The first evening meeting of the new year welcomed 28 Naples Rotarians and three guests - Grady Grove, Anna Yang and Uryu Yoshino, who is celebrating his 18th birthday with us today!

 

President Elect Jack led the Pledge followed by the National Anthem. John shared two thoughts with us as we start the new year: 

1) Service is not doing what is expected but doing more than expected. 2)The value of knowledge multiplies when it is shared.

Marty shared that when the music failed at a recent NHS basketball game, Jack kept singing to continue the Anthem with the crowd. A rotary moment!

 

January is Vocational Service Month in the Rotary year. Jack read the Object of Rotary and then asked everyone to tell the group of their vocation. It was interesting to learn more about our fellow Rotarians. 

 

Announcements: Registration for the District 7120 Conference in Corning is open, at discounted rates before January 31st. It takes place May 2-4th. * Election of Officers and Directors is tonight. Jack announced that on 12/27/24, President Karen asked him to take over as President as she was resigning due to multiple health and family needs. She plans to come back to Rotary when she's able. We are sending Karen our caring thoughts. * The District Golf Tournament will be here in Naples and it needs volunteers. * BACA, who presented here recently, is having their annual Spaghetti Supper on February 2nd, 12-5pm at the Moose Lodge on West Henrietta Road. * Dues of $75 for January to June are now due. * Interact Club is having a drive to collect pop tabs for aluminum recycling. Jill will collect through February 14th and it benefits Ronald McDonald House in Rochester. * Literacy Volunteers Ontario/Yates is hosting an adult spelling bee on Zoom 2/2/25. Registration is $300 for a team of 3 and they have a matching funds donor. See their website for more info, register by January 19th. * Today is Uryu's birthday and we heard the birthday song in Japanese followed by our singing to him. The Groves brought a cake to share. Happy Birthday Uryu!

 

Our program tonight was Clyde Yee sharing his "Getting to Know You". He grew up in Rockville MD and went to college in West Virginia. He then trained in Federal Law Enforcement in Georgia joining the National Park Police in Jackson MS area, doing road enforcement on Natchez Trace Parkway. He then moved to Colonial Parkway in Virginia which goes from Jamestown, through Williamsburg to Yorktown. He next became a detective in Fredericksburg, VA. Liz was then working in nearby Shenandoah National Park. He transferred to Shenandoah. On a trip to Hawaii, he proposed! Liz was the "last to know" about it! Their wedding was to take place in the mountains of Appalachia but the wedding venue was flooded out by a storm. Liz was able pull together the whole wedding at another location on a moments notice! From there, Clyde became a special agent in Denver, covering from Canada to Mexico. Liz was in Gunnison NP in CO. Then they transferred to Grand Canyon AZ. Clyde went on to being an Academy instructor of firearms, defensive training and accident investigations, retiring in 2012. They moved to Cumberland Island Seashore in GA where Liz worked and Clyde fished. They purchased the Naples property and moved here after Liz retired in 2014. She was able to rescue her patrol horse from Arizona for free, other than the cost of transport and building a barn of course! "Uncle Clyde" did some substitute teaching at Naples High School but recently enjoys working at Grove BBQ. We all look forward to showing up to see him at the order window when spring comes!

 

Ballots were distributed for election of the Board for 2025-2026. People absent from the meeting will receive them to vote by email. Results of the election will be announced next Monday.

 

Uryu picked the winning ticket for Ace of Hearts. The pot was $52 and Bill had the ticket. He chose the Queen of diamonds. Better luck next week!

Happy Bills went out to Clyde for sharing his interesting bio, a new grandchild soon for the Gordons, Clyde's mom's 100th birthday, the Grove's vacations in Delaware and cruise south, Uryu's birthday visit to the Groves/Rotary, Mark and David's vacation. The passing of former Rotarian Vicky Martin was mentioned. 

Bill's Rotary Moments were: 

The first day in Charleston, Carrie wore her RYLA t-shirt and got soaked in a rainstorm. The second day in Port Canaveral, they went to Cocoa Beach where signs from the Cocoa Beach Rotary Club were proudly displayed.

 

Jack closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.

Have a great week everyone!