Demotion Celebration

Angelo started with the infamous. Telling us a story of a Downey Rotarian by the name of “Jack” who was attending the District Conference that was held in Las Vegas that year. Jack lived in Belmont Shore and left the conference in his Volkswagon Karmen Ghia to returned home to murder his ex-wife and her lover. Then returned to the conference with a tight alibi, how could he be in two places at once? Al Tatti and Angelo were the only pilots in the club and were subpoenaed to testify at the trial and to begin their flight logbooks. The only hole in the alibi is that Jack had refueled the Karman Ghia at a gas station in Baker and the service attendant had remembered fueling the usual car at 3 am the night of the murders.

Some of the famous have just as interesting stories but less in depth. Downey Rotary has had four (five) District Governors come out of the club; they include Chester Baldwin, Chester Sutton, Bill Bowermaster, and Doug Baker who serviced twice as governor. Bill Harriman was one of the founders of the Rancho Los Amigos hospital and led the way for the treatment of polio at Rancho. Eugene Pickett owned and ran Markers Kitchen that sold gourmet preserves and gift baskets around the world. Paul Bigby sold his hand-made guitars to the likes of Roy Acuff and Roy Rogers. Paul could be seen in downtown Downey at Radford’s Café with one of his clients. Harold Norman was the largest importer of tulip bulbs in the world. Bill Ritchie was the first supplier of peanuts to the Dodgers; remember the All American Nut Company? James Stamps was the 1^st Mayor of Downey and philanthropist especially to the YMCA, the First Baptist Church and Trinity Baptist Church.