Make no bones about it, this meeting was a howling good time! Several dozen Rotarians came in their Halloween costumes. President HARRY PRICE opened our first in-person meeting in 18 months promptly at 12:15 pm.

Explaining that she never had the opportunity to open an in-person meeting during her presidency, President HARRY called on PP KATHY BERRY to ring the bell.

KATHY shared the sad news that PP BONNIE BURDETT WALKER’S father, Nels Burdett, passed away at the age of 99. He would have been 100 years old in December. Nels was the PP of the San Carlos Rotary Club and Superintendent of the San Carlos Elementary School District. KATHY suggested that those wishing to express their condolences to Bonnie should do so. Plans for a memorial service are pending. 

 

Rotarians stood for the Pledge of Allegiance led by PP JACK KELLY, Co-Chair of the Veterans Support Committee.

 

We remained standing in the bright sunshine while RON STEFANI, Song Leader Chairman, led us in “God Bless America.”

 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
PP FRANK VERLOT offered a heartfelt Thought of the Day

 

PP WYATT ALLEN unintentionally inspired another Thought of the Day “There is no such thing as a free lunch” when he reminded everyone to pay for their lunch.

 

President HARRY thanked the Dream Team that set up the hybrid meeting: MIKE KERR, HANK DREW, and PETER THURSTON for technical support; Greeter Coordinator SHELLEY EMERSON and her Greeters, PETE DAILEY and FABIO DE PAULA; FRANK VERLOT and his wife, Marian, for handing out President’s Club gifts and handbooks; PP WYATT ALLEN for check-in; KAREN GREGURAS for the Red Badge Posters; STEVE POMEROY and ANNE ARJANI for being the official photographers; STEVE POMEROY, JOHN MCBIRNEY, PP JERRY MOISON, STEVE YARBROUGH, and PP CYNTHIA LUEDTKE for set-up; PP KENNY WARREN for arranging, PATTI ROBISON for bringing our delicious lunch from Alotta’s Deli; AARON NEUFELD, Director of Club Operations for planning the meeting; and Elizabeth Ward for enabling the use of the Los Altos History Museum patio during a time when the museum was open; and also gave a shout out to Gabe Engeland, the new City Manager of the City of Los Altos.

 

INTRODUCTIONS
PP KENNY WARREN welcomed visiting Rotarians and Rotarians with guests in place of President-elect STAN SCARDINO who is finishing a final week of vacation in Italy.

 

Dana Tom, past President of Palo Alto Rotary and Assistant District Governor for our area, joined the meeting.

Will Haymaker, previously a member of Santa Rosa Rotary, recently moved to the Los Altos area and hopes to join our club soon.

 

PP FRANK VERLOT introduced his wife, Marian.

FRANK ELMER introduced his wife, Shari.

PP CYNTHIA LUEDTKE introduced Laura Casas, Trustee of the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District.

DUANNI HURD introduced Joanne Haymaker and Grace Pedersen. President HARRY introduced his wife, Lori.

 

KENNY reminded us that we are back on Zoom for next week’s meeting. Christopher Huber, Guest Services Manager at Jordan Winery, will talk about their pollinator sanctuaries program.

 

NEW MEMBER
DUANNI HURD, Membership Director, inducted Red Badger ANNIE JU, retired software engineer. VICKI OLDBERG is her sponsor. She is mentored by PP MONA ARMISTEAD. ANNIE has lived in Los Altos Hills for 10 years and has an adult daughter. She was a software engineer at companies such as HP and Siemens. After her retirement, she started volunteering with local groups including CERT and the Assistance League.

 

PP Kenny Warren and President HARRY called on all members who joined since March 2020 to come to the front and introduce themselves. The impressive line-up included

THREE-MINUTE TALK: JACKIE OLSON
JACKIE is an electrical engineer. She spoke about her job as Vice President Sales and Marketing, Americas, at ams OSRAM. Her company makes sensors, for example, sensors that manage background lighting on cell phone screens and image sensors used in colonoscopies. They also make optics, lasers and LEDs. Jackie leads a team of 50 people.

 

FELLOWSHIP
PPs MONA ARMISTEAD and SAM HARDING were the dealers for 5-card draw poker, ably assisted by our own Vanna White, MIKE KERR. CYNTHIA WEYMSS’s team won with a flush!

 

 

RECOGNITION by CYNTHIA LUEDTKE
PP CYNTHIA LUEDTKE asked Rotarians to describe their favorite costume or scary Halloween story.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: SANDY MINGIA announced that there are two 12-packs of Heineken from FAITP available for the bargain price of $15 each (includes tax and CRV).  She also has two 12-packs of Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA.  Please contact Sandy.

 

 

 

 

FEATURED PROGRAM: Future of the Past - Elisabeth Ward, Los Altos History Museum
JULIE ROSE introduced today’s speaker. Elisabeth has been the Executive Director of the Los Altos History Museum since 2017. Previously, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution’s Natural History Museum. Elisabeth earned her PhD in Scandinavian Languages from Cal and has a Master’s in anthropology with a concentration in museum studies. She grew up in Mission Viejo and spent many summers in Iceland. Julie appreciates Elisabeth’s ability to both have a clear vision for the future and understand the steps to get there.

 

Elisabeth first spoke about the effect of recent events on historians. A renewed interest in history has been triggered by the pandemic (revisiting the 1918 Spanish flu); Black Lives Matter (thinking about the different ways people are grouped by class, gender, race); January 6^th (structure of government). While facts have not changed, we are looking at history with a new lens.

Los Altos decided to have a museum in 1977, the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the City of Los Altos. The late 1970s were a time of rapid change. Orchards were disappearing quickly and there was a desire to hold on and slow down. The museum opened with a sense of dedication to local agribusiness. The museum’s vault has 16,000+ items in its collection. A Los Altos Bear in honor of Jane Reed – located in the museum grounds – shows native flora and fauna. It reflects an interest in environmental change.

 

The Los Altos History Museum plans to broaden beyond an agribusiness focus to appreciate all phases of local history. The beloved model train, set in 1932, will remain in place. The upstairs will be re-done to leverage technology to better appeal to younger museum goers, ask new questions, e.g., what happened to the Ohlone people, and look at more recent developments like the birth of Silicon Valley. During Q&A, Rotarians recalled inspiration behind the barn style design of the museum which cost $3.5 million to build. Inquiries were made about acknowledging Rotary’s role in publicizing Los Altos around the world.

 

President HARRY invited members and guests to tour the museum and mentioned that donations for the museum and its remodel would be welcome.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm, with President Harry asking everyone to join in saying:

Afterwards, those in costume got together for a colorful photo opportunity!

 

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:

Book Discussion – Best-selling, riveting author Louise Penny’s latest book The Madness of Crowds includes ethical questions, murder and colorful characters. Please RSVP to hosts MARILYN and RICHARD LONERGAN. Monday, November 22, from 7 to 8 PM on Zoom.

Satellite Meetings - hosted by PP ROY LAVE Tuesday, November 9, 8:00 to 9:00 AM, hybrid at Courtyard Marriot & Zoom and Wednesday, November 17, 5:30 to 6:30 PM at Courtyard Marriot & Zoom.