Cogitator Sept 29, 2010

VISITING ROTARIANS

Ed McLaughlin, from the Wakefield Club, joined us.  Ed is very involved with Boy Scouts.  And Virgina Harnois, charter member of the (new) Smithfield Club, joined us.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

Bob Greene's birthday is October 5th.  And Jodi Gladstone celebrates this week her third anniversary of (re)joining the EG Rotary Club.   

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Did you sign up yet for the P-Bruins night at the Dunk?  It's coming up...October 15th.  President Ed has 20 tickets purchased, and 11 have already reserved their spots.  But let's get everyone in Providence that Friday night to see a good game and help the District's Polio Eradication efforts.

HAPPY BUCKS

Bob Greene gave five happy bucks for the club's happy birthday serenade.  

Corey Guglietti was happy but nervous about his son's newly launched T-Ball career.

Ron Winde walked in a 5K charity event last week in Providence.

Bob Miller was happy that the Evil Empire...err, sorry...New York Yankees made the playoffs.  (Yeah, yeah.) 

Andy Erickson was happy to see his Rotarian friend, Virginia Harnois, and praised her efforts for helping getting the Smithfield Club off the ground, and, her years of school committee service. 

Jane Boynton was happy that friend and local author Rebecca Maziel will be speaking to us in November. 

Dave Iannuccilli was happy to report that his youngest daughter Jill had a fantastic wedding on Block Island a couple of weeks ago.  Jill and husband Jay had a great time honeymooning in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. 

Sally Russell gave a solemn 'wait till next year' for brokenhearted Sox fans.

Mike Balsamo's kids have a new 420 sailboat, and he was happy that wife Erica could help out with the Rotary Visioning meeting.

Vin Meola saw Jerry Meyer at the dentist's office (Dr. Judy Pratt) and pleaded with him to come on back to the club.  Jerry's response, as Judy's drill hummed away, was 'gurgle...ergghh..ahhh...'

Jodi Gladstone's son Caleb was running up in Vermont this weekend.

And President Ed gave a (very) happy buck for his trip next week to San Francisco.

PROGRAM/SPEAKER 

(WHERE'S STEVE?  STEVE KASS?  ANYONE?)

Well, as it turns out, who NEEDS Steve? 

While the search began for the missing Steve Kass, who was to report on the Great RI Flood of 2010, one of our own stepped up big time and gave a terrific classification talk...Ron Winde.

Ron was born in Massachusetts, attended Dartmouth College, joined the US Navy during the Vietnam War, and eventually went to work in 1995 with his dad and former Rotarian, Ron Winde, Sr.  He remains in that same business field today. 

While in school, one of Ron's teachers gave a test to Ron and other students, and Ron was the only one to answer correctly all 50 questions.  This teacher and test pointed Ron in the direction of something surprising to him, the Debate Team.  He and his team proved that teacher right, as they went on to win the Massachusetts State Debate Team Championship. 

At Dartmouth, Ron was encouraged to study the Russian language.  He ended up, two years later and fairly fluent in Russian, spending a summer at LSU--Leningrad State University.  It was quite an experience, traveling through Russia, during which time he lost lots of weight and waited in plenty of lines for food.

Ron finished Dartmouth, and he was drafted into service during the Vietnam War.  He chose the Navy, and he went on to Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI.  He wanted to go into intelligence, given his Russian fluency, but it was not to be. 

After his Navy service, he went to work for his dad at Winde and McCormick Laminates.  He went on to become president of the company, which eventually merged with Dion Industries to become New England Surfaces.  New England Surfaces marketed kitchen and bath products to retailers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  

These days, Ron is a manufacturer's rep, representing several manufacturers in the cabinet, furniture, kitchen and bath industry.  

Ron still trains with locally well-known karate instructor, Don Rodrigues, and he reported that after years of working with Don, he finally achieved his black belt.  

Another passion of Ron's is umpiring, primarily for kids in little league.  He's been an umpire for a long time, and was pleased to report that he has only 'tossed out' two coaches over the many years.

He also loves NASCAR, admitting that he's one of the few New Englanders with such a connection.  He even went to the famed Talladega Super Speedway in Alabama, a gift from his wife, and happily zoomed around the track at 155 MPH. 

Ron's wife Loretta is in the home health care business.  He has a son Mark, 28, and also three terrific step-children in their 20's. 

Finally, Ron noted that he has always been very impressed with Rotary and its members, and is glad to be in such a great club. 

Well...pretty impressive classification talk, Ron, and we are all glad to have you in our ranks.