ur Rotarian of the Day this week is Lynn Fesperman. Born in Colorado in December 1957, Lynn’s family sought a warmer climate and moved to Tulsa in 1970. He attended Horace Mann Junior High, which was later converted to a halfway house for convicts. Now it’s a parking lot for TCC downtown.

He started high school at Holland Hall, but his parents wanted to live in the country. Thus, a month after getting his driver’s license, Lynn’s parents uprooted the poor boy and moved 5 miles north of Bristow.

However, not all was lost, as it was at this new high school that Lynn met his wife, Susan. The first time he drove by himself at night was to take her to the drive-in movie. They married in 1985 and have one son, Payton, who will be a senior at Bishop Kelley.

Lynn graduated from Wesleyan University in 1979 with a B.A. in mathematics and physics, and then got a B.S. in industrial engineering from Oklahoma State. For 9 years, he was a manufacturing consultant for Arthur Andersen, and quit on his son’s birth date because he didn’t want to move to Orange County and travel as much as he had been. He acquired GT Industries of Oklahoma in 1991.

An active member of his community, Lynn has been involved with many groups outside of Rotary, including Tulsa Boy’s Home, Leadership Tulsa, Street School, United Way Allocations and Call Rape. Currently he is only active on DVIS/Call Rape. Lynn is a past president of Southside, serving during the 2005-2006 year. Now he is a trustee of the Southside Rotary Foundation.

His hobbies include golf, tennis, and keeping up with his son’s and wife’s activities (his son is a state champ in tennis, and his wife is active raising funds for social agencies and Bishop Kelley, and spending funds for the Fesperman family).

Thank you, Lynn, for arranging today’s program.

This Week’s Program

James Dunn

Our speaker today is James Dunn, chairman of board of directors for Mill Creek Lumber and Supply Company.

Jim was born in Tulsa, Okla., on March 23, 1942. He graduated from Will Rogers High School in 1960. He graduated from Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo., in 1964 with a degree in engineering physics. That wasn’t enough for Jim, so he went to Palo Alto, Calif., to attend Stanford University and received a master’s in business administration in 1966.

Jim is very active in civic affairs. He is the vice chairman for Tulsa Industrial Authority, advisory director for the Arkansas River Corridor Development, advisory director of the Foundation for Tulsa Public Schools, advisory director for Commerce Bank of Tulsa, director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, advisory director for the UP WITH TREES organization in Tulsa, OK, Member of the Rotary Club of Tulsa.

He is the immediate past:

• Chairman Tulsa Metro Chamber of Commerce (2002)
• Chairman of Board of Trustee for the Rotary Club of Tulsa (2001)
• Director of INCOG (Indian Nations Council of Government) (2002)
• Director of Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce (2002)
• Advisory Director Tulsa Vision 2025 (2002-2004)
• Member Oklahoma Judicial Nomination Committee (2000-2006)
• Chairman Tulsa Community College Foundation (2007)

Jim married Barbara Smith on August 21, 1965. They have two children, Jeffrey Thermon Dunn (1967) and Jamie Lynn Kruft (1970), and 6 grandchildren (3 grandsons and 3 granddaughters.)

Jim’s topic today will be the Federal Reserve Banking System. Jim, thank you for being with us today. The Southside Rotary Club welcomes you.

Southsider Quick Notes

Last week…
- The ROD last week was Tom Wenrick, and we had an excellent presentation from Pastor Dixie Pebworth.

- Keith James received his third Paul Harris Fellow award. Congratulations, Keith!

- Don’s started a new series for us called Presidential Moments. Past presidents will come up and tell us about what happened during their year as president of Southside Rotary. It’s really cool, especially for us newer members who have missed out on a lot of the craziness by virtue of being way too young to have been a part of Rotary at that time.

John Benjamin was the first past president to talk. Here’s some of what went on while he was in office, in 1987 and 1988:

• Did a reverse draw that raised $20,000
• Started the Rotary Olympics
• Had Fred Parkhill bring out a 500 lb. Bengal tiger
• Featured a memory expert
• Adopted a Rotary club

Sounds like 1987 and 1988 were great years to be in Southside!

- We added a new member to the club: Major Meek. Welcome, Major!