Highlights of April 21 Meeting

 

 

The invocation was offered by Allan Cady.  Erwin Reimann led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

 

Bob Zarling chose to use his Rotary Minute to share a quote from Hunter S. Thompson.  For those who do not know, Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels, a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle gang to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences.

 

 

 

Steve explained that the holder of the winning ticket would win $70.00 plus the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck.  Should they be lucky enough to draw the Ace of Clubs, they would win an additional $285.00.  Steve asked Jane Benedict to draw the winning ticket, which was held by Lola McClane.  After the cards were shuffled, Lola's disappointment was apparent when she saw she had drawn the nine of clubs.

 

 

 

Before collecting Happy Bucks from those present at the meeting, Greg acknowledged those who were attending via Zoom - Bob Jensen, Terry Cohen, and Daryl "Pai" Bethea. 

 

 

 

 

Allan Cady introduced Judge Tommy Webb as a close friend.  He and Polly met Tommy and Judy when they were riding on the same bus to or from an activity at the Rotary International Convention held in Atlanta.  Tommy and Judy spend their winters in Yuma.  Since Allan and Polly travel through Yuma as they travel to San Diego to spend time on their boat, they have had several opportunities to spend time with the Webbs since their original encounter.  Judge Tommy is a Magistrate in Kansas.  As a magistrate, he could try matters anywhere in the State o Kansas.  After his first election, he was never opposed for re-election.  He is a Paul Harris Fellow.  He is a Past President of the National Judges Association, and was named Outstanding Non-Attorney Judge in the United States.  In 2004, he received distinguished service recognition as Chairman of the Governor's Conference on Child Abuse Prevention.  His is a remarkable story.

 

Judge Tommy began his presentation by sharing an Irish Proverb:

May those who love us, love us, 

And those who don't love us,

May God turn their hearts, 

And if he doesn't turn their hearts, 

May he turn their ankles

So we will know them by their limping.

 

A child born in South Korea about 1952, Tommy never saw his mother sober.  She was a prostitute.

 

The DMV divided North and South Korea.  Seoul was the capital of South Korea.  About ten miles north of Seoul at the base of a hill was a Marine base.  Tommy's home was on the side of the hill near the base.  He was one of several children who lived in like circumstances.  They were not welcome in their homes at night.  In the warmer months, they would cuddle and sleep together at night.  Winters there were very cold.  The coziest option was Marines on night duty would have fires in barrels to warm them, but for the safety of the children, they would send the children away rather than allow them to warm themselves by the barrels.  The next choice was trash dumpsters.  They provided some shelter and the decaying garbage created some warmth.  The children would push the garbage to the side and sleep there.  Sometimes in the light of day, they would find bodies of children who had died amidst the garbage.

 

One day, his mother gave Tommy a pouch.  She told him if he would fill the pouch with tobacco, she would give him something to eat.  He did not remember his mother ever offering him anything before, so he was very excited to go find cigarette butts, strip the paper off them and add the unsmoked tobacco to his pouch.  He learned to appreciate the Marines who smoked unfiltered cigarettes.  He got pretty good at shredding the stained paper so it blended in with the tobacco in the pouch and was able to fill it faster.

 

In February of 1959, one morning Tommy made a decision.  He decided "I can't stay here - I will die."  He started walking south.  He kept moving.  When he found railroad tracks he followed them.  Eventually he saw the glowing lights of Seoul Korea.  A train station in Seoul was his home for the next three days.  He quickly observed that most of the travelers were carrying bags containing food.  He would take a sack, start running, and while running grab something out of the bag and drop the bag.  The owner of the bag would stop chasing him and pick up the remnants of their bag's contents.  That worked great until he ran into a policeman.  The police officer sat him on a bench and told him to stay there.  While seated on the bench, a white-haired lady sat down next to Tommy, gave him a hug and offered him a piece of candy.  The police officer returned and asked Tommy - "Do you want to go with me, or do you want to go with her?"  Tommy was not stupid.  He chose to go with the white-haired lady.  She took him to the Holt Orphanage.  Soon after he arrived at the orphanage, someone showed him a calendar and told him to pick a square with a number in it on any of the pages.  Tommy got to pick his own birthday.

 

Tommy spent a few minutes describing the countless reasons why the white-haired lady could have been repulsed rather than hug that little boy.  Bathing was not a readily-available or common practice.  Neither was laundry.  He knows he looked malnourished, and knows he looked and smelled about as dirty as one can possibly imagine.  In reality, it was probably much, much worse than any of us can imagine.  

 

Tommy's teeth were black.  He didn't understand why he needed to brush his teeth because he was pretty sure they would never be white.  He did discover, however, that the Crest tasted pretty good.  He ate it all.  One day, the children at the orphanage were very excited.  They kept saying "Abeoji" is coming.  Abeoji is the Korean word for father.  They said Abeoji always brings presents. 

 

They were eating their noon meal of rice soup when Abeoji arrived.  Tommy had never seen a human like him.  He had red hair - not just on his head, but also on his face and neck - LOTS of it!  He had big bags under his arms.  They were filled with balls.  Tommy got his own ball.  Everyone bowed their heads while Abeoji prayed.  Tommy knew they were supposed to close their eyes when their heads were bowed, but he was fascinated with the red-haired man, and watched him.  Tommy had never seen a grown man cry before.  The man cried while he prayed God would find loving homes for all the children at the orphanage.  Tommy was readily able to call him Abeoji.  It was the first time in his life Tommy had felt truly cared for.

 

In June, 1959, Tommy was on a plane headed for the United States by way of Hawaii.  There were 100 babies on the plane.  He was the oldest child.  There were only six women on the plane taking care of all the children.  After a brief stop in Hawaii, the plane headed for Portland.  Roy Webb, a school administrator from Oklahoma was there to meet Tommy.  Unlike Abeoji, Roy Webb had no hair.  He was tall - about 6' and probably weighed around 235#.  Tommy could tell he had lots of money.  He had on a suit and tie and took Tommy to a restaurant at the airport.  At about 7 years of age, Tommy only weighed 39#.  Conversing was impossible.  The only English words Tommy knew were "Jesus loves me..." and words he had learned from the Marines which he had been told to NEVER say.

 

He did not know how or what to order, but when waitresses would start to pass their table carrying plates of food, his hungry stare would be rewarded with a plate of food for him.  He believes he consumed four or five plates before he was too full to eat another bite, so he started stuffing food into his pockets.  A lesson well-learned in Korea was "never leave food behind."  The waitresses gave him bags to fill with leftover food.  One of his first lessons in the US was to put food in bags, not pockets.  When he and Roy Webb left the restaurant to go to their hotel room, he had his arms wrapped around as many bags as he could carry.

 

Tommy will turn seventy this year - maybe...

 

Tommy is thankful for Roy and Ruth Webb.  He is also thankful for Harry Holt who started the orphanage with his own money.  He is thankful for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  He is thankful for the act of kindness of a white-haired lady when he was about 7.