ur “Rotarian of the Day” today is Larry Gilbert. Larry was born July 5, 1953, in Tulsa, the youngest of three boys. He was an OTASCO Bonus Baby, which earned his mom and dad, Calvin and Neva Gilbert, a total bonus of $50.00.
Larry grew up in Tulsa, graduating from Nathan Hale High School in 1971. He lettered in cross country and track and sang in the Nathan Hale Concert Choir. He met his wife in 1970, while she attended Memorial High School, and they married on July 24, 1971. They have been blessed with two children, Keela and Kyle, and six grandchildren.
Larry attended and graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1975. He started working for OTASCO while in college and in 1980 became a store manager in Woodward, Oklahoma.
In 1983, he decided to make a career change and began working with Sherwin-Williams Paint Company as a store manager in Seminole, Oklahoma. He subsequently moved to various locations with Sherwin-Williams throughout his 23.5 years with them, managing a total of six different facilities.
Larry won two sales trips through Sherwin-Williams, one going to Nassau, The Bahamas and the other to Cancun, Mexico. He now manages a wholesale paint facility for Sherwin-Williams, selling paint solely to manufacturing firms in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.
In 1987, he was invited to join Rotary, and has been a member of five different clubs. In 1988, he was asked to join the Rotary Men of Note and has been a member ever since.
Larry has said, “I have even been fortunate to have been able to sing a couple of solo parts with them in front of several thousand Rotarians during the Sunday morning Ecumenical Services at the Basilica in Mexico City and the 100th Anniversary Convention in Chicago. Experiences that I will never forget.”
Larry, thank you for arranging today’s program.
This Week’s Program
Classification Talks
ur speaker today is Cory Nickerson. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University and holds a bachelor of music education degree with continuing education in sales, motivation, human resource management, and accounting.
Cory is married to LaDonna Osborn and has spent 30 years in ministry-related administration and management with Osborn International. He is currently the international finance manager for the ministry.
A member of the Rotary Club of Tulsa for 15 years, Cory is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, a Benefactor, a Community Fellow and a Medical Supplies Network Ambassador. He also directs the Rotary Men of Note.
He has chaired the Adopt-a School-Committee, the Camp Enterprise Committee, and is Competition Administrator for the Crescendo Music Awards which has awarded nearly $225,000 to serious high school and college musicians over the past 10 years.
Cory currently serves as president for the Rotary Club of Tulsa, and says he is looking forward to his first year as past president in 2009-2110.
Today, Cory will be discussing the PolioPlus program of Rotary and telling his own story about polio. “Truly the jewel in our crown is what we call PolioPlus. It is Rotary’s gift to the world. We have immunized two billion children against polio since 1988 and have reduced the number of polio cases by more than 90 percent.”
Cory, thank you for being with us today. The Southside Rotary Club welcomes you.
Southsider Quick Notes
Last week…
- Our ROD last week was John Benjamin, and we had four members give classification talks: Jack Koehle, Donna Petty, David Nammar, and Brett Brough.
- Dolly Dixon has cancer, and she has started radiation. Please keep her in your prayers.
- Ben Estes’s son, Benny, died of a heart attack Jan. 31. Let’s keep Ben and his family in our prayers.
- Donna Petty presented Bob Hinton with his first Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations, Bob!
- We’ll have the slate of officers ready soon.
- We have a proposed member this week: Janice Nicklas, Non-Profit Director, proposed by Tom Wilson.
- Also, come on out to the south parking lot of Hunter Park this Saturday, Feb. 7. We’ll be meeting there at 11 a.m. (with dogs in tow) to check out the area that will become Biscuit Acres.
- An update on Biscuit Acres:
- We have letters of support from two people, and we’re waiting on one from the mayor. Once we’ve got that, we’ll be ready to send out the proposal packets.
- There are two main committees that need chairpeople:
- The committee to circulate donation canisters at vets and pet supply stores. This committee will also need to plan the grand opening of Biscuit Acres.
- The committee to plan the Black Tie Bolo, our fundraising dinner on March 19.
- Next week, we’ll have a Four-Way Test Speech Contest for our program!
