Los Altos Rotary Club
Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show
September 6th 2007
Photographer: Baidra Murphy
Editor: Cindy Luedtke
This Thursday's Program:
{next program here}
Upcoming Events:
August 31st - Garden Party (see this Rotator for details
September 4th LEAD training. See Clyde Noel for more information
Red Badge Fundraiser Sunday, September 23rd (see this Rotator for details)
Website search:
See
our Calendar for all of the important dates.
To see Neighboring Club meetings go to
Clubs
To our
Website
ROTACARE FREE CLINIC
The following restaurants continually donate food for the staff at our RotaCare Free Clinic.
Please thank them by frequenting their restaurants
VICTORIA EMMONS and JERRY MOISON, who did the welcoming
for today’s get-together in a friendly and formal
fashion. Who didn’t show up? 
When it came
to the song of the day, we reverted to a nursery rhyme
and sang “Zippidy Doo Dah” lead by JOHN SYLVESTER. The song was taken from Walt
Disney’s “The Adventures of Brer Rabbit.”PAUL NYBERG covered the observance to the U.S. Flag, and CINDY LUEDTKE provided the life’s message for the day. Cindy’s allegorical approach to life’s message involved a mayonnaise jar and golf balls as the main ingredient to fill the jar.
With the
addition of sand, pebbles and other ingredients, such as
two cups of coffee to fill the empty space in the jar, we
come to realize that sand is the small stuff and the golf
balls provide attention to what is important in a life
and the priorities in life. The message: “There is always
room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”
{Webmaster's comment: When I heard that story, the
moral was 'Take care of the big stuff, and there will be lots
of time for the little stuff.'}When it came to Rotarians with guests, PAUL NYBERG introduced the Los Altos Town Crier staff (Bruce Barton, Chris Post and Tom Zahiralis) and Paul’s wife Liz on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Town Crier’s existence. President JOHN MOSS introduced our County Supervisor, Liz Kniss and other Rotarians introduced their visiting guests.
John also mentioned a new member directory will probably be available next week. This directory will only have member’s contact addresses and cost only $400 to produce. Last year’s handbook cost $4,000. A big management change in saving time and money. Thank you, John.
KENDRA
GJERSETH, exclaimed how wonderful the wine tasting party
was at JOHN MORDO’S house. Everything was enjoyable, but
the tip jar went unnoticed. There was a $5 cover charge
plus a bottle of good wine to enter the French soirée,
but party animals forgot to pay the $5. The food
was plentiful but purchased, and it has to be paid for.
So, for those who didn’t see the bucket, divvy up your
fiver if you drank and ran. WYATT ALLEN alerted us to the upcoming Rotary Foundation lottery in November. “It’s only $20 a raffle ticket and everybody should donate. This announcement is a teaser for the future,” said Wyatt.
Red Badger NANCY DUNNAWAY is encouraging every Rotarian and their significant other to attend the Red Badge Fundraiser Sunday, Sept.23, 5:00 at Borel Private Bank. At 7:00 p.m. everyone goes to the Bus Barn Theatre to see “A Chorus Line.” Proceeds benefit Community Hope and Sober Events (CHASE). I can’t wait to hear the chorus line singing “One.”
KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM was appealing to
Rotarians to make a donation by sponsoring a child in the
Burned Child program. Any donation will benefit the
Coaniquem Children Burn Centers in Chile. You are
also invited to an elegant event, fundraiser at the
Blackhawk Museum in Danville on the evening of October
5th. If interested, give KAILAS a call. MARY PROCHNOW is looking for members to assist in her job as District Chair for Population Control encouraging the enhancement of education and improvement in women’s lives worldwide. Please contact Mary if this is of interest to you and you would like to become involved.
“It’s awfully
hard to put 93 years in a 10 minute talk, but I will
try.” That was the opening statement for BILLY
RUSSELL’S 10-minute talk. Speaking in a soft lifetime
of feelings, the community mover-and-shaker kept members
admiring his ability to recall a lifetime in the
military, community service, and retail business in Los
Altos. Born on a farm in Iowa, RUSSELL went to the University of Iowa. To pay educational expenses, he got a job in a men’s store for all four years at the university. After four years in the ROTC, RUSSELL graduated in 1938 as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army.
