Last week, Vivian L King spoke to our club about when she had a stroke at the early age of 49. Her story was amazing and truly inspiring. A special thanks to Tressa Williams for recommending her friend to speak to our club. Vivian offered to sell her autographed book called "When the Words Suddenly Stopped" for $23.00. If anyone is interested in purchasing a book, please email me. Provide the number of books, the address where you want the book sent, and what you want Vivian to write. The club will bill you $23.00 for each book. For each book purchased, Vivian promised to give us a good story about Tressa while they were in college. I have attached the zoom meeting recording link below.
I have also attached Bob Ricks recap of our meeting. This is a MUST READ. I believe this is one of Bob's best recaps. See everyone on Thursday!
Mike Sellers
President 2020-2021
Rotary Club of Santa Clara
Passcode: rzG7i^X2
The Greatest Rotary Club in the World: Santa Clara, Ca.
Meeting Mumblings and Retorts: December 10, 2020
Mike Sellers, President and Protector of the Sweeney Bell
Bob Ricks, Humble Scribe and Elon Musk neighbor
John Mlnarik: Zoom Meister and in the running for Nebraska Head Coach
Zoomers Online: 43 of the best Rotarians! A great crowd today!
The Greet and Inspiration: Due to overwhelming popular request we had PP Colleen Noll, soon to go by Colly Sue Noll, as a repeat on the Greeter list. She handled the shout out well and even had some prepared remarks this time. Colly Sue quoted the founder of Montessori schools, Maria Montessori, as saying: “We must teach the child to act for himself and do little to surveil them…..let them learn to be independent.” (A summary of the full quote only as your humble scribe did not get all of it but lived the basic theory growing up). Thanks Colly Sue.
The pride of Kalamazoo, Ed Bouwhuis, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. There were a few sitters, but no kneelers. Speaker Master Andy needs to talk to Ed. Fact: Elvis did actually live in Kalamazoo after his staged death. I learned that when living in Kalamazoo. It was a City Secret sort of like the City Council of Santa Clara’s dealings with the 49ers. Native KZooer Ed knows the details. Could be a decent program. Rumor is that there are pictures of Elvis working at the local Seven-Eleven.
Two former stalwarts of the club were on the Zoom: PPx2 Bill Carver and PP Bob Ricks. Thanks to all for the massive applause. We could feel it through the mutes. It is appreciated. Carver and Ricks were on their second Rotary event of the day. We got fed at the first one.
Andy Ratermann also introduced three guests: Noemi Conway, Kathleen Lencioni and Kathy Otino. I apologize if I got Kathy’s last name incorrect. Welcome to TGRCITW!
Special Note: 
PP Joe Sweeney sent us his Prescott Rotary ClubRunner photo and apologized for not being online today. His Arizona club had a calf roping fundraiser and newbie Joe was the designated arena clean up man. He is working on his Brown Badge. His new chaps are embroidered with the Joe Bob brand. Note: This photo above is in contention for a SC Rotary ClubRunner replacement photo for the ne’er-do-wells that do not provide their approved photo for our ClubRunner. See below.
Nima had a low key birthday as he and his wife are recovering from Covid. He indicated they were doing well,
Larry Sacks got to cook dinner for his wife and mother-in-law on his birthday. He said there were no pictures as Miles had refused to put his birthday article about his party in the newspaper. Miles has learned a lot from Twitter.
Jim Landes will celebrate tomorrow on December 11. Wine may be involved.
Tom Brown will celebrate on December 13. You can find him online with Sweeney. Tom usually replaces his hat every five years or when the band wears out and this year is it. Have fun shopping, Tom. Sweeney has the brand ready to go and can throw in some chaps.
Jon Goldsworthy is a former member of this club and friend to many. He passed away on November 28. Our thoughts are with his family.
Larry Fargher is home again after a bout with an infection that sent him to the hospital. Now Lucky Lois has Larry all to herself again. She said Larry has requested that she take his pills for him as he does not want them. On the bright side, at age 88 he is still hitting on every female he sees. I think this was wired into Larry at birth. Get well!
