Meeting Notes 8 28 08 - Our visit from DG Ron Richards

Dear SubWest Rotarians,

I think we had a very special meeting today. We skipped the groaner, and Moses Atwood lead us in a very thoughtful prayer, followed by Tom Johnson leading us in the pledge, and Tim Couch lead us in the 4 Way Test. We had the head table set up today so I introduced our AG Ed Boywid, our DG Ron Richards and his wife Innes Richards. I then introduced our special guest Bob Schuster, Charlie's son, who was my guest and a visiting Rotarian from Five Flags.

We took a few minutes to celebrate the life and special contributions to Rotary made by Charlie Schuster. Bill Spain, Wayne Etheridge and Paul Parks all shared special memories of Charlie. Then Bob Schuster told us some great stories about his dad, and how important Rotary - especially SubWest Rotary - was in his life. Those were great stories! Bob finished up with a humorous tale about how our "founding fathers of SubWest" had to come up with a special classification to let Vince Whibbs into the club in 1957! We all had a great laugh and that provided the perfect segue to a session of Happy Dollars, highly peppered with bragging from our most ardent college football fans. Andy for Bama, Bill for the big T, Craig for Vandy, Ronnie for the Gators, and on it went!

Heidi Blair presented the club with a flag from a club in Peru. A Rotary youth Exchange student gave it to her last weekend, as she was so grateful to be sponsored in America! Bill Sheffield then introduced several visiting Rotarians and guests. Trisa made an announcement about the eyeglass project and we heard about the SubWest Water Fun day planned for Saturday, 9/29/08. More details later.

As truly fitting for this special day, Huntley Johnson - our lone remaining Charter Member - took over the microphone and raised a lot of money as the Wooley. He was ruthless in his fining and as usual, we all laughed at his vicious comic wit. Nice Job, Huntley!

The raffle was won by none other than Paul Parks, who waited a suspiciously long time to announce he had the winning ticket. I wonder if there is a story there? Anyway, he did not pick the Ace of Spades and donated his $10 consolation prize back to the pot, so it will be over $200 next week!

Our DG Ron Richards, making his 7th club visit this week (amazing) kept the crowd's attention while he talked about the purpose of Rotary, our club's place in the overall realm of service, and illustrated how we can use our talent and energy to help children survive and grow and Make Dreams Real. Thanks for all you do, Ron - we appreciate your leadership and the dedication that you and Innes show (not to mention your stamina)!

Photos coming soon. Until then, keep Rotary in your Heart and bring a friend next Thursday - see you then (pray that Gustav stays away).

Yours in Rotary,

Bill

Sad News - Charlie Schuster

Dear Friends,

By now you have all received the sad news of Charlie Schuster's passing away. I have spoken to several veteran members this week about a fitting tribute for Charlie, and we will indeed remember him at our meeting this week. In case you missed the obituary in the Pensacola News Journal, here is an excerpt from it that highlights Charlie's contributions to Rotary:

"Charlie was very committed to the purpose and mission of Rotary International. He was a Charter member of the Suburban West Rotary Club and a past president of the Gulf Breeze Rotary Club. In 1985, he became District Governor for Rotary District 6940, which includes all Rotary clubs from Pensacola to Lake City, Florida. He served on the Rotary International Council on Legislation and attended numerous Rotary International Conventions throughout the world. He was a multiple Paul Harris Fellow with over 51 years of service to Rotary."

If you'd like to see it online, here is a link to the site at pnj.com:

http://www.legacy.com/pensacolanewsjournal/Obituaries.asp?Page=SearchResults

The PNJ website also has a very nice guestbook with moving comments and tributes from those who knew Charlie well. God Bless you. BC.

Meeting Notes 8 21 08

What a great week for Rotary! Since my last message to you, we had a very nice club social outing last Thursday night, and a wonderful meeting yesterday. Many thanks to Heidi Blair for setting up the Wine Tasting at Aloha Wines, and to all of you who showed up and supported the club at the event. It was nice to meet some your spouses in a different setting than our normal club meeting. I had to leave early to go to a school event, but I noticed many more folks arriving as I left. I'm sure you all had a great time.

John Boivin opened the meeting with a pretty funny Groaner about our old friend "Boudreaux" - and different ways to represent numbers and sums - well done, John! Justin Beck then lead us in the Rotary Prayer, followed by WWII veteran and retired Army Colonel Bob Spilman leading the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, and Carl Gindl leading us in the 4-Way Test.

We had lots of happy dollars - most notably was Bobbye Carroll and her comments about returning from a trip and having workmen in her back yard! Other notable Happy Dollars sprung forth from Paul Parks with his 34 years of perfect attendance and Ronnie Arnold for a smooth start to the school year. I really enjoy hearing from everyone during the Happy Dollar portion of the meeting! Your contributions all go the the Rotary Foundation to help wipe out Polio, so thanks for the double effect of sharing the good news. We also had some "long distance" good news - Don Gregory let us know that his son's transplant went well - please keep them in your prayers. Bob Bothfeld wrote to let us know he is enjoying his time in chilly Vermont (I'm jealous - see you back here in October - bring some cool weather with you, please!). Thanks to Bob B. and Mike M. for your $100 "birthday brigade" checks to the Rotary Foundation (Every Rotarian - Every Year).

Bill Sheffield then came up to introduce visitors and guests. He did a great job introducing guests Carol Monroe (John Stein's boss), Wes Nichols (guest of Sandy Starr), Reuben Buekoureff (guest of Ed Holt), Julia Hoeschler (Ronnie Arnold's guest), and a very brave man named Bobby - son in law of our own Huntley Johnson. We also had two visiting Rotarians (our speaker Frank Miller - Five Flags) and John Clark - from the Downtown club.

Huntley Johnson got his long awaited turn at the microphone as our Woolley and had us all in stitches as he went from table to table picking on us for our numerous (or imagined) shortcomings. Only Huntley can create so much laughter and generate such proceeds for the Rotary Foundation. If you missed this meeting you missed a real good chance to laugh and have a good time with your friends - don't miss next week!

Today's drawing was won by Tim Couch, who pulled a 2 of clubs, so he didn't win the $158 pot and and graciously donated his $10 consolation prize back to the foundation! As soon as the Ace of Spades is pulled from this deck (only 30 or so cards left), we will restart the game with some new rules. The club will seed the pot with $250 to start, and will not give any payout unless the Ace of Spades is drawn. That should help the pot grow faster and hopefully, we will raise more money that way...

John Stein then introduced our guest speaker, Frank Miller, Director of Pensacola Regional Airport, who gave us a presentation about the $75 million airport improvement plans. Most notable is the planned automated baggage screening area, and the "hammer head" terminal expansion. Another great program - thanks, John!

Don't miss our meeting next week, when the program will be our District Governor, Ron Richards. Until then, stay dry and keep an eye out for Fay - let's hope she is a kind visitor.

See you next week!