Meeting Minutes - November 9, 2016

Missing in Action:
T. Breen, B. Brooks, J. Bush, TJ Chamberlain, B. Dean, P. Dean, M. Fessler, G. Hopkins, R. Ike, D. LeMoyne, T. Medina, M. Schmidt, J. Shaffer, C. Surline, L. Vecchiotti, P. VerPlank, A. Wahl, S. Wicksall.

Thoughts and Prayers:
    Elmer VerPlank is on hospice care at home.
    Joan Shaffer had knee replacement surgery this week.
    Pam Dean is “coming along well” after her recent knee replacement surgery.   

Guests:
     Shirley Bassage
     Michael Keene guest speaker

Birthdays and Anniversaries:
    None this week

Fines and Happy Bucks:
    --  Cheryl Ford enjoyed a recent trip to Niagara falls.
    -- Mark and Kim Clement enjoyed a “last day of fishing” on Canandaigua Lake on Tuesday. They claim they caught some 20 Perch for tonight's supper!
    -- Bob Sloan reported on a 5K race in Geneva last weekend that netted $1,360 for Camp Onseyawa.
    -- Dick Kirchhoff offered a happy buck “because he had a free breakfast and lunch” today!
    -- Rollo Black remembered his “ABC's book” this week, and also donated a buck “because he put his garden to bed today.”
    -- Pater Park and Eric Chapman watched the Bills-Seahawks game on Monday Night Football, and both gave a buck in spite of the controversial calls by the officials!
    -- Nancy Schrader confessed to an embarrasing moment last week, as she showed up for the monthly Board meeting a week early!

Rotary announcements:
    -- President Kim reminded members to sign up for the annual Holiday Party at Parkwood Heights on Wednesday evening, December 14; cocktails at 6:30, dinner at 7:30.
    -- Next week's program (Nov. 16) will feature the 100^th Anniversary of the Rotary Foundation, presented by Pam Dean.
    -- Interested members will have an opportunity to learn more about the Rotary Youth Leadership Achievement program (RYLA) by attending workshops at RIT on November 15-16, 22, and 29^th. For more information contact Nancy Schrader of President Kim.
    -- Dianne Sloan is looking for volunteers to donate time and/or contributions to the annual “Green Angels Free Cycle” event at Lyons High School on Saturday, December 3, to benefit Wayne County kids and families. Our Club has donated funding for this project as a District Simplified Grant project. For more information, get in touch with Dianne.

Program:

     Gary Haigh introduced this week's speaker, Michael Keene, a noted local-history author who has shared his stories with our Club a number of times in the past. This week, Mike spoke to us about his latest book, entitled “Vietnamese Reflections, the Untold Story of the Holley Boys.”

     Although he himself is a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, the author was quick to point out that this is not a personal memoir of that conflict; rather, it is an account of a small town's grief over the loss of eight young men – all graduates of Holley High School – who died in that far-off land during a span of six years of combat. Mike became interested in this topic while researching a totally unrelated book on the history of the Erie Canal. When his research led him to the small town of Holley, New York in Orleans County, he became aware of that communiy's unique war-time tragedy, not unlike many small towns during our own nation's bloody Civil War.

     Mike's “war story” is the result of more than 35 interviews with family friends and relatives, as well as personal letters, official documents and other records, gathered over a period of two years. It was very appropriate that he shared his story with us during our own Veteran's Day salute.

     If you would like to know more about this book or Mike Keene's other local histories, they are available for sale online at his website, ad-hoc-productions.com.