President Gale Kenison presided over today’s meeting and Rick Minard was our greeter. He provided his morning message by singing a Shaker tune about love.
Rick Minard reported meeting counts. 36 Bow Rotarians, 4 guests (Dave Kirkpatrick guest of Rick Minard, Mike Christoforo returning guest of Noreen Christensen (in absentia), Skip Poole guest of Bob Dawkins and Chris Durell guest of Sandy Eldredge), and 2 visiting Rotarians (Dave Christie from Manchester and Gerry Youngman from Hopkinton Rotary Club and District) for a total attendance of 42. There were 2 scooters.
Announcements
Gale Kenison thanked Rick Minard and announced that Dick Swett will be greeter next week.
Gale Kenison called upon Dave Scanlon who reminded all that the third concert is on Sunday featuring the Mink Hills Band with Dave Gazaway as emcee. Dave reported that Gale Kenison did a great job as emcee last week. The 50/50 raffle awarded $100 that was given back to the club by the winner. An additional donation was received in honor of a loved one of the Noyes family. The helpers - including Chris Parkinson, Sandy Eldredge and Bill McGonagle - were all thanked for going above and beyond at the last minute to make sure there were drinks and refreshments in place. Dave Scanlon continued that the South Street Blues Band will perform the week after. During intermission, the Bow High Drama Club will perform brief scenes from Pippin for which they are in rehearsals over the summer. Ben Kiniry will be the emcee with Mike Fortier and Bill McGonagle helping again. An emcee and helpers are still needed for August 14.
Gale Kenison announced that Andrew Costen has resigned from the club and since he was to have planned today’s program, no formal program had been arranged. She commented that we would be getting creative with the program … “It’s how we roll.”
Sargent at Arms
Fines: Gerry Carrier secured fines for logo/pin/badge violations from Jon Ruggles and Dave Scanlon. Jeff Kipperman was fined for a photo violation.
Birthdays: Gerry announced that it was Leo Begin’s birthday.
Happy Bucks: Chris Parkinson and his wife were delighted to host a birthday party for their daughter at which all six grandchildren were in attendance…the twins are doing great. Jon Ruggles was happy that he and his wife celebrated their 45th Anniversary. He said, “she’s also celebrating.” Gerry Youngman was happy to be with our club as it is such a lively and exciting club. Dave Christie spoke of golf and of how having been at the U.S. Open back in 1977, seeing the event now on the Golf Channel and witnessing today’s golf champions such as Stewart and Mickelson, it was a bit of an “out of body experience.” Nate Sanel was happy to report that he and his wife had the honor of catering a good friend’s wedding, but that an accident involving his wife and a well-sharpened cleaver and an arm caught in the wrong place at the wrong time could have turned out very differently. He escaped with five stitches and a bruised wrist. Tongue and cheek humor resulted, but he was very lucky indeed. Jeannie Gerulskis was happy to report that she had an amazing vacation on Martha’s Vineyard where here sister and brother-in-law have a home. The place was great, but the only drawback was her brother-in-law…an only child, who evidently went to great lengths to ensure that he remained an only child and is not known for his welcoming personality. Jeannie’s son brought along his dog, with which the brother-in-law seemed to warm up (at first), but he soon became very mad when the dog would not obey him. She and her son clued him into the proper way to give the dog an order …”NOW”…which seemed to work. She was happy to report that she is welcome to go back next year! Dave Gazaway gave a “Happy 30” in honor of the 23-day, 8,336 mile cross-country RV adventure he enjoyed with his family. Overall it was an amazing experience and they all got to learn more about one another. (He got an idea from his wife what his second wife might need to be like.) They had no real agenda, saw several National Parks and really got to see how people live along the way. When asked about routing, he said they took the southern route because if they were headed no where else, Dave was going to make it to The Corvette Experience in Bowling Green, KY. He’s pretty sure they will have to return to KY when his kids turn 16 so they can pick up new Corvettes. They returned via the northern route. They did not make it to Wall Drug in SD. Dave spoke reverently of his experience seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial that is still under construction using only private funds. He was moved by the circumstances and plight of many of the Indian populations they encountered on that portion of their journey.
Sandy Eldredge was the raffle winner.
Gale excused two scooters.
Program
In lieu of a formal program, Gale called upon various members and guests to speak.
Gerry Youngman spoke as a District Representative and encouraged all to take part in the upcoming District Golf Tournament. He then congratulated Mike Griffin for his great leadership over the past year and for all that the club has done for the District. He then welcomed Gale Kenison as our new president. He also thanked our club for planning and orchestrating the gift of a car which was given to Sandy Bartlett which was an outstanding and thoughtful idea.
Dave Christie was recognized to speak about the upcoming District Golf Tournament that he said could soon be sold out with 32 teams, but first all must pay up. Dave said that it is a “good problem” to have. The event is August 19 at Bretwood Golf Course in Keene with the deadline of August 1. Chris Parkinson is our club “enforcer” to ensure that payments are made. All money is matched 100% up to $50K. The proceeds go to Rotary’s Pure Water for the World, Inc. More than 1,500 people can be helped in such places as Darbonne, Haiti. Six players expected from our club are expected to participate.
Eric Anderson offered a club membership report indicating that 23 people have 100% attendance including: Anderson, Carrier, Deos, DeStefano, Eldredge, Fortier, Gazaway, Goodnow, Griffin, Imse, Judd, Kanegsberg, Kenison, Kiniry, Mercier, Minard, Moulton, Parkinson, Rheinhardt, Ruggles, Swett, Wadsworth, and Wilson.
Gale Kenison announced that there was one more award remaining that needed to be given out. A Paul Harris Award was given to Dave Gazaway for his tireless dedication to the “old timers” and for his immense amount of behind-the -scenes work for which he gives generously of his time, including so much for the car show. Dave was called forward to receive the award. He was very moved by receiving the award and very much appreciated the honor. His comments turned toward the future with hopes that with his kids seeing what he and we all do for the club and the community, that they too will carry on with the opportunity to serve in a similar manner. In terms of our “old timers” he reminded all of what an honor it has been to get to know and work with such an impressive group of people. too that it is the long-time members who give so much.
Respectively Submitted,
Matt Gatzke
