Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show August 28th, 2008

          
Even though the temperature is in the mid nineties, true Rotarians show up for their weekly meeting.  Arriving a bit earlier to greet those brave Rotarians were HERB MARSHALL, KENDRA GJERSETH and JERRY MOISON sticking out their sweaty hands in a welcome gesture.
 
Frank Schumann, owner of Four Season’s Caterers, served a light lunch with the heat in mind and kept the ice tea flowing and refilled dishes of chocolate ice cream for those Rotarians who went back repeatedly for a refreshing refill.
 
Flag saluting was led by JERRY TOMANEK and President SETH MANNING filled in with his thought of the day: “If you’re flexible, you never get bent out of shape.”
 
Song leader Past President JOHN MOSS had us all sing “America the Beautiful” and according to John we did all right, but there are seven verses to the song.
 
Visiting Rotarians were introduced by President-elect TRACIE MURRAY and former LARC member HUGH RIDDELL, now a member of the Cupertino Rotary Club, who came back to introduce Pat Hyland with her husband Bill Hyland.   STEVE SHEPHERD introduced his two guests from Northern Trust Bank.
 
JOHN CARDOZA, membership director, brought us up-to-date on Rotary Club memberships. We started the year with 148 members and presently we have 150 members with several waiting in the wings for introduction to the club.  John said the normal attrition rate is 10 percent, so we need 1½ new member each month to restore our standing as the third largest club in the district.  For a start, JOSH RITZER received his red badge as a new member of the club. KENDRA GJERSETH sponsored JOSH to join the Rotary Club.

RON INCERPI Memorial
Although Ron became a Rotarian in 1974, very few Rotarians knew him because of his disability preventing him from attending regular meetings. Ron had been unable to attend meetings due to post Polio illness.  Last month, July 17, Ron passed away at the age of 76.
           
Past President AL TRAFICANTI explained Ron became a victim of Polio on Labor Day weekend in 1959.  He was a former Mountain View High School football player and ex-marine.  He survived the iron lung and after tedious physical therapy and self-determination he was able to walk with the aid of crutches.
 
“The thing I remember most about Ron; he never complained about his condition that at times was grave,” said AL TRAFICANTI. “He always had a joke or an anecdote to leave with you. He also confided to me that he actually used the four-way test in making many of his decisions that actually worked.”
 
Past President BOO BUE said a group of us met with Ron at his house before the regular meeting every Thursday. It was like an ad-hoc Rotary meeting for the last 10 years. “Ron always had a smile on his face when he met people at the ad-hoc meeting,” said BOO. “As far as I can recall I spent more than 400 ad-hock meetings on Thursday mornings and I never heard him complain.
 
Past President BOB ADAMS said it was an off-color group that met with Ron with off-colored stories. “He lived by Rotarian philosophy and it was really Ron’s Rotary meeting at his home.”
 
Past President DICK HENNING said Ron had the best attitude of any person he knew even though he was always on crutches. His wife, Carol, was as enthusiastic as Ron. We brought Ron books and magazines to read and he was knowledgeable on many topics.
 
Dick said, “Ron had 76 years of a good life. I will miss him every day, particularly Thursdays.”     

JOANNE BYRNE’S Story
Past President MARY PROCHNOW provides information on Joanne’s health prognosis for the Rotary.
 
Mary recalled a newsletter when she was president of the club in 1992. It was titled,” How would you like to be treated?” which is what Rotary is all about.
 
Mary said Joanne is improving daily and her attitude and outcome goes back to “How would you like to be treated?”  The outpouring from Rotarians is wonderful.  Mary mentioned the outstanding appreciation for what we are doing for Joanne to encourage her to get up and start walking again. The family situation is difficult since Joanne’s mother is in her 70’s and we also look after her with food, gestures, and kindness.
 
Presently we are looking for someone to volunteer for numerous chores, so get in touch with Mary for more information.

