Our Rotarian of the Day today is Tom Wilson, our club’s current president. Tom graduated with a BSME from SMU in 1964. He worked for General Electric for four years, and then Dover/Norris Division for 13 years. He also worked for Materials Unlimited, where he was self-employed, for six years, and was a partner in Custom Sales for 16 years.

Tom retired in 2003, and then in 2004, he took a “Where’s Wilson?” trip around the perimeter of the United States. Altogether, the trip took 101 days and encompassed 19,000 miles.

Tom has been married to Laura for 35 years, and together they have four children and five grandchildren. He’s a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church and the Oaks Country Club in addition to Tulsa Southside Rotary.

TODAY’S PROGRAM

Club Assembly
Today’s program will be a club assembly.

LAST WEEK

- Our Rotarian of the Day was Ben Gorrell and our speaker was Josh Butts, who now works with Major Dan Rooney at Folds of Honor to provide scholarships for veterans and their families.

- Don’t forget: Tuesday, July 27, is primary voting day!

- New member training will be August 10 at 6 p.m. at Don den Daas’s office. If you haven’t attended one of these yet, you really need to!

- First quarter dues statements have been sent out. Check your email and pay on time!

DID YOU KNOW
You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.

Also, just to let you know, there has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY (JULY 29)
Events:
1829: Chippewa, Ottawa and Powatomi Indians cede their land in the Michigan territory to the U.S.
1921: Adolf Hitler, the future German leader becomes president of the National Socialist German Workers (NAZI) party.
1927: First electric artificial respirator is installed, at Bellevue Hospital in New York. It was developed by physicians at Harvard University and called the “Iron Lung.”
1967: Fire on USS Forrestal kills 134 people.
1981: Royal Wedding, Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.

Births:
1883: Benito Mussolini, Italian Fascist dictator. He was killed by partisans who hung his body for exhibit in Milan’s main square.
1905: Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961). He was killed in a suspicious plane crash while en route to negotiate a cease-fire between U.N. and Congolese forces. He was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1938: Peter Jennings, Canadian-born TV news reporter. (Remember him on ABC Nightly News?) He scored 100 out of 100 on the U.S. citizenship exam. He was a high school drop-out.
1956: Mike Spinks, American boxer, IBF heavyweight boxing champion (1985). He is the only light-heavyweight champion to have won a world heavyweight title.

Deaths:
1890: Vincent van Gogh, Dutch postimpressionist painter. Although his paintings now sell for millions, he sold only one during his lifetime.
1960: Richard Simon, American publisher, co-founder of the publishing house of Simon and Schuster (1924). Their first book was the world’s first crossword puzzle book.
1979: Bill Todman, American TV producer (Remember “To Tell the Truth,” “What’s My Line?”, “The Price Is Right,” and “Family Feud”?)
1983: David Niven, British Oscar-winning actor. Film: Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and The Pink Panther (1964).
1983: Raymond Massey, Canadian actor. Film: Abe Lincoln in Illnois (1940). TV: Dr. Kildare. (Dr. Gillespie).

A LOOK BACK AT AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES
Dolley Madison (1768-1849)

When Dolley Madison died in 1849 at 81, President Zachary Taylor declared: “She will never be forgotten because she was truly our First Lady for a half-century.” Few Americans would have disagreed.

She was part-time hostess for the widower Thomas Jefferson for eight years and, after that, First Lady in her own right during James Madison’s two terms as President. Even after leaving the White House in 1817, she continued to preside over lavish dinners at Montpelier in Virginia and receive a stream of visitors from here and abroad.

When James Madison died in 1836, she returned to Washington and was again a major center of attraction there until almost the very end. John Tyler’s first wife thought Mrs. Madison “added a new dimension to Washington society,” and William Dunlap, the painter, called her “the leader of everything fashionable in Washington.”

In Washington and elsewhere, people called her “Queen Dolley,” spoke of her courteoisie de Coeur, praised her White House “Squeezes,” and wanted to know “what Mrs. Madison wore” and what she served for dinner. For years she was a kind of grande dame in the nation’s capital. It was quite an achievement for a woman who began life as a Quaker.

MORE ON PAUL P. HARRIS
Paul P. Harris (April 19, 1868 – January 27, 1947) was a Chicago, Illinois attorney best known for founding Rotary International in 1905, a service organization with more than one million members worldwide.

Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but grew up in Vermont. He attended Princeton University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Iowa. For the next five years, he worked odd jobs for the newspaper, as a salesman, on fruit farms, as an actor, and on cattle ships that traveled to Europe.

He began his law practice in 1896. Harris organized Rotary “in fellowship and friendship” with three clients, Silvester Schele, Gustavus Loehr, and Henry Ruggles. By the time of his death at age 79, the club had grown to more than 200,000 members in 75 countries. The club is dedicated to “service above self.”

In his honor, individual Rotary clubs choose a Paul Harris Fellow who meets high professional and personal standards set by the founder. The fellow is honored at a fundraising dinner and receives a special certificate, a gold pin, and a gold medallion on a blue-and-gold ribbon.

QUOTES FROM WILL ROGERS
“Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. It’s when they do something is when they get dangerous.”

“All we hear is, what’s the matter with the country? What’s the matter with the world? There ain’t but one thing wrong with every one of us in the world, and that’s selfishness.”

A ROTARY MOMENT
Rotary’s first community service project took place in 1907 when Chicago Rotarians installed a public restroom outside City Hall.

SMILE FOR YOUR HEALTH
One of the healthiest things you can do is learn to smile more often.

HAZARDOUS TO OUR ECONOMIC HEALTH?
One of the most egregiously overzealous components of the Federal regulatory and enforcement apparatus is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Formed in 1970 during the Nixon Administration to combat a real and growing pollution problem, the EPA unfortunately has been a classic example of another cure that is worse than the disease.

In the name of environmental protection, it has imposed heavy-handed restrictions on businesses and individuals that are costly and that waste our nation’s resources. Many of its enforcement actions have been insensitive, unreasonable, or intended to intimidate would-be violators. It is now a felony to violate, even inadvertently, many regulations that are so complicated and ambiguous that even experts disagree on how to comply with them.

A ROTARY FACT
Rotary held its first International Assembly in Chicago in March, 1919. The annual assembly, now held in San Diego in January, prepares District Governors-elect to assume office.

MORE JULY BIRTHDAYS
Jeff Willeford: July 1, 1981
Teresa Wixson: July 31, 1968

WHAT ARE ROTARIANS?
A group of committed, dedicated individuals that can change the world.

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION
The Rotary Foundation of RI is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

NEXT WEEK’S PROGRAM
Our program next week will be about an organization called “Therapetics”. We will have a special guest. You will not want to miss this!

Our Rotarian of the Day today is Ben Gorrell. Ben is native Tulsan, born January 19, 1947. He graduated from Edison High School here in Tulsa and the University of Kansas, where he earned a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering. He also obtained a masters degree in business administration.

He is a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), and a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC). He is Vice-President of Rich & Cartmill, Inc.

He is married to Kathy, and they have been married for 40 years. They have two daughters: Charlotte (1973) and Shelley (1976), four grandsons, and one granddaughter.

Ben enjoys jogging, skiing (water and snow), snowshoeing, hunting, fishing and geography. He joined Southside Rotary on September 4, 1980, and was proposed by Bill Van Horn. He was president during the 1991-1992 Rotary year.

Ben is a member of Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church, Southern Oaks Neighborhood Association, and Independent Insurance Agents of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the USA.

Ben, thank you for being the ROD today!

This Week’s Program

Josh Butts
Our speaker today is Josh Butts. Josh served five years in the United States Army, where he spent two years in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and two years in Korea, where he was a member of the 8th Army and All-Army Track and Cross Country teams. Josh then was deployed directly to Iraq from Korea, serving one year as a Chaplain assistant and sergeant of an air assault Infantry Unit in Anbar Province in 2004.

Josh then moved to Tulsa and started training to re-gain his athletic scholarship at the University of Tulsa in track and field, a scholarship that was lost after a one-year involuntary extended service in the Army. After 18 months of training, Josh earned his scholarship back at TU, where he went on to graduate in 2 1/2 years with honors with a degree in graphic design and advertising. During this time, he also met his future wife. Erin and Josh were married in June 2009.

