This past Tuesday we were given a very interesting talk by one of our long time members, Eric Solash. He used a series of six stories from his past as illustration. Before the second world war, his father, and co-workers, who were lawyers whose firm helped out the International and Longshore and Warehouse Union in New York City, decided that they wanted to enlist in the Army. His father did not want to be stuck stateside, so he did not tell them he was a lawyer. After the war ended he decided not to go back to practicing law and joined his family in their umbrella sales business, that was doing very well , as a traveling salesman. He worked all up and down the north-eastern US, from Chicago and New York, to Nashville and Richmond. One of his customers, Levine Department Stores, offered him a better job as a store manager, which he accepted, and was sent to the southwestern US, from Santa Fe, to Austin, to Waco, Odessa and finally on to Albuquerque.
As a result. Eric, a little ‘Yeshiva Bucher’, from New York, grew up all over the southern US, and finished his schooling in Albuquerque in 1961. It was again a time of military draft, and one of his three best friends unluckily had a low draft number, so he was drafted right away into the Army. Two others, who actually wanted to enlist, joined the Marine Corps, shortly afterwards. Eric decided to take his parents advice to continue his education and enrolled in the University of New Mexico with an educational deferment. The only problem was that he majored in partying and minored in drinking, so that soon his only remaining option was the military. He looked at his choices, and decided that since there were no fox holes in the ocean, he would enlist in the Navy. They tested all their recruits in boot camp and then gave them three choices of occupation, Eric’s three were all the same, Electronics Technician. Out of a class of one hundred fifty, at the end of his thirty-eight week RADAR training, seventy-eight graduated. The deviousness of the Navy became apparent when they offered Eric, and the other the top four students in his class, a placement in Adak, Alaska, on almost the last island in the Aleutian chain. They then gave them an option to sign up for another two years of service, and be sent for advanced computer and electronics training in Dam Neck Virginia. Of course, they all took the option. Unfortunately, they soon learned that the training only pertained to nuclear submarines, so guess where they ended up serving? So, he had joined to navy to see the world, and everything he got to see was through a periscope. His underwater tours ranged from sixty-two the seventy-eight days, where he worked in the navigation section. They performed regular trial launches of nuclear missiles, which were so realistic they only knew it was a trial when the ship did not lurch as the missile fired.
As he neared the end of this enlistment, his fairy godmother finally came through and he was assigned to a ship in the Brooklyn naval shipyard that was a research test bed for advances navigation gear. He started going to Cleveland on weekends with a co-worker who had family there. He soon had a girlfriend, got out of the Navy, married and went to Cleveland to attend University and become an engineer. He worked nights at McDonalds, where he was robbed twice at gunpoint. He quit after the second time. He then went to work days for the electric Company and went to school at night. Unfortunately he was soon laid off and he and his wife decided that he should look for work in the San Francisco area. After sending out sixty-three resumes, he was offered a job with IBM as a field engineer, working days in their western office, and he could finish school at night. They sold their car for airfare and moved west. Unfortunately, the offer came with a hitch, once he finished his training, he was assigned installing and then serving as the midnight shift technical support in Denver for the IBM 370-168, for the Air Force Accounting and Finance Center. After several years, this put an end to his first marriage, and also his association with IBM. He returned to the bay area, and soon found work with IBMs biggest competitor, Digital Equipment Corporation. He served as technical support helping out other field engineers. One of their assignments was to install the very first computer based library system, in of all places, Edmonton Alberta. It was based on a DEC computer, so as the only unmarried tech support person he was assigned. He then noticed a very nice librarian in Edmonton, and soon was volunteering to make any needed tech support trips to Edmonton. He says that the second time around for both he and Valerie was a charm. He invited Val to San Francisco and asked her to marry him. She accepted and they decided that they should live in Edmonton. He resigned his position, and started his own consulting firm in Edmonton and never looked back. He has worked on many different contracts for companies in Edmonton with large computer systems.
His final story was how he ended up joining Rotary. His wife had been promoted to head librarian at the downtown branch, and after a while decided to apply for a position at a smaller branch with fewer staff and a much shorter commute., the Mill Woods branch. One of her senior assistants was Linda Granholm. Linda‘s husband Hans, was on the board of Arch Enterprises, along with several other Rotarians, Art, Terry, Ivan, Diana, Barbara, Larry, Dennis and others. Arch needed some help with computer problems, so Linda asked Val if Eric could help them out. Eric manage to get two workable computers out of three, and gave them a cable that they needed. He then became their computer tech, and Hans soon asked him if he was interested in joining Rotary. That was the last time he could have said no.
