Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show October 8th 2009

This past Thursday, was another wonderful day in Los Altos for a Rotary lunch.  Greeting members and guests were KURT HUEG, SCOTT RICHES &  MICHAEL STADLEN.  Our former LARC Grand Poobah (President 1990-91), WYATT ALLEN, was the main man taking care of the money.  STEVE POMEROY, MIKE ABRAMS, & FRANK VERLOT each admirably served as our johnnies-on-the-spot (also known as our Sergeant-at-Arms).
 
Just as the clock strikes 12:15pm, it has quickly become a tradition for TRACIE MURRAY to welcome everyone with her rendition of Adrian Cronauer’s Good Morning salutation.  Next, JEAN NEWTON led a heartfelt Pledge of Allegiance, and then handed over the mike to KAREN GESSERT for the thought of the day…
 
A quote by Michael Franti:

Don’t let mistakes be so monumental, don’t let your love be so confidential, don’t let your mind be so darn judgmental, and please let your heart be more influential.  Be thankful for all that the spirit provides and be thankful for all that you see with your eyes.

BONNIE BURDETT led the Club in singing “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie.

Members with guests included VAL CARPENTER (Los Altos Parks Commissioner, Karen Greguras), STEVE SHEPHERD, on behalf of BOB ADAMS (retired Plastic Surgeon John Nicholson), WARD WILDANGER (Wife Beth and Daughter Nancy Chiang), BONNIE BURDETT (business partner Joyce Anthony), and STEVE YARBROUGH (Associate Barb Small, and paralegal Bridget Fleming).
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS 
TRACIE MURRAY began the announcement segment of the meeting letting everyone know that Rosemary Stasak, recent LARC presenter and former Mountain View Mayor, passed away.  You may remember that Rosemary spoke about her efforts to improve the lives of the thousands of women in Afghanistan.
 
Next, DAN O’DONNELL asked everyone to consider helping out with Rotacare delivery. 

BAIDRA MURPHY extended an invitation to attend the next Red Badge meeting that evening from 6-7 pm. 

RICH CASEY announced the upcoming 20th celebration of the Rotary Aids Project, to be held on Sunday, October 11th at the Crowne Plaza in Palo Alto.  By the time you get this Rotator, the event will have been over.  But,

ABC's KGO Channel 7 visited LARC this past Thursday.  It was in preparation for this past Sunday's AIDS symposium.  Click the link http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7057544 to see their promo for the Symposium as it ran on KGO's Evening News. 

PP Mary Prochnow wanted to thank all the Rotarians and everyone else who joined in the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Rotary AIDS Project (RAP):

Thanks to another amazing team effort, led by Child AIDS Prevention President, Rich Casey, Sunday's event was a great success. 35 Rotarians and more than 70 others celebrated the twentieth anniversary of "The Los Altos Story" and launched the new Child AIDS Prevention campaign.

Greg Hoblit, son of LARC Past President Hal Hoblit and Robin Young of Boston's WBUR who created the film, attended to celebrate and to honor DUDE ANGIUS. An anniversary video, created by JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA was extremely well-received.
 
Three outstanding Child AIDS authorities, Mr. Stephen Lewis, Dr. Arthur Ammann and Dr. Paul Volberding helped to launch the drive to eliminate Child AIDS in Liberia with their outstanding talks on the subject. Great talent joined together in order to work for the elimination of this unnecessary scourge.  
 
Thanks to all who participated and offered assistance to the effort.

Here is photo collage of the pictures taken by JERRY TOMANEK at the Symposium. 

For more information, you can visit the web site: www.rotaryaidsproject.org/raptwentyyear.html
 
KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM is happy to let everyone know that the club had raised $2,225 to-date for the Burned Children program.  He also mentioned that if a club member extended a Happy Diwali near October 17, to a friend from India, that they may receive an invitation to dinner.  As he made it back to his seat, just about everyone said Happy Diwali.  It appears that his house will be filled with hungry Rotarians on October 17th.
 
TRACIE MURRAY wrapped up the announcements by encouraging all to attend the Sunday event at the Crowne Plaza.
 

Ten Minute Red Badge Presentation
WARD WILDANGER began his presentation with a reward for paying attention: a Swedish chocolate bar (from IKEA) for the individual who answered his question correctly.   He began with his childhood, and worked up from there.  Having migrated west with the Donner Party, his forefathers made the fortuitous choice to head towards Oregon well before the reaching Sierras.   Born at Oakland Kaiser, his family shortly thereafter settled on Verano Drive in Los Altos.  He attended Almond and Egan, before heading off to Switzerland to attend High School.  Before leaving Los Altos, he was a Boy Scout … whose troop designation was the goof-off patrol.
 
After finishing High School, he attended Foothill College and UC Davis, where he studied Geology.  His first job out of college was in Pasadena, where he met his wife Beth.  He became a Sunday school teacher, and traveled the U.S. for work as a consultant.  In 1984 he joined Eurodesign, a company that his parents started in 1973.  Upon reflection, he was quite proud to have purchased the last home sold for under $200K in Los Altos. He eventually bought the business from his parents, and then subsequently sold it to Valet Organizers.
 
