Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show August 13th 2009

With a rousing, “Good afternoon, Los Altos Rotarians”, President Tracie opened the meeting right on time. Greeters of the day were VAL CARPENTER, PP JACK HEIDMILLER, STUART BOWEN and JERRY TOMANEK.  Many thanks to our cashier CRES MCFALL and to PP DAN DUTTON who led the pledge of allegiance.  PP SAM HARDING then invited us to sing along a “Happy Birthday” honoring our August birthday kids AILEEN LOW, MARY PROCHNOW, DON HULL, STEVE ANDERSON, and PAT GRAY.
 
Guests were introduced by PP AL TRAFICANTI (his wife Nancy), PP SAM HARDING standing in for host BOB ADAMS (Jason Sanborn), STEVE SHEPHERD (Annette Graff), and MIKE ABRAMS (Mike Stanley). PE DENNIS YOUNG announced next week’s program by Larry Stone on “Major League Sports in Santa Clara County”. Coming hot on the heels of CEO Bill Neukom’s SF Giants speech, one wonders if this LARC presentation will also make it into the San Jose Mercury News?
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRES TRACIE welcomed PP DON HULL back to LARC active status after living in England for two years where it was four times more expensive than California. SECRETARY KENDRA GJERSETH reminded us that she, not PP STEVE ANDERSON, is the new Club Secretary and that make-ups should be emailed to her at pznkarots@gmail.com two weeks before or after the absence. It’s best to get the information to her by the 10th of the month. BAIDRA MURPHY, Red Badge Chair announced the 6-7 pm meeting today at First Republic Bank to discuss Partners for New Generations projects. BONNIE BURDETT, Chair of Partners for New Generations seeks new members for the PNG Board.  MIKE ABRAMS announced a children’s art fundraiser organized by Red Badger TATYANA KANZAVELI, CEO of the Global Learning Foundation to benefit Orphanage #13 in Azerbaijan. STUART BOWEN, Chair of the Sept. 13 Community Picnic put out a call for volunteers to man the Rotary booth. ALLART LIGTENBERG also needs volunteers for the solar cooking booth at the same event.
 
THE LIFE OF VAL
Born in Chicago and a first generation American, VAL CARPENTER’s early career aspirations were musical, as she sang with her high school choir and played the bassoon with the civic orchestra in Chicago. Seeking to become employed someday, she changed directions and earned an MBA at Stanford, then worked 27 years in marketing for numerous hi tech companies. Today she teaches at Mission Community College and devotes her energies to Los Altos City Council where she ably served as Mayor 2007-08. Travel is one of her passions, as she has visited 40+ states, 35+ countries and 5 continents, with reservations already made for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Giving back is truly her avocation, and she is a Lifetime Girl Scout, has mentored 7 girls to the equivalent of Eagle Scout status, and has served on many boards including a child abuse prevention agency and the San Jose Symphony. “The best thing” she ever did however, was nurturing her two daughters. Val is grateful to live in Los Altos and serve in the Rotary Club.
 
 
 
RECOGNITION MISTRESS KENDRA
So many victims, so little time, though it’s of course really not about the money. Today’s first contributor was PP SAM PESNER who earned a plug for Los Altos Optometric for Kendra’s snazzy glasses frames. PRES TRACIE complained about her news photo with Giants CEO Bill Neukom which cost her $20. PP SAM HARDING beamed when announcing the birth of his granddaughter Haley Lynn Harding on Aug. 7. DWIGHT MATTHEWS offered voluntarily to join the President’s Club; what a guy! MARGE SENTOUS paid $90 in honor of her 90 year old dad who, by the way, just eloped! DAN O’DONNELL cited MICHAEL STADLEN’s funny story, and MICHAEL ended up paying a fine. EILEEN LOW paid $10 in advance of her birthday next week. FRANK VERLOT expressed his appreciation that the Pilgrim Haven expansion was approved by City Council and offered $50 to our Kitty. MIKE ABRAMS added $20 in appreciation for FRANK’s hard work to earn that approval. PP DON HULL glowed about his granddaughter winning the National Championship in soccer, his Aug. 1 birthday, and his return to LARC, then offered $30 for the opportunity to brag a bit.
 
Ex-bartenders are still entertaining, we saw, when the “Guess that Drink” game made a return, featuring specially selected contestants. Redhead BAIDRA MURPHY had to guess a concoction called an Irish Kilt, though she loudly protested that the Irish don’t wear kilts. Windy City VAL CARPENTER’s recipe was for a mixture called a Chicago. New Yorker MARY MARLEY got the Big Apple recipe. Charming LARRY CHU was asked to name the California Smoothie. Sommelier KAREN GESSERT guessed the Rob Roy recipe and quickly corrected Kendra’s recipe. MARY PROCHNOW tried to guess the Stinger (though we don’t see the relationship.) Monsieur LOUIS BOREL remembered the French Kiss drink, and added that he was celebrating his birthday with numerals read in reverse order, as in Arabic, so now he’s only 57. Best of all, JERRY TOMANEK’s guess should have been a Tom and Jerry, though he quipped that his favorite drink is actually a “Skip and Go Naked.” Good fun was had by all.
 
COMING FULLY ALIVE AS YOU AGE was today’s program introduced by JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA and presented by Dr. Judith Pruess-Mellow.  Executive Director of Senior New Ways, with a PhD. in Educational Psychology, and a Master’s of Divinity, Ms. Mellow has visited many of the seniors’ group living accommodations in Los Altos as visitor for the Los Altos United Methodist Church and has authored two books for seniors, including one with today’s program title. Her four session series for older adults covers the following topics: Finding Meaning in Life; Being Fully Alive in Body, Mind and Spirit; Aging as a Spiritual Journey; and the Uplifting Power of Humor.
 
Quoting “the wisdom of later years”, she recited several statements she had surprisingly found in service stations, including “Bark less, wag more.” and “So much stuff. Stay focused”. In her series, the six tasks of later life include: 1. Develop a sense of worth apart from externals. 2. Surrender those areas where there is no longer ability. 3. Seek and share love and wisdom. 4. Become a mentor to others. 5. Realize life is meaningful and valuable, but not perfect. 6. Deal with issues of the end of life. She recommended reading “My Mother, Your Mother” by Dr. Dennis McCullough.
 
While just 11% of California’s population is age 65 or older, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills have as many as 17.6% and 17% in that age range. Social isolation leads to depression, declining health and even Alzheimer’s, so she stressed the importance of maintaining contact with other people and even “friendly visitor training” to develop listening skills when dealing with older people. Perhaps we should renew contact with those who can no longer come to Rotary meetings. The Elder Credo she quoted includes the thoughts: An elder is a person still growing, still learning, still with potential, still in pursuit of happiness, joy and pleasure and whose role is to synthesize wisdom from long life experience.
Ms. Pruess-Mellow can be seen on Channel 30 once monthly or, beginning in one week, also on the internet at www.blip.tv, then click “Senior New Ways”.
 

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