Plans for the location of this week's meeting and the technology to support those members who wish to participate remotely are still in development.
Watch you email tomorrow for more information!
This week's program:
Don Widrig presents history of the Internet
To kick off our new Rotary year and welcome all members back after three weeks without meetings, the July 9 program promises to be very exciting! Don Widrig, who joined our club in 2000, will share his knowledge of the Internet, from its early beginnings to the present day. He has titled his program, A Very Brief History of the Internet.
Don grew up in Wichita, Kansas. During his high school days, the class went on a field trip to Wichita State University to see one of the first COMPUTERS in Wichita. It was a room-sized machine that was roughly equivalent to today’s programmable calculators. When Don saw the machine, it was love at first sight and he quickly figured out what he wanted to do when he grew up. He has worked with computers ever since.
Don Widrig
Before finally retiring, Don had been active in our Rotary Club and has written extensively about computers for the local newspapers. Based on earlier programs written by our own former Rotarian, George Williford, Don created a brand new computer system that runs our Duck Race. He has also written the prototype database applications for the Town Code Compliance Department, the Restorative Justice group, the Rocky Mountain Transit shuttle service, Crossroads Ministry, Hobert Office Services, and the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Office.
Posted by Bill Solms
New Rotary year brings leadership changes
Subject to Board approval and publication to the Club to fully comply with our Bylaws, the Nominating Committee has authorized the following changes:
Annie Slack will chair Membership with Dennis Gellhaus as her right hand, and
John Thomason will serve as Sergant-at-Arms, again with Dennis Gellhaus as his right hand.
A big thanks to Annie & John for stepping up and to Dennis for his consideration, flexibility, and energy to help them both.
Posted by Anne Slack
Anne Slack invites us to welcome
New member Mark Lee
Mark Lee joined our Rotary in March of this year. His sponsor is Dana Fritz. Mark graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree in Operations Management. Then he began his career in the oil industry in Houston, Texas. He later moved to Corpus Christi where he earned a Master’s degree at Texas A&M in Information Systems. From there Mark moved to Silicon Valley in California where he began working for KPMG Consulting as a technology consultant. He was promoted to Sr. Vice President of that company. In 2005, prompted by the desire to escape the California crowds and to live in the mountains, he and his wife, Karen, and son, David, moved to Glen Haven. Mark joined a small startup software company, Solix Technologies, where he still is employed as Sr. VP of Services and Customer Support. The Lees moved on up to Estes Park in 2009 to be closer to town and joined the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. Their son is a student at CU in Boulder.
Mark Lee with two members of Bethania Kids
Mark was a Rotarian when in Corpus Christi and spoke to our Rotary club last September. He talked about the charity that he is involved with, Bethania Kids, that supports at-risk and orphaned children in southern India. Mark is a board member for this organization, and he travels to India once or twice a year for work and to support this group.
Mark has joined several of the ZOOM Rotary meetings we have held so be sure to say “Hi” to him either virtually or in person when we get back together.
This is part of a continuing series by Anne Slack featuring our newest members.
Meet our 2020 Scholars
Galileo DuMont, Academic Scholarship
Biology/Chemistry/Pre-Med, St. Olaf College
Meghan Frey, Academic Scholarship
Nursing, University of Wyoming
Sage Shumate, Academic Scholarship
Criminology, Boston University
Paulina Tapia Bernal, Stanley Hotel Scholarship
Human Nutrition & Food Science, Colorado State University
Esabella Burkhardt, Carver Family Scholarship
Psychology/Liberal Arts, Front Range Community College
Jennifer Johnson, Lynn Coffman Scholarship
Business, University of Colorado - Boulder
Noel Villanueva, Brunson/Thorp Scholarship
Business Administration Management, University of Wyoming
Aubrey Kinley, Ron L. Kuhns Scholarship
Agricultural Business, Texas A+M University College Station
Matthew Turner, Brian Archibald Scholarship
Associate Degree in Art, Aims Community College
Give to our Foundation while you shop!
Do you find that you are placing Amazon orders more frequently these days? Don't forget to help your Rotary Club of Estes Park Foundation with every order. As a recipient of funds in the smile.amazon.com, our foundation will receive a portion of the sale. All you need to do its sign up to get the funds flowing. And SHOP!
Choose the charitable organization by typing in Estes Park Rotary Foundation. Our club and the Longs Peak club will come up in the search. Click on Estes Park Rotary Foundation.
Create a bookmark so every time you shop Amazon, you will participating in the smile.amazon.com program.
Rotary Quote of the Week
"Governments and institutions are gaining a greater appreciation for the types of public healthpartnerships that are critical to our work. People stuck at home, eager for greater connections and hungry to help they communities, are now embracing the values we have promoted since our beginning.
All of this is positive news, but just because there are greater opportunities than ever for Rotary to thrive does not guarantee that we will succeed. There world is changing rapidly - and was doing so even before this crisis. People were starting to moveaway from regular lunch meetings and toward online gatherings. Friendships were being cultivated and revived in social media relationships even before most of our meetings moved to Zoom and Skype. Younger generations have a strong desire to serve - but have questioned whether they could play a meaningful role in organizations like Rotary or whether they might make a bigger impact forming differenttypes of connections. Now is the time to put everything on the table, test new approaches, and prepare Rotary for the future."
-Holger Knaach, President, Rotary International 2020-21
