Fair Lawn Rotary Club

In January 1973 a cease-fire was declared in Vietnam and DG Andy started his year at a time when the Country was rebounding from a period of protest rallies and an unpopular war and was ready for a new way of life. PG Andy surrounded himself with an outstanding staff and prepared for this new era. He was further motivated by the theme of the Rotary International President of that year, William Carter from England, whose theme was "A Time for Action". The International Convention was held in St. Paul, Minnesota. A story is told indicating the pride that Andy had being a District Governor. The Governors had a reserved seating section for one of the plenary sessions, and Andy as he headed for this section noticed the arrival of our District DGN for 1975-76, who  was preparing to sit in an area half way back in the large arena. Andy called out for the DGN to corne with him and when they arrived at the reserved section for the Governors the sergeant at arms was quick to advise the DGN that the section was reserved. Andy's response was that he was the Governor and the sergeant of arms had to point out that Andy was only one of the over 250 Governors assigned to the section. The DGN returned to find that the only seats available by that time were in the last few rows of the arena.

Jack Epple served as Andy's Secretary, with John Hartman as his Treasurer, Vincent McCorry as his Chief Rep, and DGN Carp:tine Torsiello as his Conference chairman.

The District Conference was held at Paradise Island, in Nassau in the Bahamas and despite the lure to spend time vacationing on the beautiful resort island and in the adjacent casino, it was a very successful and fun filled Conference.

The annual District football game was held at West Point. At that time members of our District still also attended the New York City Vocational Assembly, and in 1973 it was held at the Waldorf Astoria with a large number of District members attending.

The District's President's Night was held at the Westmount Country Club in West Paterson, and on the way to the dais, Andy handed the DGN, noted above, a seven page bio and told him to read it all in the introduction. The DGN noted that Andy was carrying even a larger bundle of papers for his address, and he wisely indicated to the assembled crowd that while he had the long resume in his hand, he did not want to take away time from the fine speech DG Andy had planned to deliver. He said that he was sure that everyone knew of the many things Andy had done in Rotary. He in turn introduced Andy simply as our District Governor and our "Pal" Andy. "Pal" was Andy's favorite name he gave to most people.

One of the District events that were held at that time was an annual Inter Club Fellowship Luncheon, which Andy had initiated. It was held that year at the Neptune Inn at Paramus. Andy's Fair Lawn Club was the host club.

As a parting reflection of PDG Andy and his year, Andy was very dedicated to and active in the Armenian Church and Community. When serving on the selection committee for the Rotary Foundation Ambassador scholar, there was a candidate from the Armenian Community. The candidate was an outstanding candidate and was the choice of the entire committee, but during the selection process which was a rating by each committee from 1 to 10, it became evident that Andy had given the Armenian candidate a 10 and all the other candidates a 1. When asked by fellow committee members why he rated the other candidates so low, Andy's simple response that compared to his Armenian gal the difference was so great they had to rate as ones. In closing Andy was dedicated to his heritage, but he was a "Pal" to everyone.
 

Questions or looking for more information please contact district7490rotary@gmail.com

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