ur Rotarian of the Day today is Dolly Dixon. Born in Okemah, OK, Dolly moved to Okmulgee at an early age, where she graduated high school and attended college at OSU-Okmulgee. For 14 years, she worked in insurance and real estate. In 1966, Dolly moved to Tulsa and worked with Bryce Insurance, a family-owned business.
In 1972, Dolly married Don Thomas, which brought on a move to El Dorado, KS. Dolly and Don owned and operated the Thomas Drum Company, which reconditioned oil drums. After Don’s death, Dolly operated the drum plant until 1980. She then returned to Tulsa for family reasons and to manage their 360 acre farm in Wagoner County. She eventually returned to work for her former employer, Bryce Insurance. She retired as office manager in 1997.
Dolly met Stan Dixon (affectionately known to our club as “Mother Hen”) in 1994. They enjoyed each other’s company and travel (though not necessarily in that order). In a very romantic move, Dolly married “His Chickenship” in 2001 on the beach of Kauai in Hawaii.
Dolly also enjoyed helping Stan with his passion, the Dictionary Project. Stan passed away March 3, 2006. (By the way, Stan was a member of the Rotary Men of Note for many years.)
Dolly became one of the first female members of Southside Rotary in May 2007, and Larry Boyer proposed her for membership. Thank you, Dolly, for arranging today’s program.
This Week’s Program
The Rotary Men of Note
ur program today will be the Rotary Men of Note, a group that’s been delighting ears for 40 years.
In 1967, Jimmy Saied, a Tulsa musician, conceived the idea of a Rotary band. At the first rehearsal, only two Rotarians showed up with their instruments of choice: a guitar and a broken drum.
Saied quickly changed plans and organized a “singing table” of Rotarians at the weekly Tulsa Rotary Club meeting. His idea soon outgrew the table and the group became the Gentlemen Songsters. Slowly, the organization grew and eventually became the Men of Note. By 1971, 35 uniformed men were singing at club meetings and district conventions.
The group really came into prominence when they were invited to perform at the 1972 Rotary International Convention in Houston. Throughout the years, Rotary International delegates in San Francisco, Montreal, Kansas City, Dallas, Portland, Mexico City, Calgary, Indianapolis, San Antonio, Chicago, and Salt Lake City have been entertained and inspired by the words and harmonies of these dedicated volunteer musicians.
During a visit to Tulsa, past RI president James Lacy, a Tennessee native, heard the strains of “Rocky Top Tennessee.” He joined in singing, and still remembers the rendition to this day. Members of the organization consider themselves “almost another Rotary Club,” said Cory Nickerson, the group’s director, even through the roster is made up from ten different clubs in the Tulsa area and one club in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
In 1997, the Men of Note produced two evening concerts, which raised $14,000 for the Rotary District 6110 Medical Supplies Network. In 1999, the group was invited to perform at the district conference of Rotary District 5220 in Reno, Nevada. Before they could say “yes,” District 5190, which was having their conference in nearby Incline Village on the shores of Lake Tahoe, invited the Men of Note to perform for their conference as well.
During that same 10-day period, the group had scheduled a two-night concert with the Tulsa Boy Singers in an effort to raise $12,000 for the boys’ planned national tour. The Men of Note took the backbreaking schedule in stride. They performed five concerts in Nevada, then came back to Tulsa and sang to sold-out audiences in two joint concerts with the boys on the following Friday and Saturday.
Presently, the Men of Note continue their weekly two-hour rehearsal schedule, fine-tuning and expanding their repertoire to include everything from patriotic, Broadway, and pop to doo-wop, gospel, and Texas swing. Good music and lots of fun is the mode of operation for this group, and audiences everywhere benefit from their attitude of “Serving with a Song.”
Today’s program will be patriotic!
Southsider Quick Notes
Change of Horses and 50th Anniversary
ur 50th Anniversary and Change of Horses was another Southside success! Brett wanted everyone to know that it would not have been possible without the generous grant of time from Steve Glenn, John Haley, and Tom Wilson. Other committee members who provided lots of the memorabilia and photos were Lamp and Dolly Dixon.
The Change of Horses committee, directed by now-past president David Hughes, included Mella Glenn, Mehdi Khezri, Bob Hinton, Phil Scott, Jonathan Cox, Jessica Cox, Michelle Pierce, and Don den Daas. Each of the past presidents who contributed information about their Rotary year helped the team get the posters prepared.
Monte McNutt scanned and digitized the photographs shown during the evening. Harold Lamprich, Dolly Dixon, Jerry Ramey, Phil Scott, David Nammar and others provided many pieces of the club’s history shown around the room.
The evening’s fare was prepared by Mehdi and his team at Ti Amo’s. Mella Glenn arranged for the centerpieces and got the anniversary cake to top off the dinner. The evening’s program, prepared and delivered by Southside’s own Steve Glenn, provided a delightful look at many of our club’s accomplishments and amusing moments.
The Change of Horses capped off the evening. David Hughes presented Don den Daas with the traditional stick horse, and then Brett led in Fair, a one-year-old chocolate pinto from Black Thunder Farms. Fair is a miniature horse and she was provided with great courtesy by John and Va Lynda Black, owners of Black Thunder Farms. Don, we wanted a full-size horse, but we just weren’t sure you’d be able to get on one, so we picked the miniature.
Thank you all for attending and working together to make it such a memorable evening! The dinner was fantastic; the program was great; and I would just like to thank Brett and Steve for all of their hard work in making the Change of Horses such a success.
As a footnote, we offered to pay something to Black Thunder Farms for sharing Fair with us. However, John Black declined, saying, “You give so much to the community. I would like to give this to you for your evening.” That’s the impression Rotary makes.
Southside Rotary Foundation
t the June 27 Board of Trustees meeting for the Southside Rotary Foundation, the board granted funding for the following five projects:
• Uganda student scholarship: $1,350
• RI donation to Gates Foundation (they requested $1,000 a year for 3 years; we’re paying all up front): $3,000
• Uganda Electricity Project (part of RI matching grant): $1,000
• Springdale Parents as Teachers: $500
• Meals on Wheels: $2,500
