Home Page Stories

Dinner Meeting Experience Continues

We had a fun time at our second dinner meeting experiment.  Here are some highlights:
 



Madyke with Her Mom and Dad

Madyke, Karin Fennema, and Harry de Groot

We met our exchange student's parents, who are visiting Madyke from their home in Nunspeet, Netherlands. They will spend two weeks in the area, including venturing up to British Columbia.  There was no shortage of shared glowing messages from those who have helped Madyke fulfill items on her "bucket list", an idea that originated from Peggy Rae.  Scott Baldwin, at the end of his classification talk, presented them with playoff tickets for the Everett Silvertips.
 
 

Lyanne Gronning 

A former club member, Lyanne Gronning, now a member of the Rotary Club of La Conner, visited us to sell tulips.  Each spring, her new club sells tulips as its primary fundraiser.  Another former club member, Doug Jones, who is now deceased, was the annual visitor for many years.  Lyanne reports that she sold 72 bunches of tulips.  Members of the La Conner club are always generous when we visit their meeting at the Farmhouse to sell Duck Dash tickets.
 
Because the purple tulips were not selling, it was suggested that members should buy them and take them to Gene Chase, an avid Husky, who had just gotten out of the hospital.  Some Cougs delivered:

Thanks to Carol, Marianne, and Dave

Scott Baldwin

Scott shared his background with a classification talk. He is the General Manager at Dwayne Lanes Arlington Chevrolet and has been a club member since October 2023.  Dwayne Lane's and Lee Johnson's Auto Families have merged, bringing the total dealerships to 15.
 
Originally from Oklahoma, Scott has worked in some aspects of automobile sales and service for most of his working life. He started my auto career in 1984, was a tech for 6 months, then moved to car sales, then F & I manager, went back to service as an advisor, progressed to service manager, then moved to sales manager, and was promoted to General Manager. He has only worked at four places his entire career. In Nov 2019, he moved to Washington to start as GM at Dwayne Lane’s Arlington Chevrolet, following their kids who had moved here.
 
Scott married his high school sweetheart, Marylynn, whom he met at a Speed skating team competition. He was at a mixed relay event when his partner got sick and couldn’t compete, so Marylynn got added to his team. Each had to do 100 laps of roller skating. Scott went first and had to push her to start her 100 laps. They took third place, and the rest is history.  They've been married now for 41 years.
 
They have three children, Jennifer, Jalyn, Jacob, and two grandkids, Emma and Sawyer. His son-in-law Jimmy, is an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at Skagit Hospital. He and his wife live in Burlington.  As a Masonic Lodge and Shriners member, he was drawn to Rotary for service.  
 
Athletics has played a big part in Scott's life. He was a three time high school state wrestling champion who went on to wrestle in college. Although an avid Oklahoma fan, he seems to have transplanted some of his allegiance to the Huskies. Scott referees football, including some small college games. He loves to barbeque competitively, Oklahoma style, and hunt birds. We must try his award-winning barbequed bologna (it sounds like a fireside!).  
 
Our club was well represented at the Oath and Badge-Pinning Ceremony for Dave Kraski, the Fire Chief of North County Fire and Rescue. Congratulations, Dave!
 

Dave's Wife Denise Pins on the Badge

For more photos of the event, check out the photo album HERE.

Pacific Rim Tonewoods

Eric Warner, Manager 

Did you know that a luthier is a person who makes stringed instruments such as guitars and violins? Our program on April 10 was about a company in Birdsview near Concrete, Washington, that has been milling wood for luthiers for over 35 years.  
 
The Manager of Pacific Rim Tonewoods was our program on April 10.  He explained that the company was founded by Steve McMinn when he bought a kit to build a guitar.  As the son of a forester and working in the industry, he decided he could find better wood.  He turned to salvaged spruce from logging operations.  He started in his garage when he learned of the demand and decided to make it a business.  With an increased demand for his product, he moved the business to Birdsview.  Here is what the plant looks like today:
 

Pacific Rim Tonewoods-Birdsview in the Skagit Valley

The Magic of International Service Projects

Marysville and South Everett Mukilteo Clubs Partnership with Hands for Peacemaking

Larry Jubie, PDG 2009-2010

For over 25 years, the Marysville Rotary Club has partnered with Hands for Peacemaking to do projects in Guatemala.  Larry Jubie and his team of Rotarians from the Marysville Club, South Everett Mukilteo Club, friends, and a member of our club, Wally Thomas, have just returned from completing the construction of schools 34 and 35.  The photos he showed to our club were from his trip in 2024. 

The site preparation and concrete work are done ahead of time by local community members.  Each of the schools follows the same design.  This year the Larry's team completed the schools with lumber cut from trees in the local community.
Since our meeting on April 3, club members participated in a service project at Tiny Tots at Kids' Kloset on April 4 and attended the District 5050 Learning Assembly at Kwantlen University in Surrey on April 5. 

Assembly

With DG Dave Duskin at top, L to R: Lee Harman, Duane Rhodes, Bob Campbell, and Yvonne Gallardo-Van Ornam

Tiny Tots 

Carol and Bob Wall on the Left, Gina Hilker on the right
 
Click on the images below to see additional photos taken at each event.
 
 
 
 

Active Aging and Fall Prevention

Cole Warner

Active aging and fall prevention were the topics of our program on March 20.  The presenter is a graduate of Arlington High School and he is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM-CPT). He has been a trainer at Arlington's Anytime Fitness for over two years.  
 
Cole studied at the University of Northern Colorado, where is also played baseball.   He also played baseball at Everett Community College and more recently worked as the strength coach for ECC's baseball team.  Strength training and nutrition are two key elements emphasized by Cole in maintaining stability and coordination as one ages.
 
Rather than repeating everything Cole said in his presentation, if you click HERE you will go to the outline he provided to those attending the meeting.  You can also find additional information on the Anytime Fitness website.  To access the website, click HERE.

Guess Who is Coming to Dinner?

Our March social event was lots of fun, as you can see from the photos posted in the albums section.  Some members hosted a dinner at their home, not knowing which members would be their dinner guests.  The guests were only told what to bring and where to go, not knowing who the other guests would be.
 
Thank you to the Harmans, Huleatts, Kmets, and Deisher-Allens for hosting. Here are photos from each of the hosted locations:
 

Harmans'

Deisher-Allens'

Huleatts'

Kmets'

 
 

City of Arlington Update

Paul Ellis, City Administrator

Paul was our club's program on March 13.  He just got back from a trip with the Mayor and other city officials to Washington D.C. to lobby for some projects that would benefit the City.  Funding is sought for three utility projects: A new well, water plant expansion, and new water reservoir.  All are needed for population growth in the City.
 
There are a few bills pending in the State Legislature that the city is watching and which could impact the city:
  • State wants to remove parking requirements for housing, this is fine in large urban areas, but in smaller towns this does not do well.
  • State wants to get rid of voting for county sheriffs and have them appointed.
  • State wants to get rid of part time commissioned officers, these are officers that do not carry guns only tasers that help with parking and animal violations. They carry tasers to protect themselves if they get physically assaulted. This would cost the city more money in hiring full time officers to do the job.
Paul showed a couple of charts.  Here is a chart outlining budget items.  The City of Arlington is not struggling like some of the nearby municipalities because of the diversity of income that it has.  The police department is fulling staffed!
 
 
Below are the highlights of the City's comprehensive plan.  You see the Jensen park restrooms in the park projects connected with the plans to upgrade the park with our pump track project, also under parks.
 
On Friday, May 2, the District Conference will be all about PolioPlus. The after-dinner speaker will be Ramesh Ferris, a polio survivor from the Yukon Territory of Canada. Unlike Lee and Winston, who used motorized vehicles to raise funds and awareness of PolioPlus, Ramesh hand-pedaled a bike across Canada. We will be recognizing all of the Rotarians in our District who have joined the District's PolioPlus Society by pledging a minimum of $100 a year to the effort until polio has been eradicated. If you join the Society today, it will help unlock the $25,000 in matching funds pledged.
 
To learn more about the District 5050 PolioPlus Society, click HERE  
Club Information
Welcome to our Club!
Arlington

Service Above Self Since 1970

We meet In Person
Thursdays at 12:00 p.m.
Arlington Boys and Girls Club
18513 59th Ave NE
(Hadley Community Room)
Arlington, WA 98223
United States of America
Club Executives & Directors
President
President Elect
Vice President/President Nominee
Secretary
Past President
Membership Director
Public Relations Director
Club Administration Director
Director Youth Services
Community Funding Director
Service Projects Director
Youth Exchange Officer
Program Chair
Sergeant-at-Arms
Duck Dash Chair
Service Projects Associate Director
 
Becoming a Rotarian
Bulletin Subscribe
Subscribe to our eBulletin and stay up to date on the latest news and events.

 
Enter your email address and the message you want to send.
fields are required
Speakers
Outstanding Student Awards
Apr 24, 2025
Outstanding Students- BPAC
Crowning of the Ducks Followed by Ryan Doll- GM o
May 01, 2025
Crowning of the Ducks and GM of Amazon warehouse
Open
May 08, 2025
Reece Carpenter
May 15, 2025
New Generations Service Exchange
The Impact of the Duck Dash over the years.
May 22, 2025
Tickets Handed Out
Sid Logan
May 29, 2025
PUD new building
Open
Jun 05, 2025
Open
Jun 12, 2025
Scholarship luncheon
Jun 19, 2025
Scholarship awards- BPAC
Duck Dash Sponsors
Upcoming Events
April 2025
S M T W T F S
30
31
01
02
05
06
07
08
09
11
12
13
14
15
16
18
19
20
21
22
23
25
26
27
28
29
30
01
02
03
Click Below to Save Money!

Face Book