November 2015

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COMING EVENTS

Why does that damn photographer pester us?

On the evening of Thursday, November 19 our club was host to the gathering of the Sonoma County Association of Rotary Clubs (SCARC) at the Petaluma Golf & Country Club.

Filling in ably for ailing President GARY BRODIE as master of ceremonies for the evening, Past President RICK MOSSI welcomed the crowd and called upon our ranking senior officer, (Ret.) Col. WHIT HALL, to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

LEE REPOSA got things off on the right note with God Bless America.

CHRIS RANNEY offered a thought for the evening, a contrast between the respective vocabularies of winners and losers.

A fine meal with accompanying wines was served by Sally Tomatoes.

Announcements and introductions were made by members in attendance from the following visiting clubs: Cloverdale, Glen Ellen/Kenwood, Healdsburg, Rancho Cotati, Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa East, Healdsburg Sunrise, Santa Rosa Sunrise, Sebastopol, Sebastopol Sunrise, Windsor, and Santa Rosa West.

Past District Governor Helene Campbell was joined by 6 other PDGs, including our own ED FULLERTON, to give special recognition to Windsor member E. Marie Coakley, longtime secretary (since the founding) of SCARC.

JOANNE FERRIS and MICHAEL CARUANA delivered the evening’s program on the theme Attitude of Gratitude. JOANNE did a wonderful job of highlighting the benefits of gratitude, including both physical and psychological health, and the importance of effective expressions of gratitude in the role of team leadership.

MICHAEL helped to keep the audience engaged, awarding prizes to those sharp enough to solve his confounding word puzzles.

It’s over!

Rick Mossi and Carol Fullerton celebrated November 18 birthdays.

This week's Editor: Clark Rosen

COMING EVENTS

It was a chilly and beautifully clear day as PRESIDENT GARY BRODIE called together the Rotary Club of Petaluma at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club. PRESIDENT GARY welcomed the assembled members and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

He then announced a change up in his usual songster batting order and called on PRESIDENT ELECT LEE REPOSA to lead the club in song, at which point PRESIDENT ELECT LEE challenged PAST PRESIDENT MIKE BADDELEY to lead us off which he did with a slightly off-key rendition of I’m a Rambler. Fortunately for us P.E. LEE got us back on key with God Bless America.

PRESIDENT GARY then called on BARNEY FAUSS for our Thought for the Day. BARNEY got his thought while watching 60 Minutes and it had something to do with the 5th dimension (not the group), disrupting consensus, not confusing consensus with fact, and thinking more while using computers less. He then led us in a short prayer asking that we all use our brain more. Don’t even ask for a better explanation…we’re just reporting what we see and hear.

Hugs and greetings followed.

Before PRESIDENT GARY got into announcements, he had two orders of business. The first was to acknowledge PAST PRESIDENT MIKE BADDELEY who he somehow had left in charge last week while off on business in Las Vegas (sure…). Although the PREZ had left notes, MIKE B. as usual went off script and missed asking new member MIKE AMBROSIO to give his craft talk, so the PREZ had to do it himself and so got to his second order of business by asking MIKE. A. to the podium. MIKE began his craft talk by expressing his gratitude to be invited into the club by CHAD FILLINGER and proceeded to share how he was one of seven children born to a Brazilian father and New York mother. MIKE has worked for the CBS Television Network covering the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics, the Beatles arrival in the US, and Jackie Kennedy’s White House tour. He’s also worked on Wall Street and for IBM doing product voiceovers. For now, he’s devoted to his family, the Washington Nationals and their spring training regimen (from January through April), and the Rotary Club of Petaluma. His decision to move to Petaluma has given us the ‘gift’ of his time and talent and we are most fortunate to have him in our club. Great job, MIKE!

We had one visiting Rotarian, Jim Furley (Contractor) from Petaluma Valley Club. Rotarians with guests included PRESIDENT GARY who introduced John Hutchison, CHRIS RANNEY who introduced his friend Judy McReynolds, and Winnie and Dick Kingsbury (whose son is a Navy SEAL) and the day’s program speaker, Bill White.

