"Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change - across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves!"
The Rotary Club of Calgary comprises professional and community leaders brought together in fellowship to make a better future.
Rotary International's theme for the 2025-2026 year
Birthdays
Vern Kimball March 18
Brian Guichon March 20
Dorothy Loucks March 21
Doug Webb March 22
Louise Redmond March 23
Heidi Lacey March 23
George Edworthy March 24
Ralph Lundberg March 24
Terry McMahon March 26
Sean Baylis March 27
Mag Radwan March 27
Julie Visser March 29
Jennifer Lavier Jankovic March 29
Anniversaries
Lawrence Bates 40 years
Bruce Fenwick 40 years
Charles Pratt 30 years
Joe Fras 30 years
Madeleine King 25 years
yegana Allard 15 years
Manon Mitchell 15 years
Kurt Kowalchuk 15 years
Ryan Tizzard 5 years
William Friedson 5 years
What you may have missed at the Club Meeting – March10, 2026 Doug McMillan President Elect Doug Webb opened the meeting (with over 85 present including 15 guests) indicating he was filling in for Bill Hamilton to get practice for next year. After O Canada, he thanked the Front of House volunteers: Registration Table – Deb and Ron Hymers, Greeter/Sgt-at-Arms – Barb Young, 50/50 tickets – Bill Redmond. Charles Pratt gave the Invocation asking for wisdom and guidance for Rotarians as we remember that half the world will have a meal only one tenth of what we will share today.
Happy Bucks:
Sean Baylis highlighting Rotary curling in Yellowknife. The winning team from Nunavut will later curl in Scotland on ice in an old dungeon
Trevor Axeworthy reminded us to sign up as volunteers for the Big Book Sale
Deb Hymers highlighted an April 14, 2026 event related to Nutrition and Mental Health
Birthdays: separately in COG
Club Business Highlights:
WCS will host a dinner event Sept 23, 2026 at Ranchman’s (ticket price $75)
Rotarians (and partners) were reminded to register for the May 1-3, 2026 District Conference in Red Deer (Rumour has it that only 12% of our members are currently registered while Fish Creek Rotary is over 50%). This year’s conference features an outstanding lineup of speakers including: - Louisa Horne (Past District Governor, Rotary Club of Halifax Harbourside), a leadership consultant specializing in strategic thinking and organizational development - Chris Koch (“If I Can”), an inspirational speaker known for his message on resilience, perspective, and overcoming self-imposed limitations - Chandra Crawford (Olympic Gold Medalist), keynote speaker sharing powerful insights on pursuing excellence and building inclusive communities - Tareq Hadhad (Founder & CEO, Peace by Chocolate), an award-winning
entrepreneur sharing his journey from Syrian refugee to Canadian business leader and advocate for peace
Conference details and registration information are available here
Remember May 19, 2026 is the Presidents Dinner (replacing the luncheon)
Steve Allan presented honorary Paul Harris Fellowships to Craig Stoke, Mark Starrat and Farid Bedwany in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the 2025 Rotary Convention in Calgary. With outstanding contributions by Rotarians and volunteers, this convention raised the bar for future meetings while contributing over 100 million dollars to the Calgary economy. This would not have been possible without the outstanding dedication of these three honorees.
L to R: Farid Bedwany, Mark Starratt, Craig Stokke and presenter Steve Allan . Guest Speaker: Chief Katie McLellan, Calgary Chief of Police Introduced by Howie Shikaze, Chief McLellan acknowledged the presence of Sadie, the Calgary Police Stress Relief dog (who will get her “badge” on Friday) as well as her handler and the Deputy Police Chief. Chief McLellan noted Calgary is one of the safest major cities in Canada but there is still need to listen and learn while fostering effective partnerships with people and technology. She addressed important contributions the police make in schools and for those less fortunate, especially in the downtown area where problems with addiction and poor mental health are common. The police service tries to focus on prevention by working in the community. While arrests are sometimes necessary, there is a focus on linking people with services which may allow them to improve their activities. The 2027- 2030 police service plan continues to include Helicopter Air Watch for Community Safety (HAWCS) support while seeking to modernize and increase resources. The process is designed to be transparent and endeavours to tie
resources to outcomes. Rotary makes important contributions to the work of police as a partner in protecting privacy and improving safety through championing services for youth and community development. Questions related to use of radar, downtown safety, opportunities to engage communities and recruitment (an issue in many Canadian police services). Rotarians could help let people know about the opportunities for a challenging, yet very rewarding, career on the police service- which Chief McLellan has recognized and valued in her career.
