Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show June 19 2014

On this beautiful Thursday in June, Rotarians were greeted warmly by HARRY PRICE, JULIE ROSE, and KATHY LERA as they entered the Garden House for PRESIDENT JACK KELLY’S last official meeting before the kick-out. 

DAVID CASAS processed payments for the club, as members lined up for a delicious lunch and joined their fellow club members before the meeting began.  CHUCK LINDAUER did his best to take flattering photos as the photographer for the meeting.

The Thought for the Day was given by JOE EYRE in three parts:  1.  Albert Einstein said everyone should give back to the world what they take out of it; 2.  Maya Angelou said that giving liberates the soul of the giver; and 3. Bob Hope said if you haven’t got charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. 

Song for the Day: RON STEFANI led us in an uplifting round of In the Good Ole Summertime in celebration of our beautiful June weather.

Visiting Rotarians: While we did not have any visiting Rotarians today, we did have several Rotarians with Guests:

KURT HUEG introduced Andrea Hanstein, Director Marketing and Communications of Foothill College.

VAL CARPENTER introduced Sangeeth Peruti

KATHY LERA introduced Tracy Newell

DICK HENNING introduced Dr. Linda Thor, Chancellor, Foothill De Anza College District.  He also introduced his lovely wife, Paulette.

RON LABETICH introduced Robin Lyssenco, Director of the Foothill De Anza  Community College Foundation; and Therese Ong, Dean Disabled Students and Veterans Programs at Foothill College.

Announcements:
JOHN SYLVESTER announced the upcoming kick-out meeting this coming Thursday, June 26, and the upcoming kickout dinner on June 27.

RON LABETICH announced a Veteran’s Support Committee Meeting at the Chamber of Commerce after this meeting.

PE KENDRA GJERSETH announced that the club's Wine and Cheese party at CHUCK LINDAUER’s house on June 20; and that a sign up sheet was circulated for signing up to work the Arts & Wine Festival.

WYATT ALLEN announced that the Rotary Foundation has awarded a Paul Harris Society recognition to MONA ARMISTEAD for her extremely generous annual donation this year of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation.

GARY WALDECK reminded everyone it is time to update their information in the Rotary Handbook and to go on line in clubrunner.

JERRY TOMANEK also invited everyone to update their photos for the directory and was ready to take new updated photos on the spot.

STEVE SHEPHERD announced the winners of the annual golf tournament:

• Ladies Low Gross – MONA ARMISTEAD
• Men’s Low Gross – BOB RAYL
• Ladies low net – CYNTHIA LUEDTKE
• Men’s low net – MIKE SPENCE
• Mixed Couples Champions: JERRY and Carol MOISON
• Ladies Team Champions: CYNTHIA LUEDTKE, DONNA VERNA, JEAN FRAGULGLIA, and LYNNE IVESTER
• Ladies blind bogey champion – DONNA VERNA
• Men’s blind bogey champion – JOHN BOGART
• Yellow ball Team low net – CHUCK ALLOO, STEVE SHEPHERD, MEL KAHN, HARRY MITTELMAN
• Poker Tournament champs – JACK KELLY and RON STEFANI
• Closest to the pin – CYNTHIA LUEDTKE and RON STEFANI
• Longest drive – CAROL JAQUES and STEVE SHEPHERD
• Raffle Awards: WAYNE DOIGUCHI won luncheon for two at the Ritz-Carlton SF
• BOB ARMISTEAD won a Fairmont Hotel Honey/Tea Gift Basket
• FRANK ELMER won two Bottles of Chateau Garage signed by Winemaker President JACK KELLY

RON LABETICH announced that two new Dell Computers had been generously donated to the Foothill College Veterans Support Group; and introduced Therese Ong, Dean of Disabled Students and Veterans Programs at Foothill College, to announce the Veterans Scholarships.  Scholarships were awarded to:
Leroy Edwards, a 29 year army veteran, who received his AA in psychology and transferred to Cal State East Bay for a BA in recreational therapy; and
Daniel Muse, who served two tours in Iraq and is the first in his family to attend college.  After his two years at Foothill he plans to transfer to Stanford or Berkeley to finish his degree.

JACK HIGGINS provided a ten minute talk recapping his recent visit to Liberia to kick off the joint effort of Los Altos Rotary Child Aids Prevention Project and Save the Children, to expand child aids prevention efforts from the three clinics in Monrovia to 28 clinics in three provinces in Liberia. 

JACK braved the weather of the rainy season and the challenges of transportation along dirt roads to visit three representative clinics to be provided with antiretroviral medications and training for clinicians in diagnosing and treating pregnant mothers and their newborns. 

While conditions are an obstacle, JACK was encouraged by the commitment to the project expressed by the President of the Sinkor Rotary Club in Monrovia, one of our club’s partners for the global grant of  $192,000.00 recently awarded by Rotary International to our club to make the expansion of child aids prevention efforts a reality for more Liberian mothers and children.

President JACK KELLY took a few minutes to reiterate his pride in serving as President of our club, and in the special Presidential Citation with Distinction awarded to our club by District Governor ANGIE HASSLER.  The Presidential Citation recognizes Rotary clubs that achieve an array of accomplishments that promote membership growth, enhance humanitarian service, and strengthen community ties through the family of Rotary.  President JACK says that during his year these are the types of things our club engages in every month, and that he is so proud to have our club receive the award during his year serving as club president.

PP JOHN SYLVESTER announced that, although some think he has difficulty being serious about anything, he was very serious in presenting the award to the following honorary Paul Harris Fellow: 
Judy Miner, President of Foothill College, for her efforts on behalf of Veterans, Expanding Career Opportunities and Mentoring for Veterans; and Scholarship Fundraising.

 ABBY AHRENS did her best to fit fining into the less than five minutes she had, and admirably recognized the following individuals who happily gave to the club:

• ALAN LAMBERT
• LEW FRASER
• CYNTHIA LUEDTKE
• KURT HUEG
• CINDY BOGART O'GORMAN

Presentation:
DICK HENNING introduced our speaker, Foothill President Judy Miner, to speak on the topic of “Opera – It isn’t as bad as you think.” Miner, a native San Franciscan and the youngest of five children, was the first in her family to attend college. Her father, a boiler maker, was born on Guam and her mother, who worked in the I. Magnin shipping department downtown, was born in Guadalajara.

Before coming to De Anza, Judy Miner worked for several years in the California Community Colleges statewide office in the areas of transfer and student services, giving her a detailed knowledge of the state’s complex community college system. Early in her career she worked in student admissions and records at public and private colleges and universities.  Ms. Miner has studied six languages and developed conversational skills in seven others, but comes to us today to discuss another of her loves:  Opera. 

Ms. Miner shares how Claude Debussy felt that there was too much singing in Opera, and that Beethoven commented how he liked opera and thought he would set it to music.  Ms. Miner demonstrated her own operatic voice by profiling for us excerpts from several well known operas as she relayed stories about some behind-the-scenes goings on.  For example, a fan once confronted Verdi that they did not like Aida and Verdi gave the fan his money back, and how Puccini liked an accidental trip by the soprano in Tosca so much that he wrote it into the opera. 

Ms. Miner also shared with us the entire story of the Ring Cycle by Wagner through a two and one half minute You Tube video clip.  Finally, Ms. Miner showed that opera enthusiasts know how to poke fun at themselves by enlightening us with how many of the following it takes to change a light bulb:  bases – none; tenors – 6: one to do it and 5 to say it is too high; altos – none, they can’t get up that high; and sopranos – one to hold the bulb while the world revolves around her.  Thanks so much to Judy Miner for brightening our day with these whimsical tales related to Opera!