President Joanne Primavera began the meeting at 6:30 P.M. Katherine Kehrli led the Pledge, and for our inspirational moment, Joanne welcomed Sharon Cavell back to her first meeting after her illness. She thanked Sharon for being an inspiration to all of us in her tireless effort to regain her health, and honored her with a bejeweled gold crown. Patty Sims then led in a Happy Birthday for Sharon, Ernie Norehad, Dee Dee and all possibly overlooked Scorpios. Joanne declined Ernie's offer to share a new joke.
Guests: Susanne Park, Mrs. Duncan McDonald, Valerie Santaford, Sara Lalonde, and Jennifer Serrato, (Student of the Month) all joined us for dinner.
President Joanne then thanked John and Katherine Kehrli for graciously hosting John Overleese's wine tasting (a hit) and providing delectable appetizers.
Brian Tucker asked members to make an extra effort to participate at the special Teen Feed this Friday night, 11/11, (5-7pm) at the Kirkland Teen Center. Carl Edlund is Gamemaster for this special GAMES NIGHT, and there will be both Video Games and more traditional recreational activities. Brian needs folks to sign up, (thanks to Tom Sturgell for ClubRunner) and then show up at 5pm. Food arrives at 5:30.
Dee Dee then asked us to remember the Thanksgiving Baskets, to sign up for specific items on Clubrunner and bring our goods to the November 21 meeting.
Re: ClubRunner, Tom Sturgell pointed out that: #1. 33% of our members haven't gone on to update their info, #2. 30% of the Board Members have not done so and #3. Our Wine Tasting was the first event totally handled via ClubRunner, and it worked!
Dee Dee said that her husband misplaced the "Vlad Entertainment" signup sheet (the list of recreational activities Vlad would like to do while here). She asks anyone who already signed up to do so again, either on the paper at meetings, or on ClubRunner
Rich Bergdahl then spoke of his passion for Rotary Foundation, saying he'd joined Rotary 4 years ago tonight in response to 9/11. He gave a moving account of how the human response to the tragedy inspired him, while the horror itself made him long for a community to belong to. Rich said that Rotary has fulfilled that desire beyond expectations, and expressed deep affection for the organization and for all of his fellow Rotarians. Regarding the Foundation, this year's financial goal is $12,500., and to date 14 members have donated a total of $2,025. As a kickoff for Foundation Month, Rich wanted to emphasize that his personal goal is 100% participation of the club, and that any donation, no matter how humble, is appreciated.
President Joanne expressed amazement that she is already 1/3 of the way through her term, and said that we should indicate our area of club participation interest on the salmon-colored sheets with the header "Planning for 2006-7"
Mike Hunter announced that our Halloween Duck Hunter, George McAfee, is now recovering from knee surgery performed at an "unknown" hospital, and asked that we each sign the card going around.
Pat Swenson launched her Vocational Committee "Getting to Know You" Program, giving each member four minutes to tell us about him or herself, after which they would be charged $5. per additional minute. Patti Smith was designated timekeeper, and gave people the 3 & "time's up" signals
John Pruitt spoke first, with Pat Swenson deftly flipping his bio flash cards. John's first worked for Southland Corp., (711) in Dallas, Texas. He moved to Seattle 12/77 and worked a variety of jobs until starting his Architects and Engineers Consulting Firm, AE Firms, 12/93. John does a lot of traveling in his work, has clients in 26 states, and does consulting, strategic planning, seminars and retreats. John grew up on a ranch in Ohi, CA, spent 1 year, 9 months and 27 days in the Army, then graduated from Cal Poly, married the girl next door, Janet,(he suspected she would "stick around,") had two children, the youngest of whom is a junior at UW, the oldest married and living in Connecticut. Much to his great surprise, John has lived in the same house for 28 years. He loves skiing, sailing, opera, baseball, and walking his big, red dog, Cooper.
Pat Dye said it was hard to follow John's "power point" presentation, but that she's "wing it." Pat received a degree to teach H.S. Spanish, then married and moved to Seattle in time to see the famous billboard asking WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE SEATTLE PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS? No teaching jobs open, Pat went into banking, then left to raise two young children. Later, she re-joined the workforce as Director of Volunteer Services with the March of Dimes, (a job GG held previously.). After this, Pat spent 18 months in Real Estate, eventually realizing it was not her "thing." Then she returned to banking, and stayed. Last January, Pat realized she wanted to turn her non-profit avocation into work.. Learning, to her great surprise, that she'd been eligible for retirement for three years, she promptly gave her 90-day notice. In May of 2005, Pat left banking, had a hip replacement and by July was looking for work in fund development financing. Soon she was offered a dream job for WONDERLAND DEVELOPMENT CENTER, which does life changing intervention in developmentally disabled children from birth to three years of age (when the brain is still forming). Their results have been excellent: 20% of their children go on to standard schooling, and the rest have greatly enhanced performance in their special educations. Pat is divorced, and has two grown children, daughter Stephanie, mother of a 3 & 7 year old, and married 10 years to a "wonderful" man, and her son, who was just wed last summer. Pat joined Rotary in 1997, and transferred to our club in 2001. Pat loves sailing, has sailed as far as Southern Granada and hopes someday to sail to Tahiti.
