This weeks meeting will be held Monday June 1st, 2015 at The Parkway Plaza.

 

President Bill DeGraeve called the meeting to order at 12:33 welcoming all Rotarians and guests to Rotary.

 

 

John Patterson and Tara Short were our greeters and John introduced guests:

Paulanne Doane introduced Barbara Crews and Paul Hallock;

John introduced visiting Rotarian Lynn Lockhart;

Al Metz introduced his wife Margi Metz;

Mike Sullivan introduced his wife Jane Sullivan;

Steve Shive introduced Fred Feth;

Susie McMurry introduced LeAnne Portz, Jason Adrians, Katie Adrians, and Chandra Ortiz;

Steve Domonkos introduced Ethan Dexter;

John Introduced Chad Nelson’s guest Steven Schnell;

Cori Cosner-Burton introduced Joe Nickerson;

Paulanne Doane introduced all of the special guests for today’s ceremony, Cathy Carson, Matt Jorgensen, Kayla Sis, Sarah and Grant Olsen, Kendall and Linda Bryce, Maryalyce Tobin, Paul Hallock, Barbara Crews, Bob and Jim Sutter, Kathy Dolan, Former Rotarian Bob Nagel, and her staff Becky, Denise, Linda, Elliott and Katie;

President Bill introduced Giulia our exchange student from the great country of Brazil;

 

 

Dennis Lower started us off with a chuckle then Gary Pehrson led us in singing “God Bless America”

 

 

Al Metz gave us the sad news that a former Rotarian, Greg Vance, lost his battle with MS this morning, he will be missed.

 

President Bill read off a few more accomplishments of the Casper Rotary Club. In April we had 20 volunteers clean the highway out by the airport. We sent four members to Panama at their own expense to scout out the projects down there for the club. We donated $1,000 to the local club there to install solar lights for the residents in their area. Our club donated $5,000 to the Wyoming reads program, and club members raised $26,000 with the other clubs for the Rotary Foundation projects. We just completed a great year of recognizing students of the month. We received a district grant of $2,000, for the first time, to be used towards club projects for the community. Last week we were challenged to contribute to the International Rotary Foundation and in one week we donated $16,000 and the club will add to that for a total contribution of $22,500.

 

 

Angela Emery recognized Rotarians that helped with the Platte River Spring cleanup this past weekend, Jim Beck, Clarke Turner, Eric Easton, and John Patterson. Pinky Ellis nominated Liz Becher for her great job as the presenter of the awards for the work people have done for the Old Yellowstone District last week. Jim Anderson nominated Walt Nolte for his last commencement address for the Casper College graduates.  

 

Dave True once again reminded us of the upcoming District Conference and encouraged all to attend. President Bill announced that the Casper Rotary Foundation monthly board meeting is this evening at 5:00 and also that there is no meeting next week due to the holiday

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Lynn Boatright told us a little about herself today, she is originally from Spokane WA, then moved to Denver in 1987 where she met and married her husband Art and they have 5 children, his, mine and ours. She works for the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra and is a committee member for the Old Yellowstone District Committee. She likes to run with friends and her dog as well as playing golf. She enjoys the Nordic ski area on the mountain. She is working on a degree in fine arts which is taking a while but she is really enjoying it. One of her classes is a sculpting class where she sculpted a giant rubber ducky which she presented to the club as a mascot for the Duck Derby, welcome aboard.

 

 

At 1:00 President Bill Degraeve adjourned our regular meeting and turned the time over to Casper College and Paulanne Doane for the dedication of the Jorgenson Bryce Commons and the Best Friends statue out in the commons, named after two of our Rotarians John Jorgenson and George Bryce for their years of dedication and hard work with the Casper College Foundation. The McMurry Foundation made the commons possible with their generous donation. Between John and George they have dedicated over five decades of service to the Foundation. Dr. Walt Nolte then addressed us and introduced us to the new Tobin dining hall and showed us that the fire pit is lit and ready for the cold day. He said that the measure of life is leaving the world a better place and John and George have both done this. Susie McMurry then spoke with us a little and said that she is very honored to have John and George as great friends and to be a part of this day. John Jorgensen spoke with us and thanked everyone for this great honor and has enjoyed working with everyone on the Casper College Foundation Board and has enjoyed seeing the great growth of the Casper College Campus. George Bryce addressed us and let us know that he has loved serving in all of the organizations he has served and is honored for this recognition and thankful to all. We then adjourned outside for pictures with the statue and the cutting of the ribbon. Congratulations to John and George.