Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show December 1 2011

  Past President TRACIE MURRAY Sworn in as Attorney at Rotary
In what was likely a first-ever event in Rotary, Past President TRACIE MURRAY was sworn in as a new California attorney at the December 1, 2012 meeting of the Los Altos Rotary Club.  President MONA ARMISTEAD introduced Jann Besson, a partner at the Law Offices of Besson & Yarbrough, who gave California’s newest lawyer the oath before more than 100 fellow Rotarians.  Tracie was also honored by the attendance of her staff.
 
“Five years ago, Tracie abandoned her husband and children to books and her computer.  Her goal was to learn a new language and to read in a different way.  She had to submit to a determination of her moral values and was found by the State Bar of California to be a woman of perseverance, integrity, compassion, wisdom and humor,” said Jann Besson.
 
Taking the oath as a new California lawyer, Tracie raised her right hand and pledged to be loyal to the constitutions of the United States and California. Jann presented Tracie with the tools of the lawyer -- a yellow legal pad and two pens.  Tracie’s husband Gerry acted as family photographer during the ceremony and Tracie was surrounded by her staff at the front table.
 
Tracie’s fellow Rotarians rose as one with cheers and whistles into a rousing standing ovation that lasted for minutes.

How it all Began
STEVE SHEPHERD led Rotarians in the pledge followed by JOHN SYLVESTER, freshly returned from Maui, orchestrating us through a verse of “America”.
 
Past President MARY PROCHNOW, talked about “synergy,” that power released when multiple forces come together.  Such was the power that created the Rotary Aids Project, which has been the focus of Los Altos Rotary for the past 22 years since then-President DUDE ANGUIS announced that his son was dying of AIDS.  Dude wanted his fellow Rotarians to find a way to make a difference by this tragic loss of a creative son.  The Los Altos Story was born of the pain that comes with the loss of a child.  Since then RAP evolved and grew to reach hundreds of countries and Rotary Clubs worldwide with the message of AIDS prevention and health care. 
 
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”  – Helen Keller. 
 
President-to-be JOHN SYLVESTER then welcomed numerous visiting Rotarians and many, many guests who were present to honor DUDE ANGUIS who was the special speaker. MARY PROCHNOW introduced Dude.  Mary was the right-arm of the RAP committee since its inception and worked side by side with Dude and her fellow RAPers to launch and guide the project.
 

New Members and Blue Badger
Membership chair RANDY GARD introduced two new Red Badge Rotarians and a new Blue Badger today.  SALLY MEADOWS is sponsored by Past President CINDY LUEDTKE.  RON STEFANI is sponsored by MARY MARLEY.  Sally is a business strategy advisor who has worked with both non-profits and the bio-pharmaceutical industry.  Ron is a retired trial attorney who is involved with prison ministry.

BILL BALSON was sponsored by JEAN MORDO and received his blue badge today.   

Announcements were limited due to the extended RAP program.  But don’t forget about the Holiday Party at the Jesuit House at 6 p.m. December 16.  Go here to sign up. 
 
Past President ROY LAVE announced the death of artist and past Los Altos Rotarian, Ingrid McDonald who owned an art gallery on Main Street and was renowned for her art and support of the Los Altos Art Show and Rotary Aids Project in its infancy.  She is the artist who sculpted the bust of Mr. Los Altos and long-time Rotarian, Walter Singer in Rotary Plaza.  A memorial will be held to honor her on December 17 here at the meeting room.

DISTRICT NEWSLETTER - Here is a link to the November issue of the District Newsletter.  Lots of good stuff in there.
 

BAIDRA MURPHY was introduced as the fine mistress she was that day.  And a good job she did, too.  Baidra collected additional funds for both LARC and RAP by offering a deal to those she fined to purchase a Child Aids Prevention Pin for a mere $10 extra dollars. 