Bill Woods claimed he needed extra time because of his age. Pat Swenson pointed out that this is Bill's 40th year in Rotary, and that only one other member, Chuck Morgan, has been in the club longer. Bill was born in Jordan, Montana, completed 3 Quarters of U. of Montana, and enlisted in Army Air Corps in 1943. A year later, when the cadet program closed, Bill went to radio school, and was assigned to the 11th Air Force in Alaska. After 3 years, he returned to Montana, and worked for the state Highway department, doing roadwork, in WINTER, which inspired him to rethink his decision to eschew further schooling. (To help in finding "indoor" employment.). In 1947 Bill married Jo Mae, and in 1950, after he received a B.S. Degree in Pharmacy, they came to Washington, first to Yakima, then Seattle, then Kirkland in 1953. In 1962 Bill opened Woods' Lakeshore Pharmacy, a year later, began servicing nursing homes with prescriptions and medical supplies, and in 1965 opened Evergreen Medical Supplies. Two years later, Bill opened Evergreen Pharmaceutical Service, followed by Evergreen Pharmacy near Evergreen Hospital in 1972. On a personal note, Bill claims he has always been quiet and shy because of his two older sisters who excelled at everything, "you know, like GG and Pat Swenson" (his words!). Bill and Jo Mae had son Tom in 1952 and daughter, Kim, in 1955. They now have 5 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, all of whom are girls. Bill was on the Kirkland City Council 1965-'66, and served as Kirkland Mayor from 1967 to 1973. In 1977, Bill received the Bowl of Hygia Award, a national award for community service, and, in 1985, was honored with the Governor's small business award for businesses with between 100 and 200 employees. In 1988, he and Chuck Morgan decided that Kirkland needed a Performing Arts Center, and the rest is history.
Next Francois Daumard, who was born in a Western suburb of Paris,"the OTHER side from the one that is burning now", he wanted to make clear! He received a Master's Degree from Business School (Nantes Graduate School of Management) and a Telecommunications Master's Degree as well, (from Paris Dauphine University), both in the French Ivy League. He has spent his career in hi-tech, starting as a consultant for an American IT consulting firm called IDC. After two years he took a telecommunications job, first as a project manager, then financial analyst and finally as Comptroller. It was the mid-90's telco boom in Europe, but Francois was frustrated: he was not getting any closer to his dream of coming to the U.S. After strategizing, he joined the 1,000 employees of Microsoft France in 1999 in Customer Systems, came to Seattle on a business trip, fell in love with the area, and worked hard the next three years to get a job here with the big "M". He arrived in late 2002 and spent the next 2 ½ years traveling as worldwide IT project manager. (He has one "unique take-away" from that experience: "India will rule the World.") Six months ago, Francois took a job in marketing with a U.S. subsidiary of Microsoft, serving the mid (50-1,000 employee) market. In Francois' words, "it is a marketing job, with all of the stress of a sales job, but WITHOUT the pay!" Two and a half years ago, Francois married Karine, who hails from Champagne, 150 miles east of Paris. Francois now has an eight-year-old stepdaughter who, he claims, has NO accent. Francois first joined Rotary in France and that it is MEN ONLY there. He said, "believe me, you DON'T want to hear about THAT!" Oh, but Francois, we DO!
Mike Hunter, next, was born in Bisbee, Arizona, and moved with his family to Eltopia, 20 miles north of Pasco, in the early '50s. Mike attended Columbia Basin Junior College, then worked doing wiring at a gold mine north of Spokane, when 480 volts knocked him off a ladder (when a screwdriver wound up in the wrong slot!) Undaunted, Mike got his E.E.Degree at the U.W, in 1966, and two years later (37 years ago) married wife Sharon, who he met in '64 at a Husky Band Dance. Mike joined Kirkland Rotary in 1984, and was President 1988-1989, when the meetings moved from The Flame. Mike and Sharon have two daughters who were born deaf., and who, at ages 7 and 9 were sent for Oral Schooling in Portland. This was a difficult time for Mike and Sharon, but soon Mike became active in the deaf community, becoming a Board Member of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf, headquartered in Washington, D.C. He now also sits on the Board of the Listen and Talk School in Bothell. (Today, kids with the same levels of deafness have cochlear implants, and are able to learn to hear and speak more easily). Both daughters attended Juanita Elementary, Finn Hill Junior High School and Juanita High School, and both graduated from College in Northridge, California and now work for deaf agencies. In June of 2004, Mike retired from Puget Sound Energy, but now finds himself back working as a consultant because apparently, PSE can't live without him. Pat Swenson asked Mike his favorite place to visit and he said San Francisco, especially Scoma's, a great seafood restaurant on the waterfront.
See part two of the meeting notes in the next story.