It is now thirty-eight years since he moved north and his two adopted children have four children of their own. He and Val enjoy spending time with their grandchildren, doing crafts, visiting museums and travelling around Alberta and BC. He says he is the duty Sherpa for Val‘s art shows and set ups, and also does her framing. In addition, he gets to do yard and garden clean up. He also keeps out of trouble by serving on the board of Arch Enterprises and is also the current president of the South Edmonton Senior‘s Association. In addition, he has also been known to help out other rotarians with misbehaving computers. I know that everyone really enjoyed his talk, and maybe some other day, he could tell us some of his many other navy and tech support adventures.
Patrick Gibson presented two members with Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellowships, Augie Annicchiarico, for PHF+7, and Audrey Martin, for her first Fellowship.
The first trading opportunity is the first week of January
Welcome to the Rotary Hockey Pool For Polio Eradication, Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona
Here’s some interesting facts about THIS hockey pool!!
Pool is limited to 330 participants, Entry fee is $30, Every entry automatically make a donation of $15 to PolioPlus, Every entry automatically adds $15 to the prize pool, Each team will consist of 3 goalies, 8 defenceman and 12 forwards for a total of 23 players, get rid of those underperforming or injured players during the 2 trade weeks incorporated into the schedule.
Test your hockey knowledge by building your own team from scratch!
To register click here: http://tinyurl.com/HockeyPool1718CLOSED
After registering you will receive an email with a link to the online pool.
Hockey Pool Rules are as follows:
Pool is limited to 330 participants
Entry fee is $30 Registration closes November 30th 2017 11:50 pm
Every entry automatically make a donation of $15 to PolioPlus
Every entry automatically adds $15 to the prize pool
Each team will be made up of 3 goalies, 8 defenceman and 12 forwards for a total of 23 players
** Teams that exceed the above player allocations will be deleted by Admin**
January 1-7th 2018 is a trade week, teams can trade up to 3 players
March 1-7th 2018 is a trade week, teams can trade up to 3 players
Prize Pool is allocated as follows:
40% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with highest overall team score
20% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 12 forwards
20% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 8 defenceman
10% of accumulated prize pool is paid to the participant with the highest performing group of 3 goalies
10% of accumulated prize pool is paid to online transaction fees.
**Ties in any of the above categories will be split evenly among winners**
Our Rotary group has partnered in a joint venture with the Rotary Club of Pretoria to help raise funds for the New Hope School in Pretoria. Patrick Gibson has put together a presentation that he will be making to the other rotary clubs in our area to encourage them to help us with this venture. Our goal is to put enough funding in place for us to be able to apply for a Rotary International matching grant.
Patrick gave us the same presentation he will be making to other local rotary groups. It included a short introduction on the New Hope School, followed by a video that has been prepared by the New Hope School. The New Hope School has been one of the projects of our club for some years now, and most of our members are well aware of the work they do in schooling for handicapped children in the Pretoria area. They provide many services above and beyond the usual schooling activities, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and many others, as needed by their students.
They receive only basic funding from the local government, so must fundraise to provide these other services. Some of the specific projects our funds could be used for would be a specialised playground, or programs to provide technical skills such as kitchen skills, nail and hair salon skills and sewing skills. Patrick has also put together a ‘Go Fund Me’ page on the web, on which people can get more information, view the video and make contributions. We will also be adding a link on our Rotary web page to this site.
As you may know RI President Ian Riseley is holding six peacebuilding conferences around the world. The first of these international conferences is close for your members to attend. On February 9-11, 2018 in Vancouver, BC. The presidential peacebuilding conference will examine sustainable global and local environmental practices, and their contributions to peacebuilding and peacemaking.
Participants will discuss the impact of environmental issues on health, fresh air, clean water, vegetation, and food production – and how improved environmental conditions are a fundamental condition of building peace within communities. The conference will bring together community leaders, youth, and representatives from the public, private, and government sectors. Attendees also can participate in a hands-on service project the morning after the conference.
There will be a focus on how Rotary clubs can involve their local community in sustainable projects and peacebuilding.
Members of any Rotary club are to encouraged to attend this important international Rotary event.
The conference website has a list of keynote speakers, link to book a hotel room, draft program and a link to the registration. Please visit: www.EnvironmentandPeace.com.
Rotarians from the US, Canada and around the world will come together at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver for this conference. Will your club be represented?
Thank you for all you do for Rotary and your community,
Chris Offer, PDG for Rotary Peacebuilding Conference Vancouver
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