ALY SHOJI provided the Invocation, preceding it with thanking all of us for starting the year with Rotary…your actions speak louder than words. “Dear God, Grant that I may bring no tear to any eye. When this New Year in time shall end Let it be said I’ve played the friend, have lived and loved and labored here, And made of it a happy year. Amen” ALY, you have improved the words of Edgar Guest – thanks. ED JACKSON led the Pledge, plus the Four Way test, of course. President GORDON led us in God Bless America.
And so to guests – ABRAHAM CARONS brought Bade Akin-Olugbaoe (and I challenge you to spell it better!). ED JACKSON had two guests – both of whom became Speakers - Art Endo and Cy Pierce, CPA’s from Culver City. Mel Schierer was with us from Palos Verdes. Walter Lynn checked in from Santa Monica, and MARK ROGO brought his young friend, Alex De Leon.
There being only one Birthday Person present, he (PP RON LYSTER) was serenaded all by himself. This led to fines – DAVID FRIEDMAN announced the upcoming vote on leasing the parking spaces in Westwood, which is a really bad idea. The City Council will vote on it this coming Wednesday at 10 a.m, and you can vote on line - but by Wednesday! And this good work provided DAVID with a hundred buck fine. MARK ROGO reported on his recent trip to Australia and that cost him fifty bucks. And JOHN WOODALL came forward innocently enough, only to learn that his absence on his birthday cost him 5 dollars.
JOHN HEIDT reported on our recent Community Service project, serving dinner at OPCC. It went well, and everyone enjoyed themselves.
AVA PEPLOW has moved. Her new address is Windchime of Chico, 855 Bruce Rd #246, Chico, CA 95928. Do drop her a line, please.
And a well-attended meeting of the Public Relations Committee took place right after our regular meeting. Those in attendance included ABRAHAM CARONS, RICK & MARCIA BROUS (She was chairman), PP RON LYSTER, JOHN HEIDT, BRIAN WHITNEY, JOHN WOODALL, COLBY SMITH, DWIGHT HEIKKILA, ATHEN JACKSON, TERRY deSILVA, MARSHA HUNT, both PP HOMER & PP MIKE NEWMAN, ED JACKSON and YOE. We will be trying some ideas to reduce the cost of the Windmill, to see if they work.
Before we move ahead, ED JACKSON wanted to be sure that the idea of a Roast of GORDON was first suggested to him by PP MIKE NEWMAN. Also, he wanted to acknowledge all the good help from PP PETER MORE with the Power Point. This brought forth at least FIVE Speakers, plus ED himself. Maybe not in sequence, but here they are:
PP SEAN MCMILLAN, who first took it upon himself to give us some historical data on the name Fell. His research shows the name was around before the 9th Century, pronounced Fjall and describing one who lives on a mountain. Coats of Arms have been granted to the Fells, one of the unfortunate ones was Henry Fell – as one of the earliest American settlers, he is recorded as “dead in Virginia since April last”. The first spelling of the name as now known was in 1318, and you need to know this was during the reign of King Edward 11.
Fortunately, SEAN then switched to Jokes, some of which bear retelling: What’s the difference between an Irish wedding and an Irish wake? One less drunk (of course). And one more – An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman were reading a newspaper article having to do about which nationalities brains were for sale for transplant purposes. An Irishman’s or a Scotsman’s brain could be bought for L500 but an Englishman’s brain cost L10,000. “That proves,” said the Englishman, “that Englishmen are much cleverer than Irishmen or Scotsmen. ”No it doesn’t,” said the Irishman, “It just means that an Englishman’s brain has never been used.” But to be fair, SEAN concluded with the following bit of advice: “When you are arguing with a fool, make sure he isn’t doing the same thing”.
DWIGHT HEIKKILA fearlessly stepped forward, opining that he was reporting on a Fellow Flower Child of the 60’s! Gordon grew up near National and Sawtelle – he’s come a long way to where he is now – about 5400 yards. He was under the tender care of both Clark McQuay and Rev. Lloyd Ogilvie, and it seems fair to ask which caused you more pain? He graduated from Berkeley in 1969 – the only student who did that year. And judging by the hours he’s billed his clients, he’s at least 93 years old. Joined Arthur Andersen , until one day a partner called him and told him to “ship some documents to the feds.” The next day he was fired because the order was actually to “rip those documents to shreds.”During his craft talk we learned the difference between a CPA and an attorney – the CPA knows he is boring, Last week a friend described him as “shy and retiring” That is, his clients came up a few million shy and that’s why he is retiring. But this touching summary – Gordon, we do appreciate you as a Rotarian of many talents and you certainly do know how to liven up a board of Directors meeting – by not showing up!
ELLIOT TURNER had some comments, of course.
GORDON’S former colleague, Art Endo, provided some historical background. In 1986 GORDON joined their firm in Culver City. Cy Pierce and I were already members of the Culver City Rotary Club, and another CPA was a member of the Kiwanis Club – thus GORDON chose the Lion’s Club of Culver City. He quickly became an officer, and shortly thereafter president of that club. So he had been there and done that. Art then spoke of their interest in having Vacharee join the Culver City Rotary Club. That invitation still exists. So the Rotary Club of Culver City still wants Dr. Fell as a member – the Rotary Club of Westwood Village can have Mr. Fell! He concluded his remarks by pointing out that GORDON was an early expert in the usage of the new technology, including Lotus 1/2/3, WordPerfect, and Word Star.
Cy Pierce brought us back into Academia, more or less. He proceeded to show what the word Hump might mean in different circumstances. Hump month has nothing to do with sex, unless one wants it to. He likes to declare the existence of hump month just to see people’s faces – so what is Hump Day? It’s the hump of the week! He concluded with a significant question, the answer to which was of some consequence. This test features an unlikely completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision. Remember that your answer has to be honest, yet spontaneous. You are in Florida, Miami to be specific. There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding. This is a flood of Biblical proportions. You are a photojournalist working for a major newspaper and you’re caught in the middle of this epic disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless. Suddenly , you see a man floundering in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris. You move closer – somehow the man looks familiar. You suddenly realize who it is: It’s Gordon Fell! At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him under…forever. You have two options: you can save the life of Gordon or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of Westwood Rotary’s most powerful men. SO – that’s the question. Please give an honest answer. Would you select high contrast color film, or would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?
Having survived thus far, we now return to Chairman of the Day ED JACKSON, with more little-known details of GORDON’S life. On a more serious note, he served during the Vietnam War as a forward artillery observer. As you may know, that’s a dangerous position – without your “eyes” enemy movement is much easier. So you are a target, and Gordon was indeed wounded in action. However, on a more cautious note, it must be remembered that the Culver City Lions Club went under shortly after Gordon served…Were this to be the case in Westwood, we all know that impeachment would bring in ‘you know who’, so that won’t be an option. While he knows a lot of influential Chinese businessmen, that may explain his interest in Chinese cuisine. He did have a serious heart attack, and now watches his diet and works out almost daily. He loves classical music, sings and plays the piano. And of course both his wife and daughter are Orthodontists. He enjoys fine wine, but there seems to be no connection between that and the fact that he drove Rudy Alvarez nuts by disallowing his outdated makeups.
So GORDON, we now know a bit more about you – some of which may even be true – and it’s our pleasure to have you as President.
Jan 27