Josh recently started working with the Folds of Honor Foundation as a logistics manager and graphic designer. He also helps manage the Patriot Golf Course, and is the creator, chief editor, and designer for “The Eagle” newsletter. Josh’s position is unique in that he works directly with Major Dan Rooney, implementing his intent for both the Folds of Honor Foundation and the Patriot Golf Course.

Josh, thank you for being our speaker today! We’re looking forward to it.

A LOOK BACK AT AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES
Martha Jefferson (1749-1782)
Thomas Jefferson was a widower. When he became President in 1801, his wife, Martha, had been dead nineteen years. During his two administrations, Dolley Madison, Secretary of State James Madison’s vivacious wife, frequently acted as hostess at presidential dinners, and their eldest daughter Martha (Patsy) also helped out on occasion. She got the eye of Thomas.

Martha Jefferson, six years younger than her husband, was by all accounts attractive and agreeable. “A little above middle height,” Sarah Randolph, her great-granddaughter, described her, “with a lithe and exquisitely formed figure…a model of graceful and queenlike carriage…well educated for her day, and a constant reader.”

An officer on Baron de Riedesel’s staff who visited Monicello in January, 1779 found her “in all respects a very agreeable, sensible & accomplished Lady”, and the Marquis de Chastellux, who met her in the spring of 1782, called her “a mild and amiable wife.” But she remains a shadowy figure. After her death in September 1782, Jefferson destroyed all her correspondence and rarely spoke of her thereafter.

CONFIDENCE
Is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking the tartar sauce with you.

A ROTARY MOMENT
If you joined Southside and chose to progress, perhaps to a club officer, club president, even district governor or Rotary International president, you will learn leadership skills that you can use in your work for the rest of your life. This is how it happened to me.

Also, when you go to a Rotary club meeting, you will interact with people from a broad spectrum of businesses and professions. It is a valuable membership benefit to be able to mix, and become friends with, people with knowledge and influence beyond your own industry. And because Rotarians enjoy helping other Rotarians, the chances are they will ask you to share your expertise. At the same time, you will have a rich reservoir of information available on subjects you are not yet familiar with.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily.

TODAY
Is the day our International President, Ray Klinginsmith, will be speaking to the Rotarians of District 6110 at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers, Arkansas. He is one great speaker!

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Absolutely ridiculous! Protecting the ozone and arresting global warming is so important to the Environmental Protection Agency it is even researching the impact of cow belches and flatulence on global warming.

LIFE AND TIMES OF PAUL HARRIS
One day in the fall of 1900, Paul P. Harris met attorney Bob Frank for dinner in a well-off neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. They took a walk around the area and stopped at shops along the way. Harris was impressed by how Frank had made friends with many of the shopkeepers.

Since moving to Chicago to set up his law practice, Harris had not encountered the kind of camaraderie that Frank enjoyed with his fellow businessmen. He wondered whether there was a way to channel and expand this type of fellowship, which reminded him of the New England town where he’d grown up.

“The thought persisted that I was experiencing only what had happened to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others in the great city…I was sure that there must be many other young men who had come from farms and small villages to establish themselves in Chicago…Why not bring them together? If others were longing for fellowship as I was, something would come of it.”

Eventually, Harris persuaded other local businessmen to meet and discuss forming a club for commercial trade, community, and fellowship. His vision laid the foundation for the Rotary of today.

A WILL ROGERS QUOTE
“The Republicans mopped up, the Democrats gummed up, and I will now try and sum up. Things are terribly dull now. We won’t have any more serious comedy until Congress meets.”

DID YOU KNOW THAT…
Rotary’s first convention held in the Southern Hemisphere was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1948.

I BELIEVE THIS
Often times, a small change in attitude will make a huge change in someone’s life.

DUES
First quarter dues are due at this time.

A LITTLE HUMOR

Why did the guy bury his horse on a hillside?

Because he was dead!

PROPOSED NEW MEMBERS
Russ Robinson has proposed two people for membership into Southside. They are:
Jordan Taylor
Jerry Taylor
Classification, Financial Services
Should you have any objections, please let them be known to our president, Tom Wilson

GET UP AND GET MOVING
I think many people today have lingering disorders. Their maladies may not be physical; they may be emotional, but they are deep-seated, lingering disorders nonetheless. They could stem from being unwilling to forgive, holding on to past resentments, blaming the past for their behavior, or other emotional wounds.

