Meeting Recap for Monday, April 7, 2014
Long-time Sacramento ear nose and throat doctor Ernie Johnson has been making people say, “ahh” for years.
But Monday, he had a room full of his fellow Rotarians saying “ooh” and “ahh” for an entirely different reason.
A member of Rotary Club of Sacramento since 1979, Johnson shared a 20-minute video of his “Sunday drive to Paris” with friend and Sacramento landscape architect Ed Haag (who was also at Monday’s RCS luncheon at the Red Lion).
“One day Ed asked me if I wanted to go to Paris,” Johnson joked after the meeting. “He didn’t mention where we’d be starting from to get there.”
And that’s how Johnson found himself in the fifth annual Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, helping to drive a 1946 Ford Super Deluxe (left) nearly 8,000 miles through eight or nine countries in 33 days.
“We thought we were going for a ‘Sunday drive,’” laughed Johnson, “but when we got to the Gobi Desert, things changed and it was more of a crash course in crisis management.”
A total of 96 contestants wound their way from Peking through Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania and Germany enroute to Paris. All of the cars were at least 50 years old; some as much as 100 years old. The entourage departed Peking on May 28 and arrived in Paris on June 29.
“For awhile there, I didn’t think we were going to make it,” said Johnson. “We broke down five times before we got to Russia.”
Johnson was introduced by Past-President Skip Lawrence, who asked him three questions: “Why? Was it worth it? Would you do it again?”
We now know the why and have a pretty good idea of whether it was worth it, but Johnson never did say whether he’d do it again. Perhaps his wife, Muriel, would have something to say about that.
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Michael Bullington was inducted as the newest member of RCS. Bullington works in financial services and was poached—make that recruited—from Rotary Club of Roseville by Julia Ciano and Past-President Peter Dannenfelser II.
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Todd Sorensen was the meeting sponsor and gave his “three minutes of fame” to Fairytale Town executive director Kathy Fleming.
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President Thom Gilbert and Past-President Ken Noack, Jr., had a busy afternoon handing out Eddie Mulligan and Paul Harris fellowship awards: Ted White received his sixth Eddie Mulligan and sixth Paul Harris. Past-President Beverly Brautigam received her fifth Paul Harris and Past-President Ken his fourth Eddie Mulligan.
Other honorees: Nian Roberts, two EMs and three PHs; Jim Leet, two EMs and two PHs; Oleta Lambert, Norm Marshall and Robert Hall each three EMs; Jim Carpenter, two EMs; Dave Cohen, Susan Drack and John Kelly, each two PHs; Gretchen Eischen, one EM and one PH; and Leesa Fons, one PH.
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Past-President Jon Snyder, aka Dr. Einstein, took the club on another walk down memory lane in preparation for the 100th Anniversary Gala on May 17. Dr. E introduced JFK (who looked more like Ronald Reagan for some reason) and Marilyn Monroe to tempt Rotarians into buying tickets for the big event (thank you PP Walter & ED Katrina). So far, the club has commitments for 54 tables.
Ted White announced the online auction associated with the dinner is about to “go live” and President Thom reminded people that most of this year’s auction will be online, not at the dinner. Ed Lillya was recognized for being the first Rotarian to mail in his Gala RSVP card. President Thom also announced that dance lessons are being made available for people who want to brush up a bit before the Gala. The lessons will be on three Saturday's from 9-11 AM with RCOS' own Richard Kowaleski as instructor. Contact Pres.Thom or PE Susan Sheridan if interested.
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Other announcements: The annual District 5180 Conference will be May 2-4 at the Silver Legacy in Reno…The next President’s Breakfast will be at 7:30 Wednesday (4/9) at the Red Lion…Tickets are still available for Rotary Theater Night April 26 (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”)…Denise Barajas, president of the Rotoract chapter at Sac State, announced that there will be a “March for Babies” benefit walk for the March of Dimes on April 26…Rotarians will again be staffing the kitchen at Loaves and Fishes on Tuesday the 29th.
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The pre-meeting wine reception was sponsored by Judy Payne with Randy Friedman on the piano…Dick Osen led the club in singing “America the Beautiful”…and Jerry Haley and Dana Jones served as greeters.
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Next week’s meeting will feature the third of our Centennial Series speakers, well-known Sacramento artist Gregory Kondos. The meeting will be at the Red Lion. The wine reception will start 15 minutes earlier than usual (11:30).
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