After marrying Trish in July of that year, he was shipped to Australia and was stationed there for several years including a stint in New Guinea.
He was reassigned to Fort Ord in 1940 and on December 7, 1941 his regiment received orders to defend the West Coast from any Japanese invasion.
In short time, RUSSELL was reassigned and caught a troop ship in San Francisco. Seventeen days later he was in Australia and after an interview assigned to headquarters where the military chief was General Douglas MacArthur. Under MacArthur, RUSSELL was sent from Melbourne to Brisbane as Chief of Military Personnel. In short time he was made Major and came back to see the wife he hadn’t seen for almost three years.
RUSSELL had an illustrious military career receiving the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit. In addition, he was instrumental in forming the surrender document in Washington D.C. for General MacArthur to sign the armistice on the U.S.S. Missouri. A copy of the document exists in his possession.
Eventually, RUSSELL bought a house in Palo Alto and opened a men’s store in Los Altos. He became involved in community affairs and joined the Los Altos Rotary in 1950. In 1960-61, he was Rotary president.
Along with retailing, RUSSELL found time to serve on the El Camino Hospital District Board of Directors for 36 years and numerous years as board president. During that period, the hospital was recognized as one of the best in the U.S. and brought in the best medical professionals in the field.
At the end of his 10-minute plus speech, the Rotary audience gave RUSSELL a standing hearty and sincere applause for his personal history.
STEVE
ANDERSON was fine master for the day and he immediately
complimented BILLY RUSSELL’S speech and fined him $10.
PAUL NYBERG was fined $60 because he bought the Town Crier and it is now 60 years of age.
KAREN FOX was fined $30 because she went to a Rotary Club in Mount Vernon, VA where she went to grammar school in prior years.
STEVE YARBROUGH was fined $20 for putting a list together.
LARRY MADSEN was fined $20 because of possibly inaccurate comments he made in the Rotator last week about fish stories.
BRIAN WARD was fined $25 for previous mistaken words. “Let bygones be grudges,” he said.
PHIL ROSE was nicked $20 for working nine years as City Manager. Upstaging ANDERSON, Phil agreed to become a president’s club member.
JULIE ROSE was fined $20 for getting the right answer to a question relating to life in 1947, the year the Town Crier was started.
New member, MARVIN PATTERSON was fined $20 for getting a multiple choice question right, once again of 1947 significance.
JOHN CARDOZA got the wrong answer to a 1947question and was hit with a $20 fine.
The guest program
for the meeting included two of our Rotarians, JOE
LOCONTE and HERB MARSHALL discussing “What is Green
Building?” Guest designer Ann Teebles discussed the green
design concept. MARSHALL opened the discussion with the question, what is Green building and described it with a slide show.
“There is a lot of talk in the media and basically what is green?” Herb asked. “Green building means moving from standard practices to better practices by emphasizing quality construction, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, conservation of water and thoughtful community planning.”
Herb said the benefits of green include lower monthly costs through lower energy and water bills, fewer indoor pollutants and greater comfort. There is less maintenance, use of higher quality materials that outperform original equipment in the house and there are tax credits and rebates available.
Anna
Teebles provided information on who is leading the effort
on green building. On the Federal level
LEED provides and
has the impetus and NARI provides the local and national
initiative.To go green, look for real estate agents who are green certified, ask about the green elements in a home and use green practices during improvements in the home.
“When you select your builder or architect, state your desires to incorporate green elements,” Teebles said. “Don’t believe the myth that it costs more to build green.”
JOE LOCONTE discussed what is going on in green building. Changes in water design and tankless water heaters are the future. Included are grey water rain catchers, and whole house fans instead of air conditioning.
What did we get from the program to emphasize green?
- Select energy star appliances
- Focus on improvement of the shell building
- Install dimmer switches and occupancy sensors
- Use no VOC paint
- Install CO2 sensors
- Install Humidistat.
If you have any questions or interest in finding formaldehyde test kits or duct sealing companies, etc, that HERB MARSHAL mentioned in his talk, please contact Herb at herb@olivewoodbuilders.com