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Who was Rusty Lockner and why is he so important to our Sunrise Rotary Club?
WHO WAS F. RUSSELL (RUSTY) LOCKNER??
Rusty was a successful real estate broker who was passionate about many things. One of those passions was fly fishing. And he was darn good at it. In fact, he was an expert. If you were lucky enough to fish with Rusty, he would know where to find those big rainbows, cuts or browns in the morning, and if you were really lucky, he might put you on an Artic Grayling. Then he knew where to find dozens of brook trout in the afternoon, a number off which would wind up in the frying pan that evening.
Rusty was also passionate about Rotary. He was a charter member of Santa Rosa (CA) Sunrise Rotary and provided leadership for that club as well as our own Missoula Sunrise Rotary Club. He was very generous and really good at fundraising. Using that talent, Russ helped raise thousands of dollars for our club in support of club activities supporting youth with special emphasis on our work with two Partnership for Youth homes in Missoula. He also made personal donations in support of Missoula’s youth as the need arose.
Laurie Lane of Trout and Company was our speaker last Wed. Laurie's love of fly fishing and the beauty of trout lead her to create a fish mobile. These amazing translucent mobiles are works of art. We purchased some of these to honor Rusty Lockner: a generous and long time Rotarian who died a few years ago. Laurie is placing these mobiles in Bonner, Lolo, and Missoula schools with teachers who are excited to use these mobiles and their supporting student brochures in their class rooms. The teachers decide how to use the materials. Laurie said that Hellgate High School used theirs in coordination with raising fish from fertilized eggs. Others teach conservation and watersheds. You can review Lauries story at www.troutandcompany.com. 
Fun was had by all this weekend at the 5th Annual Pumpkin Party in Sandy’s barn. Our Partnership for Children kiddos joined in the fun and each kid got their own pumpkin and then enjoyed hotdogs and s’mores over the camp fire.
For the past decade, Missoula Sunrise Rotary has been involved in supporting improvements and maintenance of the Jefferson School playground. During that time, the Jefferson School program has become THE pre-school program center for Missoula County Public Schools. As such, students beginning at three plus years of age (specifically those with special needs) are served along with peer models not requiring special services.
Our Past President, Sandy Bollom, received her Presidential Citation from District Governor Barrie Matthews. What this means is our club met the goals that Sandy set for us during 2021-2022. There is only one other club in our District that accomplished this. Great job Sandy and well done Sunrise Rotary of Missoula. 
Sara Wecker received the Distinguished Service Award from Sunrise Rotary Club last week. If you follow Sara and Essential Eats-you will see that she has gotten our club involved in her Bike Drives for Montana Native Children. -and this year we helped her bring over 3000 books to the children and adults. We always appreciate seeing her smiling face at our meetings or our service projects. Thanks Sunrise for honoring this deserving Rotarian!
Our newest Rotarian of the Year! Andy Nelson more than deserves this award. He has been our Service Chair-the person who organizes all of our events with the Partnership for Children. He has stepped up to our President Elect Nominee-so 2 years from now he will be our Sunrise President. Andy is extremely active in the Missoula community-giving back every day and in every way. Thanks Andy for all you do and congrats on your award!
Rotarians Carl Prinzing and Jim Clark teamed up with Essential Eats Distributors to deliver 3,000 gently used and new youth and children's book to the Rocky Boy Nation for their new Bookmobile! Included in this special delivery was $500 of new Cree specific volumes. The children in this area will be able to see people like themselves in print, see their language in writing and get a glimpse of their culture in these gorgeous volumes. The Rocky Boy School was very grateful! Thank you Sunrise Rotarians!
Ski day with the kiddos! The Sunrise Rotary took our Partnership for Children Youth Home kids on our annual trip to Discovery Ski Area today. Way too much fun was had by all. Special thanks to the Disco folks for accommodating us! Andy Nelson
Service Above Self
Missoula, MT 59801
United States of America