Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show January 30 2014

Greeters: 
MARLENE COWAN, GEORGE STAFFORD, KURT MAHNCKE and Red Badge member – Rashein Lindsey
Cashier:  DAVID CASAS
Sargeants at Arms:  PAUL GONELLA, MIKE ABRAMS
Photographer:  RANDY GARD
Rotator Writer:  BARBARA SMALL

 
Thought for the Day was given by VAL CARPENTER on the occasion of her husband, Rich’s birthday, and having just celebrated her 60th birthday last week, her thoughts offered were about Gratitude; 

The following quotes are by Melody Beattie, who, according to her biography on Amazon.com, is one of America’s most beloved self-help authors:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
 
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  

Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls.

Song for the Day:  JEANNE MACVICAR and BONNIE BURDETT gave an uplifting version of “My Favorite Things”, leading in song and in pantomime.
 
Visiting Rotarians:
Natalia Alexandrova is visiting from the St. Petersburg, Russia Rotary Club
 
Rotarians with Guests:
President Elect KENDRA GJERSETH introduced Carol Jukes of San Jose and formerly of New Zealand

GARY WALDECK introduced Bob Suter, attorney with Hewlett Packard
CHUCK LINDAUER introduced his neighbor, Kathleen Nichols.
 

Announcements:
President Elect KENDRA GJERSETH announces Carl Ray as the speaker for February 6, the author of “Cured-The Power of Forgiveness.”  The book provides insight into his life growing up in Alabama and the South before and during the Civil Rights era.
 
President Elect KENDRA GJERSETH announces the Rotary International Convention in Sydney, Australia in June, 2014.  If you want to go, Maureen Jones of All Horizons Travel will organize a tour, planned departure date should be end of May to make the June 1, 2014 start date of the Rotary International Convention.
 
DICK HENNING reported on the petition for DUDE ANGIUS.  In a slam dunk vote by the Rotary board to support the petition on behalf of DUDE, the Los Altos High School gymnasium will now by known as the DUSCHEN “DUDE” ANGIUS gym.
 
GARY WALDECK asks for Rota-Care signups for March

 
Past President TRACIE MURRAY announces the Cioppino dinner on March 7, 2014.  Sponsorship for the dinner is $70.
 
DONNA VERNA announces availability of Fine Art in the Park Sponsorships.
 
MARLIS MCALISTER announces the Red Badge meeting on Thursday, February 6, at 11:00 am at the Garden House
 
STEVE SHEPHERD announces the District Golf Tournament on April 10, 2014 and the Los Altos Rotary Club Golf Day at Shoreline Park on June 13, 2014.
 
ROY LAVE announces the satellite meeting next Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at the Jesuit Retreat Center at 8:00 am.
 
BARBARA SMALL thanks everyone who donated and supported the fundraiser for the SOPUDEP School, which took place on January 26, 2014 at First & Main Sports Bar, and raised over $13,000 for SOPUDEP.
 
JEAN MORDO, membership chair, proudly announced that PATRICIA ROHRS received her blue badge.  PATRICIA’s sponsor is FRANK VERLOT.
 

Ten Minute Talk:
TED SORENSON told us about his family ancestry from Denmark.  Ancestors on the mother’s side immigrated to Boston in 1838 and on the father’s side they came through Ellis Island in 1914.  His father’s ancestors left farming in Denmark, declaring they never wanted to farm again, and settled in Minnesota to start a farming business. 
 
Ultimately Ted and his brothers settled in Burlingame and became known as the Danish Mafia.  At that time, Ted’s relatives would take the train to “the country” in Los Altos and spend leisure time at Redwood Grove, where they would play the slot machines.
 
Eventually Ted’s family moved to Palo Alto.  Ted studied civil engineering at Stanford University and graduated in 1972, going into the field of transportation engineering.  Ted went on to attend Boston University Law School, and married his wife Susan in 1974.  Susan attended medical school, and became an internist and hematology specialist.  Susan and Ted have two children.  Son Matt graduated from UCLA law school and practices law in Portland, Oregon.  Matt recently had a son, Ted’s first grandchild, Nathan.  Daughter Marian attended USC and is pursuing a career as an actress, and appears in the 2013 film, “The Daughter.”  Ted is a corporate lawyer and has worked as general counsel for corporate clients, and now has a practice in downtown Los Altos.
 

WYATT ALLEN presented a Rotary Foundation minute.  He asked the question how is it that RF is able to apply all funds donated, directly to RF projects when the RF has overhead costs of 6-7%?  The answer is that all donations to RF go into the investment pool for a minimum of three years, and all earnings from the investment pool go directly to the overhead costs, allowing the contributions to be applied 100% to RF projects.
 