PRESIDENT GARY called on ELIAS HUSARY (Elisas) who strong armed members into participating in the Christmas gift giveaway. We have approximately 150 kids counting on us this year and we need members to volunteer to shop (November 30 and December 1), wrap (Saturday, December 12 at Coldwell Banker), and deliver (December 17). ELIAS enticed us with all the ’benefits’ of each activity, but truly the biggest benefit of all is knowing you’ve made the holidays a whole lot brighter for a whole bunch of kids.

Announcements also included PRESIDENT GARY’s reminder about the upcoming SCARC dinner hosted by our club this Thursday, November 19. No host bar at 5:30 pm. The theme is Gratitude with Attitude (we think). The club will be dark at noon and replaced by this evening meeting. Same location, different time.

KATHY O’CONNER reminded everyone about the upcoming Holiday Party on December 11, starting at 6:00 pm at Seared in Petaluma. The cost is $65 per person. Contact SHARI RANNEY for tickets.

PRESIDENT GARY also let us know about the memorial services for RICK VAN BEBBER on Saturday, November 14 from 2-6pm at the Petaluma Golf and Country Club.

CHRIS RANNEY announced that a planning meeting for this year’s Crab Feed (mark your calendars for February 19) is scheduled for Monday, November 23 at Taps. Contact CHRIS for more information.

PRESIDENT GARY then called on JOHN ZIMMERMAN to provide a bit of 49’er harassment and just left it at that for now knowing that it’s been a long season for JOHN working his way through his season tickets!

Lastly, PRESIDENT GARY called on DAN LIBARLE, and commented that he’d heard SUBSTITUTE PRESIDENT MIKE BADDELEY had been very tough on DAN the week before. DAN confirmed he’d been roughed up but stated his friend, KIP HERZOG, had picked up the tab with his subsidy money.

DAN then noted that even in spite of BADDELEY’S harassment, MIKE did a hell of a job, compared to what you do. PRESIDENT GARY was so baffled by the jibe, the only retort he could muster was, I have a whole year and YOU have a lot of money. ☺ Let the games begin!

The day’s raffle was won by PAUL LOUNIBOS who won a nice bottle of wine.

In honor of Veterans Day, the program speaker was Bill White, former Navy SEAL and Member of the Board of the Navy SEAL Foundation. Bill joined the Navy in 1963, went to Officer Candidate School (OCS) and was among 18 out of 143 men who made it through the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL School (BUD/S) to become a Navy SEAL. Bill assisted with the first Apollo spacecraft recovery and was a member of SEAL Team One during the Vietnam era. After leaving the Navy, Bill went on to Harvard Business School and eventually to found Basin Street Properties in Petaluma. Bill was wonderfully introduced by CHRIS RANNEY. Bill started his program with a remembrance of those lost, including the 90 Navy SEALs who have given their lives since 9/ll. He shared with us the good work being done by the Navy SEAL Foundation and inspired us all with his presentation!

Remember, this week’s SCARC dinner is replacing our usual lunch meeting. See you there!

This week's Editor: Jane Saldaña-Talley

COMING EVENTS

PRESIDENT GARY was last seen in Las Vegas among the craps tables so Past President MIKE BADDELEY took the reins of the meeting.

Past District Governor ED FULLERTON led the Pledge of Allegiance.

President Elect LEE REPOSA led everyone in singing the club song followed by God Bless America.

BRIAN BREEN gave the thought for the day . . .

. . . including some remarks about attorney jokes!

Lou Steinberg dropped in for luinch.

JUDI ALLEWELT introduced our visiting Rotarians: Tony Vallone from the Rotary Club of Williamsburg, Virginia and Lou Steinberg from the Rotary Club of Greeley, Colorado.

Members with Guests: SHARI RANNEY introduced her neighbor Judy who was looking forward to hearing our program speaker today. MICHAEL NISTLER introduced his new bride Grace Nistler. Lou Steinberg introduced his lovely wife Julie.

MIKE asked everyone to stand for a moment of silent remembrance for member RICK VAN BEBBER who passed away this week. Following the moment of silence, RICK MOSSI announced the family will have a celebration of Life for Rick here at the country club on Saturday, November 14 from 2 to 6 pm. All members are welcome. The Rotary Club of Petaluma was highly valued by Rick and his wife Karen. Karen passed away in July after a long illness.