Howie thanked Chief McLellan and indicated the club was making a contribution to Wellspring Alberta in recognition of her presentation.
Closing:
President Elect Doug closed the meeting with those present reciting the Four Way Test, noting that the next club meeting will take place on March 24, 2026. The guest speaker will be Lara Murphy, CEO, Calgary Wild Women’s soccer team. Her topic will be “ Play Fearless and Own the Field while Building a Champion Mindset & Culture”.
Dr. Walley Temple Obituary at Club meeting
Sonny Belenkie
A few weeks ago, we lost an extraordinary Rotarian, Dr. WalleyTemple, to cancer. Walley’s obituary painted a picture of a remarkably active life; He and his wife Doreen were always doing wonderfu lthings locally, in the community and beyond. He had great love for his family, his work and his patients.
Bob Taylor spoke beautifully about Walley at our club lunch meeting, describing him as a servant leader, a perfect fit for the way Walley led and served in Rotary and elsewhere. Dr. Jan Paseeka, a surgery colleague described his clinical and academic contributions at his funeral, about which most of us knew little. Walley was not one to self-promote.
Today, I would like to briefly summarize his contributions as a surgeon, clinician and scientist because that part of him was less obvious to most of us. He was not constrained by current treatment standards. He created cutting edge strategies to manage seemingly hopeless cancers. Together with his colleagues, they saved many lives that would have been lost if managed traditionally. I know of 3 who are alive and well today because of his innovations. He was the head of Cancer surgery when many came to Calgary to learn how he achieved such impressive results.
But there was another side of him that in many ways was just as impressive. He had such a humanistic approach to teaching, research and patient care. That includes the way he promoted development, displayed empathy, and focused on Hope and Loneliness, which are just now being discussed more explicitly in Medicine. He published many studies including about data management and reporting systems to measure outcomes that were widely copied.
Soon after joining the club, he ran a successful cervical cancer project in Ecuador, and then 2 amazing, similar projects in Guatemala that Lori Forand will tell you more about.
Walley saw a way to make a huge impact in Women’s health. He wanted to eliminate cervical cancer – the first cancer that can be eliminated. He wanted to jump start the process internationally because effective strategies almost always take a long time to be adopted when done the usual way and many lives would continue to be lost unnecessarily. To achieve this, he planned a congress in Calgary, which would provide training to representatives from developing countries on how to begin to eliminate cervix cancer. We were assured by experienced colleagues that funding would be available.
Planning was well advanced and then the team met with the World Health Organization by Zoom and eventually in Geneva. The World Health Organization was not ready to take this on until Polio was completed eradicated. The same was true with Rotary International when approached. We did get the Pan American Organization interested and they agreed to be involved. We would then to focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.Unfortunately, we were unable to get enough funding, so we had to stop.
The point of telling you this, is that Walley knew how to save as many lives as possible and made it happen. He did an incredible project in Guatemala for which he was recognized by being given one of only six “People of Action” awards out of well over a million Rotarians worldwide. The other reason is that despite the fact that Polio is still not eradicated, the World Health Organization soon created an excellent strategy to eliminate cervical cancer. They sent Walley a draft copy for review. Rotary International also joined the mission by supporting a very big, expensive project in Egypt, despite Polio not yet being eradicated.
I suggest that Walley’s conversations with the both organizations, coupled with his remarkable successes planted the seeds for the 2 organizations to move forward while Polio was still a focus. Walley made major contributions to Medicine, Rotary and the world and will not be forgotten. His legacies will continue. He is sorely missed by all who knew him.
Lori Forand
Dr. Walley Temple was a very well -respected Surgical Oncologist at the University of Calgary and valued member of the Rotary Club of Downtown who recently passed away. His contributions were many and others have recognized these in different formats. I want to let Rotarians know of some of his many major contributions to womens’ health, especially as related to cervical cancer.
