We met on March 10th one of the first gloriously warm days of the year after what had been a very long couple of weeks of snow shoveling, school and work cancellations, and bitter cold weather. Not only had the weather changed, so had the venue; we gathered on the stage at Chrysler Hall to make room for the MEAC basketball tournament. Parking was tight but the camaraderie was loose.
President Sigur didn’t ring the bell and began the meeting, reminding everyone to silence their cell phones, which Eleanor Schoonover wisely took as a reminder to double-check hers. Then Madame President gamely led us in two songs: R-O-T-A-R-Y and Grand Ol’ Flag. Though the singing was even more ragged than normal as we had no songbooks to guide us, we made it through. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and Barry Kesser reminded us to be thankful that we had the privilege of knowing Jack Magee, a decorated veteran and enthusiastic Rotarian.
Jean Owens gave a visitation report but I couldn’t hear it because Cy Grandy and Mal Branch did NOT help.
Our only guest not related to the program was Walt Sobczyk, USAF (ret.) who we’ll trust John Padgett will have joining the club in no time.
Announcements were:
Lisa Chandler updated us on Suds and Buds in 10 days: There are over 100 tickets sold. Let’s all invite a guest (or 10) to help her reach our goal of 250 guests.
The Rotary Leadership Institute will be April 11th from 9-Noon and the club will pay for you to attend.
Carlisle Wroton (PHF + 5), and Lisa Chandler (PHF + 4) and were recognized for the philanthropy.
The next social will be Sunday April 19th from 2-4:30 at the Virginia Zoo. Bring your families.
A volunteer day at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens will be March 28th. Diane Wallach is POC for that event.
Fines and Happy Bucks were:
Shep Miller bought some old cars and gave an impassioned plea to vote “YES” for the Innovative & Flexible Club pilot. Your scribe humbly concurs.
Ann Baldwin sang the praises of both her grandson and the Tiel program
Dean Thomasson gave money, but again, Grandy and Branch…no help.
Lois Kercher crazily walked through the snow to an ODU Lady Monarch game and was interviewed under the banner “Diehard Fan”
Jim Clary’s younger child will join his older sister at Norfolk Academy
Win Lewis for his lovely wife and for his daughter passing her Foreign Service exam on her first try.
Judge Massey offered his ’99 Odyssey van if Shep wanted to have a true classic and suggested that we be thoughtful how we define “meet”. The younger generation meets online all the time.
There were others that your scribe missed. Grandy and Branch again.
The Program:
Finally Bob Heely rose to bring us up to speed on the annual mentor program with the Norfolk Public Schools. He began by thanking his committee of Chip Finch, who will assume Bob’s role when Bob dies, and Dr. Steve Jones. He then read highlights of some of the essays the students completed at the conclusion of their visit with Rotarians. I won’t rehash them all here, but I will confidently share that I was pleasantly encouraged that the current HS generation was well-represented by these young people and that pronouncements about the low quality of Norfolk’s public schools appear to be greatly exaggerated. They wrote well and handled themselves well. Good work by all involved.
Then we were done.
