Sycamore Rotarians got acquainted with new Rotarian Heather Tomlinson as she gave her classification speech during this week’s meeting.  Tomlinson helps coordinate recovery care programs and resources in DeKalb and Ogle Counties for the non-profit organization Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery.

 

Tomlinson grew up in Genoa, mainly raised by her grandparents.  She said she did a lot of travelling beginning in her 20’s but did not always make the wisest choices.  She said it was not until she was 39 that she found her path to addiction recovery.  This is what led her to focus on a career in social work, specifically helping people overcome their addictions.  She began taking classes at Aurora University and then joined Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery.  Tomlinson says she now feels she is fulfilling her full career potential by helping others.  She said a big part of helping someone overcome an addiction is making the individual strong mentally and physically, plus having a  feeling of being “grateful.”  Tomlinson says these same qualities got her interested in Rotary membership because of its commitment to service for others and community philanthropy.

 

Tomlinson says she relaxes by taking part in a Sunday morning walking group and also enjoys trips with her three children, ages 8, 12, and 17.  Please be sure to extend a warm “Rotary Welcome” to Heather Tomlinson when you next see her.

March 11, 1952 – English author, screenwriter, and humorist Douglas Adams is born in Cambridge.  His work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was originally broadcast as a radio comedy over the BBC in 1978 and was later adapted into novels, comic books, a television show, video game, stage shows, and a 2005 feature film.

 

March 14, 1879 – Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Germany.  His theory of relativity led to new ways of thinking about time, space, matter, and energy.  He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921.

 

March 15, 1767 – The seventh U.S. President, Andrew Jackson, is born in a log cabin in Waxhaw, South Carolina.  He was a hero from the War of 1812 and in politics he helped form the new Democratic Party.

 

March 16, 1751 – James Madison, the fourth U.S. President, is born in Port Conway, Virginia.  He played an important role in formation of the U.S. Constitution and was President during the War of 1812.

March 10, 1862 – The first issue of U. S. Government paper money occurs as $5, $10, and $20 bills begin circulation.

 

March 11, 1918 – The “Spanish Influenza” first reaches America as 107 soldiers become ill at Fort Riley, Kansas.  The worldwide death toll from the virus approaches 20 million by the end of the epidemic in 1920.

 

March 12,1933 – Eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives the first of his famous “fireside chats” to a national radio audience broadcasting directly from the White House.  His topic centered around his decision to close the nation’s banks in order to stop panic withdrawals, the so-called “run on the bank.”.  He went on to deliver 30 more of these broadcasts between 1933 and 1944. 

 

March 15, 44 B.C. – Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Marcus Junius Brutus and fellow conspirators.  His death is immortalized by playwright William Shakespeare and the line “Et tu, Brute?”.