners to RotaCare.  It’s a very good restaurant and serves great food!  Please patronize them and thank the owner Allan Sadri, or his brother Michael Sadri, the manager, for their generosity.  It’s located at 108 Castro, St. in Mt. View.
 
A Final Thought
Rotary is the most effective service organization in the world.  It can do what no governments can do.  It can reach out to people across cultural divides, across political divides and across continental divides.  It can do this because it is a-political and nonreligious.  Rotary is about service.  As Jerry Moison says, the more you give, the more you get.

A donde vas, estas, alli.  – Steve Yarbrough

{Copyright � 2008 Los Altos Rotary Club. All rights reserved}

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