Craft Talks - Once Again, Our Best Programs at WVRC on 13 Sept.
PP ERIC LOBERG led the Pledge, and he can also be a good straight man! PP STEVE SCHERER stepped in to lead us in America. This brought up SALLY BRANT, with some words of wisdom from Charles Swingell. “Attitude – more important than facts, the past…what other people think or do…the breaks, skills. The remarkable thing is we have a choice – we cannot change the past…the inevitable…the only thing we can do is play on the one string we have. I’m convinced that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% in how we react to it. We are in charge.” Thanks, SALLY – a good choice.
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Arlene, Leah and Debby
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Bob Debby and Steve
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Dr. Vriesman
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| The Pettises |
We had some guests. PP STEVE SCHERER was with Debbie, and he also introduced STEVE PETTIS, one of our Speakers, along with his wife, Arlene. CEO CHRIS reported on his just-completed meeting with the General Manager of the Faculty Center, where he was accompanied by several Board Members. Whenever we meet in the Sequoia Room – where we are today – the spacious patio outside will be open, and we can gather there beforehand. This will provide us more space, and opportunity for conversation.
PP STEVE DAY came forward with a report on the forthcoming Paul Harris Celebration Dinner, which will be at CBS Studio on September 29th. We have three tables, and have collected $6,000 in raffle ticket sales so far – get yours in right away if you haven’t done so already, please. PDG BILL GOODWYN announced that a young lady whom he and JUDI have been mentoring is a student nurse. She has just left her last assignment, and is looking for a position. Please cal BILL for details. I rose to point out that the prizes to be given out at the Family Picnic this coming Saturday at the home of ELOISE SISKEL were of such high value that they had to be approved at our recent Board Meeting! SHANE WAARBROEK pointed out that the forthcoming District Breakfast has been moved from the 11th of October to October 30th. The Speaker will be Dick Reardon, and SHANE or DON NELSON can take your reservation. Please note that our District Governor, David Moyers, will be making his Official Visit to WVRC on September 27th. Board members are to gather at 10 am, and it’s a Spouses Day, also. And finally, our mid-November meeting has been moved to Friday the 15th so we can all hear the new R.I. President speak.
PP DAVE WHITEHEAD was recognized for his new endeavor. He is moving into Commercial Real Estate with a partner. There followed some jousting about an announcement, regarding who sent it, what it said – a few unimportant points like that - and as you might expect, this produced a fine of a hundred bucks.
Pp MICHAEL NEWMAN proceeded to induct two new members. He reminded us that his topic was “What is Rotary?” It is a service organization of dedicated men and women, united worldwide in an effort to help their fellow man, encourage high ethical standards, and to work towards world understanding and peace. Rotary is what Rotary does. Here is LEAH VRIESMAN, sponsored by PP STEVE SCHERER. Her classification will be University Education – Health Care Management, plus she qualifies as “Super Mom”. Her husband is Jonathon Wee, and she has two children, Linnea and Xander. LEAH’s hobby is volunteering at her kid’s school. Next up was STEVE PETTIS, who is sponsored by PP JIM COLLINS. His Classification is Restaurant Consulting. STEVE was born in Elgin, ILL, his wife is Arlene, and they have adult children Todd and Andrew. His hobbies are skiing, travel, and golf. Our new members were greeted by a standing ovation.
LEAH began by reiterating her commitment to the school her kids attend. She noted that her Dad’s career was in health care, but she was the only one of five kids who followed that path. She began at 14 by working in a nursing home. This was her first experience at helping the elderly. She switched subjects, to her husband, Jonathan – he is a juggler, and they met in the first grade, going to the same schools all the way through high school. By the eighth grade she realized he had a big crush on her, but she tried her best – she says – to discourage him. She graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa – and sure enough, he was there, too. Her next academic stop was the University of Minnesota, where she earned two Masters – and MHA and an MBA. All of this schooling, by the way, was while she was working. She started her PhD at Berkeley, but thought she should check out UCLA – and that’s where she stayed!
During this time, she saw her husband-to-be on the Tonight Show, as a juggler, of course and she began to suspect that perhaps he wasn’t the dork she had assumed him to be. When she got to LA, she called him – and their first date was hang-gliding! Thus, over time, she changed her mind about him – and now they have been married for eleven years. They live in Hermosa Beach and the kids attend private school in Rolling Hills. The family has two dogs – and LEAH most enjoys sitting at home and watching the dolphins offshore. Her favorite drink is a Tangueray and tonic, she enjoys reading science fiction, music from the 1980’s, and her somewhat hidden passion is shopping at Fry’s Electronics. In another life, she might choose to be a marine biologist, or live on a ranch, probably in Montana.
Brief Q&A – What does your husband juggle? Oh, you know, knives, chain saws, fire… And he travels with his chain saw – which is really no longer allowed. She worries when the chain saw doesn’t start, since there is a gyroscope inside that keeps it in a given attitude, and without that, it could be a problem.
STEVE PETTIS was up next, and he began by ’thanking’ PP STEVE SCHERER for
“persuading him to give his craft talk while he was still in his new Rotary diapers!” He feels that he led a deprived life, since his parents were Cubs fans – but he suggests that anybody can have a bad century! He graduated from Barrington High – some of their famous alumni are Henry Paulson, current Secretary of the Treasury, and NFL standout Gary Fensik, plus author Charles Mee. He attended Drake University, with a partial track scholarship in what is now called the Long Jump – and Drake is hosting the 2008 Olympic tryouts! He got married while at Drake, and their first child was born the day before he graduated. His first two jobs were with Ford as a trainee, and then Union Carbide in the pharmaceutical field. About the time of their second son’s birth, they learned that John, the first-born, was brain damaged due to Roseolia, infant measles.
In 1968 Steve was with the Nixon Campaign in platform development. He and his first wife were divorced, and he moved to Chicago. He met Arlene there and they were married. They moved to Irvine, California, where he became Marketing Manager of Carl’s Jr, then VP of Marketing for IHOP. Eventually he and some of the officers took the company public, during which time the same store had a record 146 consecutive months of sales increases. In November 1996 I left IHOP and formed Golden Spike Resources Group, a consulting company located in Westwood. The family owns some restaurants in Northern California, and his son Andy operates them.
Steve has two heroes who made a difference in his life. First was his Dad, Tom, who died at age 80 in 1997. He had a very early interest in cars, and drove his first when he was ten! He was racing by 13, and started a bike rental business. At 16 he got the opportunity to replace the driver of the car that finished 8th at Indianapolis. He fell victim to Polio, but overcame most of the symptoms. Tom was “one hell of an inspirational father”.
His second hero was his father-in-law, Richard May, Arlene’s dad. He soloed an airplane at 16 and was a licensed private pilot at age 17, graduating in 1942 from Navy flight training. He was a fighter pilot on the USS Enterprise, and later flew Hellcats off the USS Langley, where he got his first confirmed kill. He totaled 7 kills and 5 probables, making him a “fighter ace”. Later he was a test pilot at NAS Paxutenet River and served in the reserve for 23 years. His medals included receiving three distinguished Flying Crosses and eight air medals. He went on to a successful business career, which was always supported “by his unbelievable honesty!” It’s easy to see why these two men were such an inspiration to Steve.
Words of wisdom from CHRIS – Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