Awards were presented to the following Paul Harris fellows:
 
FRANK ELMER, DENNIS YOUNG, ARLEY MARLEY, PAUL GONELLA, GARY WALDECK, KAREN GREGARUS, and STEPHEN WU.
 

Fines: 
STEVE POMEROY entertained us as the Fine Master, and STEVE WHEELER manned the duck bucket. 
 
SHELLY POTVIN announced her daughter’s birthday and paid $30.
 
BARBARA SMALL announced her oldest daughter Emily’s 18th birthday this very day and paid $20;
 
JUDY OTT announced her oldest son’s successful completion of a week long trail bike race in Patagonia and paid $30;
 
JEAN NEWTON FRAGULIA announced her granddaughter Lenora Joy’s two week birthday and paid $30;
 
STEVE BIANCHI announced his 30 year anniversary and paid $30;
 
BONNIE BURDETT announced that the Ben Eckenhoff Memorial Bike Ride and Foundation to support the fight against chronic lymphocytic leukemia and related diseases achieved its endowment fund goal of $1 million dollars.
 
MICHAEL ELLERIN announced his 89 year old mother’s birthday on Feb. 1, for $30;
 
JACK HEIDMILLER announced his trip to Chile next Monday for 30 days for $30- the fine, anyway!;
 
ALLART LIGTENBERG announced that his knee is healing and paid $50;
 
SANDY PREVOT: announced a month stay from her brother from Boise and she joined the President’s Club.
 

Presentation:
STEVE SHEPHERD announced speaker Julian Guthrie, author of the book “The Billionaire and The Mechanic.”  The book came out in May 2013.  Guthrie considers the Oracle Racing Team’s comeback in the 2013 America’s Cup race the greatest comeback in the history of sports.  Guthrie had the unique position of knowing the players in the race, but also watching as a journalist.  Her book has been optioned for film and is in talks with screen writers. 
 
She met with Larry Ellison in 1998, and learned of his connection with Norbert Bajurin, the Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, a mechanic who agreed to work with Ellison on developing a team to compete for the America’s Cup.  Bajurin’s day job was as a radiator repair man with a business in San Francisco that was started by his Croatian immigrant father.  The teaming up of Bajurin, with his blue collar underpinnings, and billionaire Ellison, to develop a team to make a run for the Cup was the hook for the book.  Byron became the Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the blue collar version of the St. Francis Yacht Club. 
 
Guthrie’s book tracks the beginnings of the partnership between Ellison and Bajurin, through Oracle Team’s victory in the 33rd America’s Cup race in 2010: including Ellisons team making it to the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup in New Zealand in 2003; and Ellison’s team losing early in the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007.  Russell Coutts was hired to lead the Oracle Racing Team.  Mark Turner was the boat builder.  Larry Ellison designed a new boat – the tri-maran with a 230 foot rigid wing sale that turned out to be much faster than the traditional sale.  The efforts paid off and in 2010 the Oracle Team won the America’s Cup.  
 
The five top things that the author learned in writing her book:   (1) Never give up, “no” does not necessarily mean “no”; (2) the greatest lessons from the biggest mistakes; (3) don’t listen to naysayers; (4) leadership and talent are different things; (4) be ready to pivot, opportunity is everywhere.  Thank you, Julian for this fascinating presentation!

Carl Ray, community activist, actor, playwright, and motivational/inspirational speaker, is author of “Cured-The Power of Forgiveness.”  The book provides an insight into his life growing up in Alabama and the South before and during the Civil Rights Era.  A polio victim at the age of four, he gives the reader a humorous view of growing up and attending school as a physically challenged kid.
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After high school Ray attended Tuskegee University in 1962 (just prior to attending Tuskegee),  while being questioned by a white man in his small hometown of Butler, Alabama, 18-year-old Ray responded by saying "Yes" and "No" instead of "Yes, sir" and "No, sir," which were the customary responses when addressing white people. The man beat Ray severely for being disrespectful.  An hour later he went to Ray’s home and shot his father eight times as Ray looked on helplessly.  Ray was burdened with the guilt of causing his father’s murder; his life would never be the same.
 
 
Ray graduated from Tuskegee and worked for thirteen years as Electrical Engineer in the Aerospace Industry before pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian.   In 1984, Ray met a man who talked to him about the power of forgiveness.  Ray attributes the act of forgiving the man who killed his Father as saving his life. The most spiritual moment of his life occurred the day he forgave his father’s killer. Forgiveness released him from his self-imposed prison.
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