by Lorine Parks
“Whose house is this? Whose house is this?” was the question. And the answer came from the packed dining room, “Downey Rotary!
“It happens in clubs, in this club,” District Governor Joe Vasquez told us, on his official visit to our club. “The Rotary moment.”
Cloths of different colors - pink, lime green, yellow - swirled across the table tops of the banquet room at Embassy Suites, and places were decorated with napkins in the shape of a llama, in honor of the District’s humanitarian trip to Peru, which Governor Joe coordinated. At each place was a cookie made in the likeness of Governor Joe, from the full head of hair with its widow’s peak hairline to the flowing moustache. A Rotary medallion was on his chest, and the number 5280 across the base identified the cookie as our new District Governor. Not everyone gets a tribute like that.
There were also Rotary song books at each table, but we didn’t need them as we sang out for Governor Joe and his wife Rozeangela, our very best number, “Home on the Range.” Even the coyotes howled more melodically. And then for our patriotic number, we sang “God Bless America,” with a Battle of the Tenors. Dr. Dan Fox and Chad Berlinghieri hit heroic peaks we had never heard before.
Governor Joe told us why he had joined Rotary. Several years before he actually joined, a maintenance crisis came up in the small hours of the night at the hospital where he was the Administrator. Desperate at midnight, he opened the Yellow Pages (this is a story from 1996) and called the first full page Plumber’s ad he saw. A voice instantly took his message and promised help, and that was followed by the prompt arrival of a crew at the hospital. By the time the nurses’ shifts changed at 7am, the hospital was functioning normally again.
“What kind of person would give such caring service, in a moment of need,” Governor Joe says he wondered, “and follow through with such a code of ethics.” It was a Rotarian whose business he had dialed, and Joe never forgot that example of service. By 2000 he had become a Rotarian himself, and the rest really is history.
“I joined Rotary because of this man,” said Governor Joe.
As Governor Joe said. “Do not wait, till you have to find someone in the Yellow Pages. Go out and find someone you can trust to be a fellow Rotarian. You make the call.”
“When helping to end polio, or taking an ARC client fishing and watching them catch a fish, these are your Rotary moments.”
The essence of Rotary, said Governor Joe, “is not in Chicago. It is not in the Zone, or in the District. It is in the clubs. My club. Your club. The Rotary phenomenon begins in clubs, and that is why this year we celebrate clubs. We take action, take charge, make sustainable change happen.” Here Governor Joe picked up from the dais the Rotary 2018-2019 “Be the Inspiration” banner, picturing a great wave, and held it overhead. “It happens in clubs. This club!” We gave him a standing O.
Following up on what he called “the vibrancy of this club, its membership,” Governor Joe inducted two new members, Xochitl Ortiz, Assistant Principal at Columbus High School, and Luz (Lucy) Perez of DUSD’s True Lasting Connections, “TLC.” And several more “special guests” will join within a few weeks. “It is an honor to be a Rotarian.” said Governor Joe, “Wear your pin as a symbol of pride.”
Governor Joe’s duties in honor of our club weren’t over yet. Special Citations for generosity to the Rotary Foundation were given to Larry Garces and Jennifer DeKay, for continuing membership in the Paul Harris Society, a special level of giving. The Governor had help with pinning these on, with Assistant Governor Connie Hui helping out. Connie is charged with being the liaison between our club and the Governor, so we can look forward to welcoming her often at our meetings during the next year. Senior Assistant Governor Lou Esbin of the Santa Clarita Club also accompanied the Governor, and we welcomed him too.
A Certificate of Recognition was given to Rich Strayer, for his work in promoting the Guatemala Literacy program. And then this reporter was surprised when Governor Joe called her name and thanked her for her service in writing for the District, the Club’s Hubbub. “You write for the local paper too,” said Governor Joe, “and the theme running through everything is Rotary, Rotary.”
The Governor also acted as temporary Fine Master, giving fines as recognition to several members such as Alex Lopez. Finally, the Governor/Fine Master announced that the club should help determine the fine for “the member I worked for, for two different years, who was District Governor twice, but who is NOT HERE TODAY. Doug Baker.” The fine was determined by bidding it up with the audience, and Governor Joe worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Final bid which was submitted by Ray Brown was one rather large even for this club.