After a successful project in Ecuador, Walley turned his attention to Guatemala and championed a Rotary Global Grant project there. During that work, he helped formalize and test what is now known as the “screen-and-treat” model for cervical cancer. This model is now expanded to a variety of areas, including Ghana with a project run by our Rotary Club member Ebenezer Mensa.
Women travelling to remote clinics now could be screened for cervical cancer and, if necessary, treated during the same visit. For many women living in rural communities, that one visit can mean the difference between life and death.
The original goal of the project was to screen 5,000 women. At the end of the first phase, more than 8,000 women were screened. The success of that work quickly gained international attention. Walley built partnerships with experts and Rotary leaders around the world, and the project has since become a template for similar programs globally. Through this work, he helped lay the groundwork for a growing Rotary focus on the elimination of cervical cancer worldwide.
This past June, during the Rotary International Convention here in Calgary, Walley joined a panel of international experts to discuss how Rotary could move this work forward. There is now strong momentum for cervical cancer elimination to become Rotary’s next major global health initiative, following the success of the PolioPlus campaign.
Even as Phase 1 of the Guatemala project was wrapping up, Walley was already hard at work planning Phase 2. That second phase is now underway through another major Global Grant. The focus is on building sustainable local capacity; training health-care workers across Guatemala to screen, treat, educate communities, and vaccinate against HPV.
The project began in June 2025 and will run for two years, with a goal of screening 10 000 women. As of December 31, 2025, less than halfway through the project, more than 7,000 women have already been screened.
Phase 2 also includes HPV vaccination and education in many remote parts of the country. To date, more than 1,600 people have been vaccinated.
At the same time, technology for detecting cervical cancer is advancing rapidly. New tools now allow simple swabs to test for the presence of the HPV virus. Point-of-care DNA testing can quickly determine whether a woman carries the virus that causes cervical cancer. If the virus is detected, treatment can happen immediately.
Walley understood something else which is very important. He knew that saving lives does not always require the most complicated solutions. Sometimes it requires vision, determination, and the willingness to bring people together to do something that simply has to be done.
He built the partnerships. He created the model. He set the work in motion.
Before he passed, Walley asked that we finish the work in Guatemala and help put that country firmly on the path toward eliminating this devastating disease. When that work is done, we will take the model he helped build and bring it to other countries. That was Walley’s vision and it is a vision we have committed to carry forward. Because of Wally’s leadership, the Rotary Club of Calgary Downtown now stands ready to take a true global leadership role in the fight to eliminate cervical cancer.
Thousands of women have already been helped because of him. Thousands more will be helped in the years ahead. And somewhere in a remote village clinic, a woman will walk in, be screened, be treated, and go home to her family - healthy. She may never know Walley’s name but she will be alive because of him.
Walley's widow Doreen receiving flowers at the club meeting
The Lou MacEachern Fund – Building a Video Library with CAREERS: The Next Generation
Al McMillan
Last Fall, our Club partnered with CAREERS to help in their mission to connect youth to high demand skilled trades in Alberta. The Lou MacEachern Fund is now supporting a new digital initiative created by Careers to build the Lou MacEachern Video Library which will be home to a new Day-in-The-Life-of-a-Journeyperson Video Series. The Library is named in honor of long time Rotarian Lou MacEachern, and the video collection will introduce youth to skilled trades through short videos that showcase the working lives of tradespeople. The videos will be used in CAREERS’ strong career awareness initiatives, with strong ties to youth career exploration, mentorship, and workforce readiness, and will be promoted locally in the Calgary region on YouTube and Instagram.
Lou MacEachern’s journey—from a potato farmer to successful Calgary businessman and lifelong community advocate—embodies the very spirit of what CAREERS strives to achieve: helping young people discover opportunity through hands-on experience and perseverance. A dedicated kickoff video highlights Lou’s story and is one of the three videos produced this year. Links to the videos are included in the 2025 Lou MacEachern Report.
In 2026 we will fund three more videos, and CAREERS will create a new webpage providing linkage to the Lou MacEachern Video Library and the Video Series. On behalf of our Club, Small Donations leads initiatives that fulfill Lou’s long-term vision of supporting the education and development of youth and young adults with proceeds donated to our Club by the Lou MacEachern Fund. To learn more about CAREERS, please visit their website at https://www.careersnextgen.ca/.