• VAL CARPENTER
• TRACIE MURRAY (who now wants to be called “counsel”)
• BUD OLIVER
• JAMSHID BASIJI
• MARGE BRUNO
• KATHY BERRY (who advised LARC’s Relay for Life Team earned $6K+)
• JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT
• KURT HUEG
• ALLART LIGTENBERG
• DAVE SNOW
• RICH CASEY

Child AIDS Prevention (CAP) in Africa
RICH CASEY, chair of the RAP Committee, has been working for months on the new focus of the group – Child AIDS Prevention in Africa.  The hope is to get Rotary International interested enough to make it a world focus issue like Polio Plus.
 
The committee has made progress and is planning another trip to Liberia soon to help facilitate the project.  With eight people leading the way, the group will use a $60,000 grant from Rotary Foundation to train community health care workers on the methods of child AIDS prevention.
 
With a dash of lighting flair, Rich dimmed the lights and had BEVERLY TUCKER remove the covering of the new RAP display case in the meeting room. It holds all the awards the RAP committee has received over the last 22 years.
 
Rich told the story of how the CAP pins were designed and created by fellow Rotarians from other clubs to help raise money for the project. For $10 each, Rich hopes to raise enough to keep the progress positive for the project.
 

Introducing DUDE ANGUIS, Father of the Rotary AIDS Project
June 28, 1989, was a dark day. AIDS was emerging and was rarely talked about due to the stigma then attached to the disease.  It was certainly not a subject of conversation at a Rotary Club – until that dark day. 
 
It was on that day that Rotary President DUDE ANGUIS announced that his son Steve was dying of AIDS.  He asked for help to make some sense of and create something positive from the imminent death of his beloved son.  “Help me with this horrible disease,” Dude asked his fellow Rotarians.  And they did help.
 
Dude tells it this way:
 
“Steve died 22 years ago last Saturday.  He was 32 years old, creative, funny and intelligent.  He did not want me to disclose that he had AIDS.  He only referred to it as “the big C.” 
 
When Steve came home for Thanksgiving that year he was wasting away.  None in the family knew that Steve was gay.  Dude and Barbara learned that he was gay and dying from AIDS at the same time.  They were stunned.
 
Barbara worked feverishly to care for Steve at home.  Dude continued working, chewing over what to do.  He decided he wanted to ask his fellow Rotarians for help.  Steve was opposed, as were some brothers and sisters.  Barbara was protective.  Steve feared his family would be despised by disclosure of his illness.  Dude would have none of it.  He wanted to act. 
 
When he stood before the members of Los Altos Rotary that day, “I wanted people to know my son was gay and was dying of AIDS,” Dude said.  He wanted to form a committee of Rotarians to do something about the AIDS disease sweeping America and the world.  Ultimately they came up with a plan to do a film about Steve’s death. 
 
Soon, two other Rotarians announced they were suffering from AIDS.  Most prominent was WALTER SINGER who contracted the disease from a blood transfusion during heart surgery at El Camino Hospital.  The outpouring of support resulted in the creation of the Peabody Award-winning film, “The Los Altos Story,” which has been seen and distributed around the world.
 
Dude told Los Altos Rotarians that Steve asked not to be put in a body bag after he died.  Dude and his sons stood in the way of the paramedic who arrived to take Steve’s body to the mortuary to make sure no body bag was used. The pain of recalling those moments are still fresh in Dude’s memory even after 22 years.  That pain, and the hope that the synergy of Rotary would make a difference in the world, drives Dude to wage the campaign against AIDS.
 
Dude credits the original committee members, including DICK HENNING, Bob Berka, JOE RENATI, WYATT ALLEN, and ROY LAVE.  However, Dude gave special recognition to MARY PROCHNOW who was the first to say, “I want to help you.”   Mary has been helping for 22 years.
 
Mary gave a brief history what happened after the emotional announcement, how the idea was developed and sold to the producers, how money was raised and how partners were found. 
 
Dude enlisted RICH CASEY after he was introduced to the group by MARY,  his kindergarten classmate, as his “red meat” to carry on the leadership of the group and to tackle the new challenge of Child AIDS Prevention.  Rich’s shoes are filling the footprints of his predecessor nicely.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM: