Meeting Notes from March 10, 2015
Meeting Minutes
Rotary of Needham
Tuesday: March 10, 2015
Pledge of Allegiance: Glen Davis
Song: America the Beautiful; Led By: Karen Wetmore
Prayer: Led by Darrell Minnich
Welcome back Ron and Lois Sockol.
Guests:
• Rose Doherty, speaker
• Faith Clooney, Medfield Rotary
• Paula Kahr, Salem Five, prospective new member who submitted her application
Guest Speaker:
Our speaker was Rose Doherty, of Needham. She wrote “Katharine Gibbs: Beyond White Gloves”. This famous school’s philosophy was: To produce quality work on demand.” Katharine was born in 1863 near Galena, Illinois and educated at the Academy of the Sacred Heart. She met and married William Gibbs and had 2 sons. Her husband died when she was 46, intestate. She went to work and established the most successful secretarial school in the world at 48. She was the CEO of 3 schools 2 years before women had the right to vote. She had schools in Rhode Island, Boston and New York. She was considered a marketing genius and opened a campus in Bermuda. Many famous people were graduates of this school including Meredith Viera. They were also secretaries of many famous employers such as Arthur Fiedler and the Kennedys. The schools were sold in 1960 to McMillan Publishing and ultimately closed in 2011. She was certainly a woman of character, courage and commitment. All her papers are at Brown University.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 17, (St. Patrick’s Day) 2015 at Sheraton Needham Hotel
Our speaker will be the Executive Director of Razzia's Ray of Hope, Patti Quigley. Our club has joined fifteen other clubs in our district this year in putting together a major District and Rotary International grant for Razzia Jan's school for girls in Afghanistan.
Announcements:
• Glen reminded us of the NEF breakfast this weekend, Saturday, March 14th from 8-12 am.
• NEF Spelling Bee will be this Saturday, March 15th at high school. Kathy, Lois and Marty will be our team.
• Louise has arranged with Roche Bros. for flowers to be delivered to nursing homes on March 31st. We will meet at the Sheraton to label pots and assign deliveries.
• There will be a combined meeting with Newton at Brae Burn Country Club in Newton on May 12th
Happy dollars: Ken and Rich enjoyed great trip to Edward Kennedy Institute; Karen visited Rosie’s Place in Boston with Carter Church Women’s Group on Saturday; Greg, Jim, Rich and Doug glad to see and hear Rose Doherty speak about Katharine Gibbs School; George glad not to have to wear an overcoat and for his son’s 44th birthday tomorrow; Ron happy to be married to Lois; Andy and Roz glad for warmth; Bill happy for innkeeper selling inn in a lottery, seeing Erica again and warm weather; Kathy looking forward for Paula joining us; Bob for no freezing weather; Paula for longer days; Lois glad to be back; Marty happy basement not flooded;
Birthday: Happy day to Tom Sovino who got a birthday kiss from Lois.
50/50 drawing: $34 in new pot; king of diamonds new card but Andy was not lucky today
Joke of the Day: 2 jokes from Doug:
#1. A crow was sitting on top of a ladder doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him: “Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”
The crow answered: “Sure, why not?”
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow and rested. A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.
#2. Here is a Florida woman’s story against an alligator attack:
‘While out walking along the edge of a pond just outside of The Villages with my son and soon to be ex-husband discussing property settlement and other divorce issues, we were surprised by a huge 12 ft. alligator which suddenly emerged from the murky water and began charging us with its large jaws wide open. She must have been protecting her nest because she was extremely aggressive.
If I had not had my little Beretta Jetfire .25 caliber pistol with me, I would not be here today! Just one shot to my estranged husband’s knee cap was all it took. The ‘gator got him easily and I was able to escape by just walking away at a brink pace.
It’s one of the best pistols in my collection! Plus the amount I saved in lawyer’s fees was really incredible.”