Marin Evening Rotary Club Bulletin

November 2, 2010

Good evening boys and girls. Mark Shirley, our esteemed President, returned to the fold this evening and rang the bell, calling us to order. PTR duties were handled by Malcolm, beginning with finding a flag to pledge to, which he did, on Allen Ng's necktie. That worked. Next came a thought for the day, being a quotation from Paul Harris himself on the subject of love and friendship making life worthwhile. I guess that makes life for all of us Marin Evenings worthwhile too.

Quick quiz - How many married couples are in our Club ? How many got married while they were in the Club ? And how many of our members are married to spouses, who are in another Rotary Club ? Answers will be below, just to make sure you read through all this.

Starting off, as we usually do, with Good Times, Malcolm reported that Barbara Gillette had received the nice get well note from the Club, though she wasn't there in person to do the thanking. While up, Malcolm mentioned that he'd spoken on the phone to ex-Marin Eveningite John Shellenberger, who was 1) well, 2) looking for some business (no further explanation of that was offered,) and 3) was going to be traveling down to Mexico for Mark's wedding in January. And speaking of Mark, he took note of Frank's outstanding Giants World Series T shirt, then welcomed Bruce back, seeing as he'd missed seeing him last week due to a rain delay.

So, jumping backwards to Visitors, we had a few. First our speaker and PDG, Russ Ketron of the Novato Club who was accompanied by his lovely wife Kathy and by his ex-wife. (That must have taken some guts.) Then we had Lee Paige from Terra Linda, a semi-frequent visitor to our Club and an active worker for the district. Then we had Lea Schwarz a visitor for the last time, as she will be inducted into the Club next week and last, but certainly not least, Mark's fiance Siofra.

Back to Good Times with Patty announcing that she and Malcolm went to the movies AND she sold her Mom's house. In today's market, that is quite an accomplishment. Then Frank arose, and in partial explanation of his T shirt, told us that he thought watching the recent Giants games was absolutely wonderful. Can't disagree with that ! PDG Russ told us of spending some time with his 18year old granddaughter, which made all of feel old, though I think Frank can beat that. Holly told us that she had a wonderful Halloween with lots of little Trick or Treaters at their door - nearly a hundred of them. And she reported they were all really polite. I guess the "tricks" part of the event is now passe. Jayne reported zero trick or treaters, which meant that she and Gene got to eat and drink all of the treats. Sounds good to me.

Jayne then gave us a few details on how she and her BMW escaped total calamity on the GG Bridge last week, which is a good thing. She also told us that Gene has significant hearing loss in one of his ears. As us married guys know, that too can be a very good thing - when utilized selectively. 

Somehow around here we slipped over to Announcements, headed up by Thanksgiving for Seniors, which will take place 3 weeks from tonight. Elsia announced that there will be 55 guests, which gives us hosts lots of responsibility to make sure all of our guests are taken care of and have a good time. Eiko explained to us about the the NBC/Safeway Turkey/Ham and Food Drive for the benefit of the Marin Food Bank. It will take place on Saturday, November 20th at each of the 8 Safeway Stores in Marin County. Rotarians are being asked to stand in front of the stores and promote the event to Safeway shoppers. Call Eiko for further details. Lee Paige then mentioned that the Terra Linda Rotary Club had chartered a bus to take Rotarians to and from the Rotary Foundation event in Foster City on Sunday, November 7. See Lee or another T/L Rotarian if you'd like to participate.

And before I forget, Marin Evening has 3 married couples who are both members of the Club - Holly & Keith, Jayne & Gene and Cory and Traci. Jayne and Gene are the ones who married while members, and Bruce Taylor is one half of a Rotary family. His wife, Lynn is a member of the Terra Linda Rotary Club.

Next we had a Past Presidential Minute from PP Jayne Hulbert, who was Club President in 1999-2000. Jayne's most memorable event in her year was the development of a real fundraiser. The first one, in early 2000 was a Chinese New Year's Dinner Celebration at a restaurant in Sausalito. Over the years the theme has changed, and the location has changed, but the annual fundraiser has become a major part of Marin Evening Rotary's being.

Following the PPM we had a brief award ceremony where Jayne, Gene and yours truly were given awards as Major Donors to Rotary. Three zircons for them and one for me. According to Russ, who presented the awards, this gives our Club 6 Major Donors, apparently more than any other Club in the District. Pretty good, folks.

And after that I had to leave the meeting, so you'll have to make up the rest. This is probably my last Marin Evening Rotary meeting for awhile, as Gail and I spend our winters in Arizona. As mentioned at the meeting, we'd be more that happy to see any or all of our Rotary friends down there for a visit, a Spring Training Game (think March) or just some sunshine. Our winter address and phone is listed on the Club roster. We live in Surprise, a close-in suburb of Phoenix. Hope some of you come by.

Respectfully submitted,

Your Editor