President nominee Cara Sauceda called the membership to order shortly after 12 and asked Dr Dave Hartman to offer the invocation. Cara then led us in the pledge to the flag and reflecting on the beautiful day, chose the very fitting, “This Land is Your Land” as the vocal selection. Afterward we greeted we greeted our fellow members and guests.
We had several guests with us today. Andy Kocher introduced two fellow Rotarians visiting from the Southwest Rotary Club, Mr Jacob Fields and Mr Mike Mitchell, president elect of the club. Alan Donaldson introduced his guest, Mr Jerry Faught, visiting from Wayland Baptist and Alex Pappas introduced a prospective new member, Ms Mary Helmick.
James Hughes then recognized Richard Boyd’s birthday that had been postponed from the previous week.
For the Sunshine Report Dave Hartman passed along that President Stacie’s sister, Sheila, was recovering well from her scheduled surgery earlier in the week and that Stacie was spending some time helping her during the recovery.
Cara then returned to the podium with a few announcements for the membership beginning with we are only 18 days away from our first Flag Day (Monday, May 27th). On that note, John Deason, demonstrated how he uses an auger drill bit that is used for planting to clean out the flag sleeves that have become filled with dirt during the winter. Cara also informed the members that we would meet in a different room other than the ballroom in the Forum next week. Flag co-chairs, Andy and Steve Priester asked to meet with all flag captains following the meeting and the Service Excellence Committee also met afterwards for a quick after-action meeting.
Carol Murray then stepped into action with the brag bucket offering the members the opportunity to share their boasts for the week. Norris used his brag donation to start some good-natured ribbing with an observation about Dave Hartman’s hair stylist. Then Cara offered that the Boys and Girls Club would be hosting their “Friends of Youth Golf Tournament” on May 20th at the Wichita Falls Country Club. Carol told us that Crime Stoppers was having their 28th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament on May 24th at Champions Course at Weeks Park. Carol also shared that she was going to be donning a hat and gown as she is conferred a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Lastly, Austin Green returned last week’s brag about him by Colton, bragging that Colton is an avid runner and is actually in training to run a marathon.
Our presenter for the program scheduled for today was unable to appear so David Spencer “pinch hit” with another outstanding presentation of his photographic memories of a recent trip he took. David shared with us some of the most beautiful images he observed during a 13 day sailing trip he took with his son exploring the fjords of Scoresby Sund, Greenland. From the opening of David’s presentation, it quickly reminded us of that Iceland is “green” and Greenland is “ice”.
David’s stunning photography of icebergs, mountainous terrain with polar bears, muskox and images of the aurora borealis gave us a glimpse into the beauty of this harsh terrain.
Transportation for this Arctic trek was a 22-meter steel hulled ketch named the “Tilvera”. The sailing vessel had a cruising speed of 8 knots (that’s a little more than 9 miles per hour) and carried 10 passengers and a crew of 3. David said it got to be quite “cozy” on-board and everyone had to share in the sailing duties. David himself got to steer the vessel and indicated it takes some practice to keep the sails full of air to maximize the sailing efficiency of the vessel.
When sailing through the fjords, David indicated the waters were mostly calm but as they returned to their debarkation port the seas swelled and seasickness became the call of the day for most the passengers – David likened the experience to a “state fair ride” that lasted for hours!
The sailing excursion took them to Northeast Greenland National Park which is the world's largest national park. My research indicates the park is bigger than 166 of the world's 195 countries!! Their trip also took them to the Husavik Whale Museum where David showed photos of the skeletal size of some of the world’s largest marine mammals.
David’s photography brought to life the barren beauty of this region that most of us may only get to experience through the lens of a skilled photographer. Thank you David – great presentation.
At the conclusion of the slide show, Cara thanked David and indicated a donation would be made in his name to the Wichita Falls ISD. We then closed the meeting with the Four-Way Test.