Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show December 16 2010

President DENNIS YOUNG called the meeting to order with a welcome to the “best Rotary Club in the world.” CLYDE NOEL led the pledge of allegiance.
 
Though it was a bit chilly in the room, Dennis said there was warm coffee on the tables and reminded us the high in St. Louis was 18 degrees.
 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
VAL CARPENTER said her thought for the day was a combination of sassy and true Christmas spirit.  She was right about the first part as she told two jokes that were definitely sassy.  The second thought included the message of forgiveness, tolerance, heart, respect and charity to all.
 
SONG FOR THE DAY
JEANNE MACVICAR, appropriately attired with antlers and a red rubber nose, asked whether we remembered all those reindeer names, as we sang “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
 
Dennis thanked Greeters CHUCK LINDAUER, MARLIS MACALLISTER and JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT(also today’s photographer) and acknowledged the hard work of Sergeant at Arms LEW FRASER, MIKE ABRAMS and FRANK VERLOT.  Cashier was CINDY LUEDTKE.
 
VISITING ROTARIANS…
MONA ARMISTEAD asked visiting Rotarians to stand for introductions. We were pleased to welcome Hal Nicholson and his guest as well as Bob, an attorney from HP, and John Evans, attending for the third week in a row.
 
AND GUESTS…
DWIGHT MATTHEWS introduced his friend from Los Altos Hills, retired basketball pro, Mani Messey, who was accompanied by his young son.  CAMMIE BRODIE introduced the new marketing director for Los Altos Community Foundation. CLYDE NOEL introduced a guest who works for Cisco.  STEVE SHEPHERD introduced his golf and tennis buddy, Bob Armistead, also the hubby of our president-elect. JACK KELLY introduced his dentist who is a long time friend.
 
There were many family guests on hand for the program featuring the Main Street Singers: KAREN OWEN and her daughter; BUD OLIVER and wife Ann; STEVE POMEROY and wife Joan; NANCY SIMON and daughter; JEAN MORDO and wife Barbara; SAM HARDING and wife Janet; ROY JONES and wife Maureen; CRES MCFALL and wife Paula, KIM COPHER and husband Ross; CAREW MCFALL and wife Jean; DAVID CASAS and wife Carol.
 
OUR NEXT PROGRAM
President-elect Mona, who is a Main Street Singer mom, announced our next program for January 6 would be speaker Keir J. Beadling, the CEO of Mavericks Surf Ventures;  Sounds exciting. (Couldn’t help but think of the Jan and Dean tune, “Catch a wave, etc.”)

ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Dennis acknowledged KENDRA GJERSETH for putting on a great Christmas party the evening before and included CEO of the Bar STEVE SHEPHERD and official Director of Parties, JOHN SYLVESTER in his thanks for a nice event.
 
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
For those who were not at the party to hear the big news, our new president elect-elect is; JOHN SYLVESTER!  Congratulations, JOHN.  The whole Club is behind you!
 
Then Dennis reminded us about the International President’s visit and evening of fun at the Saddle Rack in San Jose on Sunday, January 2nd. See the flyer here.
 
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
DAN O’DONNELL, in his green shirt in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, passed out the Rotacare dinner schedule for January and February and thanked everyone for signing up. 
 
AN UPDATE ON LARAP
RICH CASEY gave an update on the new Child AIDS Prevention (CAP) project with the exciting news that Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project received its grant for $28,000 from RI.  In addition, the group has raised $20,000 from donors in the last couple of weeks; received a donation from biotech company, Giilead, for $15,000 and, thanks to former LARC member Ginny Lear, confirmed a sponsorship from El Camino Hospital for $2,000 for a LARAP fundraiser scheduled for February 8th, featuring Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas, a graduate of Mountain View High and former PNG mentee.  Save that date!
 
To make things more exciting, JEAN MORDO, added to the coffers by presenting two checks totaling $15,000 from LAREF.  The momentum continues to build for the project that will save many lives in Liberia.  RICH thanked everyone for their support, including our partner club in Liberia, the Rotary Club of Sinkor and Dr. Art Ammann’s Global Strategies for HIV Prevention.  RICH and ALLAN VARNI will be traveling to Liberia in February to kick off the Child AIDS Prevention project with visits to the three clinics that the group will be supporting.
 
RICH encouraged those who are not already on a committee to consider joining the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project.  There are many jobs available, so please contact him if you are interested in getting involved.
 
FOUNDATION DRIVE
It’s not too late to get that tax deduction if you get your check in to the Rotary Foundation before the end of the year.  Foundation campaign co-chair CINDY LUEDTKE would love to hit that 100% participation rate- Every Rotarian Every Year.
 
CIOPPINO ON MARCH 4
You can now sign up online for Cioppino scheduled for Friday, March 4 at the Garden House.  Buon gusto!
 