Just over a year ago, he started a new company: Interior Ingenuity.  His new company makes roll-out cabinets, which his customers love.  If you ever go camping, you may want to bring him along, as he plays the guitar, likes to go backpacking and was a Boy Scout.  More recently, his son achieved the level of Eagle Scout, so you may want to also bring him along.
 
Finally, he is now purchasing his childhood home on Verano, and looks forward to sharing new memories with his son, two daughters, his son-in-laws, and four grandkids.
 
 

RECOGNITION
After WARD’s ten-minute presentation, PP MARY PROCHNOW queried the Club to determine if anyone remembered who within the LARC ranks heralded from the Donner Party.  Answer: PP MARLENE COWAN.  Next, as MARY flashed a wry Irish smile, she offered to be gentle on those who stepped forward to volunteer.
 
In stepped WARD WILDANGER, fining himself in gratitude that his home sold on just one day.  Clearly, it was priced just right.
 
Since no one else stepped forward, Mary went after those celebrating an anniversary.  Talk about a target-rich environment.

• First up was BOO BUE, who is celebrating his 58th wedding anniversary.  He carried a $58 check with him to the club in anticipation, and handed it over after a couple of chuckles with the Club.
• JACK HEIDMILLER, MARY’s next target, was hit with a $25 fine.  He offered up both a birthday and a wedding anniversary.  After BOO’s fine, JACK got off easy.
• After JACK, CHUCK LINDAUER is happy to be fined $50 for a triple announcement: His birthday, his daughter, and his granddaughter were all born on the same day. MARY mentioned that is quite a feat for someone who was not even an engineer.
• Next up, both BAIDRA MURPHY and JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA strived to follow BOO’s lead and offer up $1 per anniversary year (making the respective fine $7.00 each), but MARY was having none of that.  They each got hit with a $20 fine.
• Finally, DAVID BERGMAN was thrown a curve ball question regarding the World Series.  DAVID struck out, and fined $30.

GUEST SPEAKER
STEVE YARBROUGH introduced our guest speaker, Gerda Mosse, a Holocaust survivor.  STEVE spoke about how he met Gerda, and some of the challenges she faced.  Gerda’s story was one of perseverance, tenacity and compassion for those that risked their lives to save hers.
 
Below is a snapshot of her journey:
 
- Lived on the main drag in Berlin, with her parents and sister
- Her parents had a business in the building where they lived
- The Nazi’s broke into their house
- Tried to get out of Germany when Hitler came to power
- Tried to board a ship out of Germany, as a family, but were not allowed
- In 1939, the family made their way to Holland
- For a short time, went to public schools
- In 1940, Holland is occupied by the Nazi’s
- Made to wear a Star of David on the outside of their clothes, and carry Jewish papers
- May 1940, their home in Holland was broken into, just like Germany
- Moved from public school to a Jewish school
- Time was running out, and their lives were in danger
- Rode a bike seeking a hiding place for her family
- Found two hiding places, one for her sister and one herself
- Unable to locate a hiding place for her parents
- Buried their Stars in the woods, and went to meet with unknown families  
- Stayed one night with sister, who is then moved to another home
- Met a family that organized the village, a family she called the Organizers
- The Organizers made new identification papers for her.  Her new name was Nancy.
- Moved in with the Organizers, and became a messenger for them
- Stayed 1.5 years with this family, before needing to leave town
- Boarded a train for Den Haag, hoping to stay with a friend
- She was challenged during her train ride, but eventually convinced the Nazi’s
- After one night, she found another hide out where she lived for four weeks
- Finally moved in with a Dutch farm family, out in the country
- Lived in a cottage, located in Doornspyk
- Nazi’s came every night looking for Jews
- Hardest time was her first winter, when there is no food
- Parent were caught, while living elsewhere, and were moved into a Nazi camp
- In 1945, the area where she lived was liberated by Canadians
- Traveled for five days, hitchhiking, to reach her sisters hiding place
- Found her sister alive.
- Her parents died at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Germany
- Faber family, the Dutch farm family, welcomed her and her sister back
- Completed High School in a nearby city
- Cousins from London gave her money to immigrate to the U.S. in 1947
- Her sister stayed behind with the Farber family, as she was still in High School
- She has kept in touch with the Farber family, both traveling to see the other
- She is happy to still be here to tell her story of overcoming adversity
 
At the end of Gerda’s talk, STEVE asked Gerda to describe some of the pictures contained in a presentation.  Afterwards, Club members were able to ask some questions regarding those that helped her in Holland and her life today.
 
TRACIE MURRAY thanked Gerda for being our honored guest speaker, and asked if she could stay for a few minutes after the meeting, and speak with members who had not had a chance to ask their questions.  She agreed, and TRACIE closed the meeting at 1:30pm.

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