Rotary Rounds March 8, 2017

We had our usual fine meeting, dispensing with songs in the absence of our piano player but ably reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four Way Test.  After our invocation, Mike Clark introduced our Student Athlete, Mason Landborg, who is attending his first year at M State and on the golf team, hailing from one of the Twin Cities fine northern suburbs, Blaine.  Mason is majoring in business and finance and is certainly taking his studies seriously as he and Mike had to leave the meeting early to get Mason back for a class he could not miss. 

 

There was a Rotary Minute from which we learned that Keith Olson made up a missed meeting while in Mexico by participating in an e-meeting.  We moved on to brags and fines and Mary Pettit led off by contributing for missing a couple weeks while taking care of grandchildren.  Josh Heggem thanked Randy Kempfer for distributing step-by-step directions on how to do the e-Round on ClubRunner and also thanked John MacFarlane for trading duties with him.  Tim Hunt reported he is going to be gone a couple weeks and also wanted to acknowledge our speaker for wearing his military uniform.  Ryan Welle must be forty, as he reported on the infliction that hit many of us at about that age when we wore our Rotary badges home after the last meeting and forgot to retrieve it for the day.  Keith Olson contributed $10 from Jamie Larson who has missed some meetings and had to leave early, with Keith putting in his own dollar for having missed a couple meetings and also to report son-in-law and Rotarian Dan and wife were leaving for Florida to visit his parents, with Keith and Kim taking care of the grandchildren and two dogs.  Randy Kempfer contributed for the day's Rotary Minute and suggested we could make a podcast out of it (Keith has already told me he wants royalties).  Lois Josefson talked about an event in the Twin Cities that she hoped a contingent of Fergus Falls citizens would attend.  Scott DeBrito contributed for forgetting his badge.  Kathy Austvold told of her and husband Steve's visit to Washington D.C. and Williamsburg, noting that Steve was provided a private tour of the Pentagon by his cousin.  Dean Monke proudly reported on the robotics team consisting of two sophomores and ninth graders who went to Duluth and placed second out of 63 teams, earning a trip to the world competition in St. Louis.  Last but not least, Katie Johnson contributed $5.00 for being named one of the top 25 business women in Prairie Magazine, to thank Steve Leitte for covering last week's meeting while she was in Grand Rapids for the Blandin Leadership Conference.  With respect to the Conference, Katie reported the food was great, the training was intensive and that our club came to mind daily as they talked and learned about "framing," "gathering social capital," and "mobilizing."

 

Ryan Welle introduced Stan Carignan to give his classification talk.  Stan, who has been in Fergus for 15 months said that he too had been at the Blandin Leadership Conference the week prior and felt for the first time since moving here that he had made some new friendships.  Stan grew up in Escanaba, in northern Michigan, having attended Catholic schools in his youth.  His father was a serviceman in the 50's and thereafter worked at a paper mill, a "blue collar" type, while his mother obtained her Master's Degree.  Stan described his dad as a simple guy but who understood the important things --  when he died 12 years ago, the gravestone that he designed for himself has three symbols -- the emblem for his military unit, wedding bands and a cross.  Stan joined the Navy out of high school and recalled sailing the Indian Ocean and passing through the Suez Canal when he was 19 years old, back in 1981-82, and seeing signs reading "Yankee Go Home."  Stan went to Loyola University in New Orleans while in the Navy and he learned Zen from Father Ben Ren, which remains a fundamental practice in his life.  He described it as the practice of being still and listening to one's inner self. 

 

Knowing that there was no chance to advance to an officer position in the Navy, he received a commission from the Minnesota Guard in 1989-90, and spent ten years in it.  Things changed, however, after 9/11 and he was deployed three times to the war zone and another two times was on station in Norfolk.  Subsequently he taught ROTC at the University of North Dakota, mentioning he had David Patreus' son as one of his students.  Stan is proud of his Reserve and Guard service, having three years left in the Reserve, but is now looking to pivot his attention to Habitat for Humanity to answer the call to serve locally.  He described the work of Habitat as a life transforming activity.  It was clear from Stan's upbringing and history that he places a very high value on God, country and service.

 

Stan and his wife live on Rush Lake and have four sons, the youngest a freshman at NDSU and the oldest a captain in the armed services.  Stan brought a lot of visual aids to his presentation, which really was another great classification talk. Thank you Stan!