CSA HOLIDAY DRIVE
NANCY SIMON has collected $915 in cash and gift cards for Community Services Agency that services Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Mountain View. There is still a need for pajamas for teens and gift cards.  Please give.
 
SHIRTS FOR RED BADGERS
KENDRA announced that she would meet any red badgers in the parking lot after the meeting who didn’t yet have an official Rotary shirt.  Don’t forget you’ve already paid for your shirt in your dues so see Kendra.
 
SUNSHINE UPDATE
STEVE ANDERSON said he was so glad to see MARV PATTERSON looking well and wanted to give the club an update on LEN MCBIRNEY.  Len is almost finished with his chemo treatment and will hopefully be back to the club very soon.  We send him our very best.
 
HAITI  UPDATE
ALLART LIGTENBERG, on behalf of the actively involved World Community Service committee, reported on the grant with Palo Alto Rotary that will provide eco-friendly toilets in Haiti. 
 

TEN-MINUTE TALK
GARY WALDECK gave his ten-minute talk, which he said really should be 45 minutes, but then only took eight minutes.  Gary’s father flew B17’s as a WWII pilot and met his mom, who was a Pink Lady, at a hospital in Sacramento. 
 
Gary was born in 1943 and his family moved quite a bit but settled in Woodland, 10 miles north of Davis, where he loved being a Boy Scout and camping.  He graduated from High School in 1961.  His first job was delivering newspapers at age 11 and he has worked ever since until his retirement just recently.  He joined the Navy reserves along with his brother, married his high school sweetheart and graduated from UC Davis with an Engineering Degree. He also has an MBA from Santa Clara University.
 
He joined GTE Lenkurt and designed a box to get rid of the “blue box” to make sure there were no more free phone calls.  Over the years he has started five businesses including one where he owned 12 airplanes. His hobbies include scuba, ham radio, and hiking.
 
In 2004 GARY met his wife Barbara on match.com. Together they have six children and nine grandchildren.  Describing himself as a shy but funny guy, his motto is giving back.  That’s why he joined Rotary as well as why he serves on many non-profit boards in the area.  That’s also why he ran for Los Altos Hills City Council.  Gary will be attending his installation December 16 and partying afterward.  Congrats, Gary!
 

A FINE TIME
Well, BOB ADAMS received one clap from somewhere in the room as he advanced to the podium.  He announced that in honor of the Main Street singers, our recognition session would consist of singing two measures of our favorite Christmas songs;  $20 to sing and $40 if you pass it along to someone else.  Bob set the stage with Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
 
TRACIE MURRAY said she didn’t want to sing but did want to tell everyone that she finally finished law school and was taking AL TRAFICANTI’s advice to take the bar exam, so she’ll be doing that in July.  But, she also sang anyway:  Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.
 
RICH CASEY sang in Bing Crosby-style:  I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know.
 
KIM COPHER and hubby ROSS: Six geese a laying, followed of course, by Kim’s signature, “ five golden rings!” from the previous week’s repertoire
 
LOU WELLMEIER:  Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy sole, etc.
 
LEW FRASER:  Oh the weather outside is frightful, but in here it is so delightful.
 
SCOTT RICHARDS had a cold so he assigned it to songster SETH MANNING:  Sleigh bells ring are you listening?  In the lane, snow is glistening.
 
RICK GLAZE:  I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. . .
 
MORDOS and HARDINGS:  Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose. And, if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.
 
STEVE SHEPHERD:  Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. And then, ROY JONES ended on the same note.
 

THE ROTARY PROGRAM
It was time for the real singers, the Main Street Singers from Los Altos High School, under the direction of Mark Shaull.
 
As BARRY GROVES, Superintendent of Schools, beamed in the audience, the Main Street Singers enthralled the Rotary Club with their repertoire that featured some amazing soloists and beautiful arrangements of familiar and new holiday songs.  From the opening number “Sing We Now of Christmas” to the closing encore, the Main Street Singers created a lovely ambiance in the true holiday spirit.
 
DENNIS thanked them for their wonderful performance and before adjourning the meeting, wished everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
 
A reminder:  The Club is dark, which means no meetings, on December 23 and December 30.  See you in the New Year.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:

We are Dark the next two weeks for Christmas and New Years.  However, we will have our traditional Chef Chu's Make Up at (where else) Chef Chu's on the next two Thursdays, December 23 and December 30th at 11:30.  Price is $20 each, and unlike the $20 luncheons we have at the Garden House, wine is included.  Because the room has a limited capacity, somewhere around 20 people it is important to sign up. 

I suggest you do sign up on our website.  Just go to our site, click on the CHEF CHU'S MAKEUP under the Upcoming Events, then click on the "Attend or Decline" words in that page or just click here and you will go directly to it. You will need to log in order to sign up.  Non Rotarians or guest, either have a member sign you up, or email Matt.cabot@gmail or Roy Lave and he will sign you up. 

Jan 6th Program:  Keir J. Beadling, Marvericks Surf Ventures

Keir J. Beadling