Meeting Recap for Jan. 10, 2011

Elfrena Foord provided lovely pre-meeting piano music.

Pat Harrison offered the invocation, which, in honor of our speaker for the day, featured quotes about lawyers.

Past-president Rob Scherer, a 30-year member of Rotary and of Dale Carnegie, was the meeting sponsor. Among comments about the value of Dale Carnegie training, he provided proof by rattling off a list of prominent club members who have gone through the training. 

During Recognition time, several generous gifts were made, with a decidedly football-oriented theme: a couple honoring the 49ers new coach, and a couple more recognizing the University of Nevada Reno's recent and first-ever bowl victory.  

Announcements and Events:

President’s Breakfast on January 12

Fireside event on January 12

Ski Trip/Snow Shoe event with Jim Phillips on February 4-5

Bloodsource – still need blood donors; when you do, use reference number “6569” -- our clubs account number for blood donations.

Happy Hour event at Revolution wines on January 25

Bids for Kids -- coming in May and this year featuring a live TV auction, so break out all your great auction items.

Speaker Introduction:

Chair of the Day Lorcan Barnes introduced today’s speaker, prominent Sacramento attorney Joe Genshlea, (who not coincidentally, is a 1956 alumnus of Christian Brothers High School).

Joe Genshlea:

Joe is a Sacramento native born in 1938 into a town of fewer than 100,000 people. He remarked on the changes that he’s seen during his life here in his beloved home town.  He cited changes in the city’s architecture – both good and bad.  He also shared anecdotes relating to sports and their role in Sacramento’s history.  He noted that there were four key sporting activities in the Sacramento area during his youth: boxing, horseracing, college football and professional baseball. He also highlighted Sacramento’s riches in park land, naming off an impressive list, including Land Park, McClatchy Park, McKinley Park and the aptly named Park Park… Joe loves his city, yet he suggested that Sacramento still thinks of itself as a “town,” and compared Sacramento to Portland and Denver – cities of equivalent size, but which, unlike Sacramento, think of themselves as major cities.  Joe mentioned several prominent Sacramentans who have made their mark on our nation and the world, calling out Tony Kennedy, Joan Gideon, Cornell West, Wayne Thiebault, and Richard Rodriguez, among others, each of whom contributed to our nation’s “intellectual capital.”

At the conclusion of his reminiscences, Genshlea received a rare Rotary Club of Sacramento standing ovation.

President Scot concluded the meeting at 1:30pm with the timely admonition to be good Rotarians!

Rotary will be dark next week in honor of Martin Luther King Day and will resume regular meetings on Monday, Jan. 24.