January 15 Dr. Jeff Bronstein January 22 DG Chuck Anderson

Next Week... January 8 Hump Day Upcoming Programs... January 15 Dr. Jeff Bronstein Parkinson's Disease and PLLUS January 22 DG Chuck Anderson visits Activities... January 20 District Breakfast - LAX Westin Hotel, 5400 W. Century Blvd.

We had one “guest”, PP JIM DOWNIE, back with us after a long bout with a blood malfunction.  MARGIE was also recognized for her exceptional care for JIM. Our Visiting Rotarian was Robert Berman, who belongs to Rotary in Jackson, Miss, but his more important connection is that he is the father-in-law of MARK BLOCK! Tall and lovely Rachel Heidt came with her proud papa, JOHN.  PP DON NELSON introduced Jin Kim, our Ambassadorial Scholar.  MARIE ROLF was also present. However, there was some sad news.  HARLAN LEWIS, who joined WVRC thirty-eight years ago and was sponsored by DON HANDY, passed away this past weekend.  Services will be private, but of course notes to Margaret would be appreciated.  I will include an earlier extensive profile of HARLAN with this newsletter. And for those of you who go back further than I do, PP BOB KENNEDY has died in Salt Lake City.  That was in October, and RALPH BEASOM has more details.

MIKE YOUSEM rose to thank all those who participated in the Christmas Shopping with the kids last week. There were 26 kids, and everyone who attended had a great time. As MIKE reminded us, it wouldn’t be possible without the help he gets from WVRC. It should be noted that the three members who helped pay for the bus were PP RON LYSTER, LEE DUNAYER, and – of all people – HARLAN LEWIS! And lets not forget that MIKE himself picks up the tab for dinner for the kids.  Various people spoke from the Head Table, including MARK BLOCK and PP CHRIS BRADFORD who welcomed PP JIM back, as we all did.  I note that those known criminal types such as JE DZUBAK, WARREN DODSON and ELLIOTT TURNER were tieless, and that elicited some kind of fine. This statement was immediately jumped on by someone, who exclaimed, “I object, that’s sexist”. SEAN’S reply, “You’re right – I am sexist.” However, he persisted, adding that the District Breakfast is next week, and a couple of slots are still open – call MARK BLOCK.

President SEAN took it upon himself to carry on with the Inspirational Hour.  This concerned an Irishman (surprise). Seems his wife woke up during the night, and he wasn’t in bed.  She heard some sort of noise in the basement, and when she got down there, she found the poor guy sobbing in the corner. And we all know that Irishmen seldom cry, unless they have been drinking. Asking him what was wrong provided the following answer: “Remember when your father caught us having sex when we were sixteen?  He told me then I had two choices – either marry you or I’d go to prison for twenty years. Well, I would have been released today”.

But that wasn’t all. He now leaped (a turn of phrase, perhaps overstated) to immediate history, asking what Irishman had achieved notoriety just now?  The answer, of course, was that Pat Harrington was declared the PGA Player of the Year, based on his winning TWO majors in 2008.  More than that, he is the first European to win since 1997, when some guy named Woods started his run.  It’s obviously hard to keep up with these turns of topic, but I’m sure you are used to them by now.

After an excellent dinner, the Santa Monica Oceanaires filed in.  There were sixteen of them, Directed by Bob Heron, and their MC was Brian Schroffel. They provided an excellent group of Christmas songs, and even allowed us to join in the chorus a couple of times.  There was a Q&A period, which, fortunately, can be forgotten.  But these guys really enjoy what they are doing, and it showed.  You can come back anytime, if YOE is the judge.

And now, as promised above, a HARLAN LEWIS retrospective (written in 1997).

—YOE, Ernie Wolfe