MARILYN MANNING
President SETH MANNING discussed his wife Marilyn, and the prognosis of possible cancer of her leg. The biopsy results have not been received and at present everything is encouraging and improving.

Rotary Business
Getting away from somber news, Past President GINNY LEAR discussed her future Polio vaccination trip to the Ivory Coast for the annual Rotarian trip to prevent Polio in poor African countries. GINNY said it’s a trip of a lifetime for Rotarian History.  You go for 11 days on a trip that includes 80 Rotarians from United States. It costs $5,000, and you fly to Washington, D C. where the entire group meet and travel to the nation of Ivory Coast.  Ginny said, “It’s a personal gesture to life’s continuance in taking care of children to save polio in poor countries.”  Take a look at our website in the "Stories" section (middle of the page) for further information.  There is a link to both the tour brochure, and Howard Tours, the travel agency on our site. 

JERRY MOISON finally got around to explaining his directorship of Youth/Vocational Service.  His area includes Partners for New Generations, Interact Clubs, Camp RYLA, Rotary Club Scholarships, Troop 37 Liaison, Pack 76 Liaison, Rotary Speech Contest, and Vocational Service. 
 
Jerry met with different Rotarians including Rotarians from other clubs and plans are well underway. He is especially interested in forming Interact clubs in all three high schools. Presently the only Interact club is at Los Altos High School. Jerry said he needs a chairperson for the Interact Club.

Recognition
The fining process is turning into a creative presentation and Past President SAM PESNER put a creative touch to ‘Jeopardy’ the television quiz show based on trivia. SAM PESNER played Alex Trebek as the MC.
 
Based on three classifications:  LARC (Los Altos Rotary Club,), PHF (Paul Harris Fellow) and FAP (Fine Arts in the Park), contestants were called to provide the question answer for a set price.  There were no free-bees and the following Rotarians were fined:
JEAN HOLLANDS -$10
STEVE POMEROY-$10
JOAN ROSSELLE -$20
JERRY TOMANEK-$30
SANDY WHIPPLE -$30
STEVE YARBROUGH -$30
JOSH RITZER - $20
VAL CARPENTER -$10
 DAVID DEMATTEIS-$40
This was a very well thought out presentation of the Rotary fining process and it brought out an immediate response of approval. Creative Sam was at it again. 

Past President’s Rotarian History
Continuing with the practice of having a former Los Altos Rotary Club Past President recall their life and Rotary history, today we had a long presentation (32 minutes). After a short introduction by MARLENE COWAN, it was followed by a lengthy slide show of her life’s adventures in the world and her year as President of the Los Altos Rotary Club.
 
Marlene started by saying “People may say their glass is half full, but my glass is overflowing.” Marlene joined the Rotary in 1992, and was president during the years 2005-2006. Born in San Francisco and grew up in San Carlos, she was raised in a healthy and solid family and we had the privilege of seeing her family introduced on the screen.
 
Attending University of California, her junior year was spent in Bordeaux, France being taught by French professors with no English spoken. With that background, she considered being a translator, but wound up teaching in California Community Colleges including Foothill College.  At Foothill she taught International Internships until she retired in 2000 and the program was then disbanded.
 
For 31 years Marlene was married to Charles (Charlie), but he died suddenly. Today, each year, the Rotary Club offers the Charles Cowen Scholarship to a deserving student in science and art. Howard Schneider is now Marlene’s main interest in her life and they recently bought a new home for a new life together.
 
Marlene mentioned different periods in her family history that included the Donner Party. “I want to emphasize that my family was not involved in any unorthodox eating habits you may read about in the media,” said Marlene.
 
The slide show was interesting for Rotarians seated in the audience, waiting for their picture to appear on the screen. Most of the Rotarian pictures displayed were taken during the 2005-2006 year of her presidency.
 
Marlene closed with a comment of thankfulness on being a Rotarian. “It was a wonderful year’s experience as president and I treasure all your friendships.”

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