The Down and Dirty of the Announcements:
Christmas: We have decided to pare down Christmas for Kids due to Covid. PP Colly Sue has sent an email to all members to volunteer for the event. Please respond so that all our kids can get their shoes and toys. This function is our major give back of the year. The sad thing this year is the major give back was also a reward for the Rotarians that attended the event. They had more fun than the kids.
President Mike gave a special “Thanks” to Colleen and her team for all the hard work they have managed into reorganizing this event and ensuring the essence of our program gets to the kids that really need it.
Firehouse Run: The money raised goes to the Santa Clara School System. Our Rotary Team is currently leading the pack for dollars donated. Keep it up. Andy Ratermann is the Chair on this event. We need about $300 more dollars to hit our goal. Let’s get it done!
Honduras: PP Lorenzo Rios and Harbir Bhatia are leading this effort. We have had great success with clothing and kitchen donations from all. Harbir says December 12, Saturday, is the last day she can accept donations. Lorenzo is coordinating with Tom Brown to get all the donated goods straight to where they are needed in Honduras. Our Board authorized $750 to pay for the delivery. Well done, Team!
ClubRunner: President Mike again asked all members to log on Club Runner and update your profiles. ClubRunner also has a handy phone app that is useful for telephone numbers and email addresses for all the membership. Contact Mike if you need advice on how to get the phone app. Warning: We have photos of Richard Nixon, Willie Nelson, PP Joe Bob Sweeney and Monica Lewinsky that will be used as photo fillers for anyone with a blank photo on ClubRunner. You have been advised…….update!
Board Meeting: Bad News. The annual ELC for 2021 has been canceled until 2022. The board voted to move the committed $16,000 for 2021 to the 2022 meeting.
Note: On January 1, 2021 members will again be responsible for paying their own District 5170 and RI dues. The club has been paying these during Covid. The club will still not levy any other meeting dues until further notice. The expense of running the club does continue though. If any member wishes to make a separate weekly or monthly donation to the club, please contact our Treasurer CJ Grewal to set up. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Meeting Schedule: December 17: There WILL be a meeting. We will then be dark on December 24 and 31. Our Club Assembly will be January 7, 2021. Bob Buchser announced that the annual speech contest is booked for January 14 if we can get it all scheduled with the school system. Stay tuned. (Heath Hanich is accepting jokes now. His never get old.)
Guest Speaker: Our Guest speaker was introduced by EZ Perez.
Vivian King is a personal friend of member Tressa Williams. They were college roommates and Vivian was Tressa’s Maid of Honor in her wedding. The women are both graduates of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Your humble scribe took note during EZ spiel that Vivian worked at one time on the TV station in Tyler, Texas…...my hometown. I hope she had a great experience in Tyler: The Rose Capitol of the World!
Vivian’s talk centered around being a young, healthy female and suffering a sudden stroke on October 25, 2013 that lost her the ability to talk. She made a living by talking on TV and her PR responsibilities. Vivian collapsed at a morning banquet and was rushed to the hospital. She then had the grueling task of learning how to function again. Her three key words to get her through were: Posse, Persistence and Prayer.
She discovered during this trial that her stroke was caused by birth control pills. She had never been warned of this relationship and did additional research on the subject once she recovered. She wrote a book about the stroke and her recovery titled WHEN THE WORDS SUDDENLY STOPPED.
Her presentation was outstanding. Her full speech is available on clubrunner. Vivian has made signed editions of her book available to all members at $23.00 per book. Just contact President Mike Sellers and he will handle the payment and shipping. As an added bonus Vivian promises to throw in at least one good story about Tressa from their college days. (Where did she store her hats?) This alone is worth buying the book. (I noted that both women wore red today). Thanks Vivian for a beautiful speech.
Weekly Zoomers Participation Award: Miles Barber and Walt Marwitz.
See you next week: There is a meeting. Get those photos updated on ClubRunner. You have been warned.