Los Altos Rotary Club eNewsletter "Rotator"

It’s always interesting being the Rotator Writer and a greeter welcoming the incoming crowd. Helping to welcome Rotarians today were red-badgers WARD WILDANGER and TATYANA KANZAVELI who find this an excellent way to meet other Rotarians. Why do people come to the meeting today: PP CINDY LUEDTKE said she comes to Rotary because she is a proud Rotarian and, as all Rotarians, it’s part of her job to attend meetings on a regular basis. PAT GRAY said it’s Thursday and that’s Rotary Day for me.

At 12:15 p.m. in her loud penetrating voice, our President TRACIE MURRAY said in highly audible terms: “Good Afternoon Los Altos Rotary” and we all immediately rise. JULIE ROSE provided the pledge to the flag; PP MARY PROCHNOW recited several appropriate quotes from John Gardner including her own comment on TRACIE working with elderly people who can’t hear.

In one of the more appropriate songs for the day,

JOHN SYLVESTER had us all sing the Louisiana State song, “You are my Sunshine” by Jimmy Davis.

President Elect DENNIS YOUNG asked if there were any visiting Rotarians among us today and numerous members stood and introduced their guests. PAT FARRELL, TOM LISTON, JULIE ROSE, SAM PESNER, DAVID SMITH, BEVERLY TUCKER, MONA ARMISTEAD, KENDRA GJERSETH and a visiting Rotarian from Palo Alto, Bob Denebeim, introduced their guests.

The following three photos show the results of PE DENNIS YOUNG's donation of Giant's tickets to the Rotary Cioppino Feed. Scott Fleming and his wife Bridgitt attended the last pre-season game.

Delivering the food to Rotacare isn't a big deal: Get a call about the location of the food; go pick it up; deliver it and go home. No problem.

What did strike me as a big deal was a couple of things. First of all, the food I picked up smelled absolutely delicious. I was tempted to just head home, and solve the problem of what to have for dinner. Two problems: 1. I need 20 people to feed and 2. There are only 2 of us. Oh, and 3. That darn ol' 4 Way Test. So I delivered the food.

I was greeted with a very warm reception. Everyone who passed by me (and the delicious trailing aroma) greeted me and thanked me as if I prepared the food myself.

When I got home, I kept thinking about that restaurant, and their generosity, and that mouth-watering smell. Well, the following Saturday, I took my buddy to that same restaurant to get some of that great smelling food. When I got there, the owner, manager, busboy (whatever he was) greeted me like a long lost friend.

He asked me how I liked the food. He remembered me, and my Rotacare quest. Pretty impressive. I had to tell him that that day I was just a delivery man, but today I came to confirm my suspicions. We weren't disappointed.

What was the name of that restaurant you ask? I am tempted to tell you to join the Rotacare delivery team and find out for yourself, but I can't. My buddy said the restaurant reminded him of some local Mexican restaurant on the beach in Baja. It is called Fiesta del Mar. Check them out. And, become a Rotacare delivery person. You TOO just might find a new favorite restaurant. BTW, the English translation of "Fiesta del Mar" is Beach Party. I know, it is "Sea Party" but "Beach Party" has such a better ring.

Gardner awardee, PP SAM PESNER introduced the guest speaker and if you have an interest in Naval history, today’s speaker kept your interest because the subject was international and in our own back yard.

Guest speaker was Chris Grech, Deputy Director of Marine Operations at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. With over 30 years of experience in marine operations, engineering and manufacturing of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) Mr. Grech kept the audience enthralled.
Mr. Grech is the principal investigator for the search, discover, survey and artifact collection of the USS Macon airship. The Macon is the most prominent deep-sea wreck in the Monterey Area just off the Big Sur coast.

Through the use of an interesting slideshow, he introduced the history of the USS Macon. Known as the ZRS-5, the Macon was slightly faster than it’s sister ship, the Akron ZRS4 with a top speed of about 87 miles per hour.

The Macon was christened on March 11,1933 and flew one month later shortly after the loss of the sister ship ZRS4 Akron. The Macon had a structured duralumin hull and kept aloft by 12 helium filled gas cells. She received her first aircraft on board during time trials.

The Macon had accommodations for about 100 officers and crew that included sleeping berths, a large mess hall and an observation platform at the nose. The inside was an open cavern of girders, cables, and catwalks. Many of these areas were shown as debris on the slide show.

The Macon carried its own protection with five sparrow hawk fighter planes stored in the aircraft’s belly. The airplanes were released through a trapeze and harness which was lowered the planes through a T-shaped hole in the Macon’s underside. Retrieving the planes was a difficult process, which the audience was able to view from an old video.

On February 12, 1935 the Macon ran into a storm off Point Sur and during the storm she was caught in a wind shear, which caused a structural failure of a tailfin. Control was lost and the Macon went down 2 ½ miles off the coast. Four F9c-2 scout planes carried aboard were lost with the airship. Out of a complement of 76, only two perished.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute located and surveyed the debris field of the Macon in February 1991, and recovered artifacts. In May 2005, the institute went back and took numerous pictures that were shown on the slide show by Mr. Grech. The Monterey Aquarium Institute is the steward of the crash site.
After numerous questions from the members, President TRACIE closed the meeting at 1:25 p.m.


Bridgett and Scott Flemming	Last pre-season game	Season ticket-holder

Los Altos Rotary Club

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