MIKE announced that Thursday, November 19 will be our club’s turn to host the Sonoma County Association of Rotary Clubs (SCARC) meeting in the evening. We will be dark that day so the dinner takes the place of the regular meeting. PLEASE RSVP to GAIL CARDAROPOLI if you plan to attend.

There were notes that a few new members were to be called to give their craft talks….but apparently no one told those new members! MIKE gave them the chance to prepare and speak at a future meeting.

PAUL LOUNIBOS passed out team questionnaires about our club’s history to all tables. Here are the questions:

    A. The Club was officially chartered on this date:
       1. March 30, 1923 (50th anniversary program)
       2. May 22, 1923 (75th anniversary program)
       3. Both dates may be considered correct
       4. Neither date is correct

    B. The Club has sponsored three district governors:
       1. Max Herzog, John Lounibos, Lucien Libarle
       2. Duane Blackwell, Art Agnew, John Strong
       3. Ed Fullerton, Duane Blackwell, Art Agnew
       4. John, Strong, Ed Fullerton, Duane Blackwell

    C. The first major project of the Petaluma Club was:
       1. $800 for care packages in England (1918)
       2. $1,525 for tennis courts at McNear Park
       3. $265 for public drinking fountains (1931)
       4. $16,000 for Lucchesi Park Playground

    D. The Club has had four father-child club presidents. Name the father of each of these past presidents:
       1. Dan Libarle
       2. Kip Herzog
       3. Paul Lounibos
       4. Joanne Ferris

(You are going to have to read to the end of this Rota-Teller to get the correct answers!)

The winning team, with all four correct answers and finishing in the shortest amount of time was the table of JOHN DADO, LEE BEAN, Lou Steinberg, LEE REPOSA, Julie Steinberg, and MIKE STAUBER.

JUDI ALLEWELT announced that she is co-chairing the children’s holiday gift project with ELIAS HUSARY. The shopping days at Kmart will be the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 30 and Dec. 1) at 7 am. The gift wrapping party will be Saturday, December 12 at the Coldwell Banker office from 9 am to noon. Junior high and high school students are welcome to help along with club members!

Presents will be distributed by members after the meeting on Thursday, December 17. Please sign up on the forms on your tables or by emailing JUDI and ELIAS. If we all take part this will be a great project!

MICHAEL CARUANA announced the recent Walnut Park renovation project was through the work of the Petaluma Service Alliance. He has served on this joint committee of members from all Petaluma service clubs along with RICK MOSSI and RICK GORMAN. It is time for a new member to serve on this committee so please talk with MIKE if you are interested.

KATHY O’CONNOR announced there is a meeting of the Member’s Holiday Party Planning Committee following today’s meeting. Save the date…Friday, December 11!

Lou announced his grandson Nathan is expecting a baby sister soon!

JOHN ZIMMERMAN announced the newly renovated Walnut Park’s Korean War commemoration will be dedicated on Veteran’s Day…next week.

CLARK ROSEN was asked to stand and comment on the rare event of retiring and getting married within the same month. He spent his honeymoon at Sunrise Assisted Living……..just kidding! He and Trisha took a cruise through the eastern Mediterranean! Clark is very grateful. His third grandchild is on the way and his daughter Sarah is engaged. He happily paid his fine!

DAN LIBARLE, looking very smart in a red vest with lively animals paid a fine after taking a business trip to France with some local, unnamed dairy ranchers. Dan noted the ranchers should pay the fine, but he did anyway.

SHERRY BURWEN won the raffle and a bottle of Pinot for Polio!

DANNY FISH introduced our program speaker, Jenna Parsons Pritchard who is the volunteer coordinator at the Petaluma Police Department.

Chris Ranney chairs the Program Committee.

Next week’s speaker, veteran and Navy Seal Bill White speaking on the Navy Seals Foundation.

Answers to the quiz:
    A. 3
    B. 3
    C. 2
    D. Red Libarle; Max Herzog; John Lounibos; Ted Borr

This week's Editor: Joanne Ferris; photos by Michael Nistler