These lingering disorders can affect your personality, your relationships, and your self-image. Just as the man lying by the pool, some people sit back year after year, waiting for a miracle to happen, waiting for some big event to come along to make everything better. I say get up and get moving…

ANOTHER ROTARY MOMENT
Violin virtuoso and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman and the New York Philharmonic played to a sold-out audience recently at a concert to help end polio. “There’s no reason anyone should get this disease,” said Perlman, who contracted polio at age four and overcame physical challenges to become one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. This concert raised over $100,000.00 for Rotary International’s fight against this dreaded disease.

HOW ABOUT THIS?
There is only one good substitute for the endearment of a sister, and that is the endearment of some other fellow’s sister.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY (JULY 22)
1933: First around-the-world solo flight is completed by Wiley Post in the Winnie Mae. The flight began on July 15. (He died two years later in a plane crash in Point Barrow, Alaska, with Will Rogers.)
1991: Jeffrey Dahmer: Milwaukee police find human body parts in his apartment. He admitted to killing and dismembering 17 men.
2003: Iraq War: American Troops kill Saddam Hussein’s two sons, Uday and Qusay, during a raid on a home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Birthdays
Danny Glover, Actor (1946)
Alex Trebek, Game Show Host (1940)
Bob Dole, Politician (1923)
Rose Kennedy, Mother of President Kennedy (1890)

Deaths
John Dillinger, Outlaw (1934)
Florenz Ziegfeld, Creator of Ziegfeld Follies (1932)
Carl Sandburg, Poet (1967)

ANOTHER WILL ROGERS QUOTE (You can probably tell, I like Will Rogers)
“A wife is the cheapest thing you can get in the long run in the female line.”

NEXT WEEK’S PROGRAM
Will be a Club Assembly with our President, Tom Wilson being the “Rotarian of the Day.”

Our Rotarian of the Day is Bryan Osbourne. Although born in Springfield, MO on September 21, 1962, Bryan grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. He has a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, AR and a M.S. in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.

After spending 20 years in both the public and private sector positions, he decided to pursue his dream of owning his own business. After much thought and prayer, his passion for education led him to open the first Huntington Learning Center in Oklahoma here in Tulsa. Huntington Learning Center is the oldest provider of individualized instruction in the nation. Huntington specializes in reading, writing, math and study skills for students in K through 12. They also provide ACT and SAT test prep for the college-bound.

He remains happily married to his beautiful bride of 22 years, Sabrina, and they have two amazing kids, Katie, 12 and Ben, 9 – who you have seen at the meeting before!

Bryan is an active member of Fellowship Bible Church where he teaches 7th/8th grade as well as adult classes. He is also a member of the Tulsa Metro Chamber and serves on the Education Committee and in the Hospitality Club.

Bryan joined Southside Rotary in the fall of 2009, and was proposed for membership by Jack Koehle.

Bryan, thank you for being our ROD today! It’s good to have you in the club.

This Week’s Program

Chad McLeod
Our speaker today is Chad McLeod of the Tulsa Rampage. He is a former professional hockey player, a goaltender, who backstopped teams to success in the U.S. and England. The Toronto native received a career ending head injury in 1999 that lead him to begin coaching young players who dream of playing at the levels he’s achieved.

The concept of “Junior” teams is not one that is familiar to most Oklahomans, but is a simple one. In the U.S., hockey players don’t go directly to college from high school as they do in football, basketball, or other mainstream sports. Because high schools don’t have the programs, USA Hockey adopted Canada’s Junior hockey approach, where elite players between the ages of 16 and 20 are recruited or drafted by teams where they are developed and marketed to the NCAA. MacLeod accomplishes this as the head coach of Oklahoma’s only Junior team – the Tulsa Rampage.

His success is widely heralded throughout USA Hockey, as the Rampage have consistently advanced significantly more players than the national average for Junior teamss while under MacLeod’s direction. In addition to advancing players to the NCAA, four players from MacLeod’s first team, who have now graduated from college, have professional contracts. In a country where less than 1 percent of players from the entire nation will make it to the professional level, to have four from the same team achieve that success is a testament to MacLeod’s ability to train and market players to higher levels.

MacLeod has helped turn the Tulsa Rampage training program into one of the nation’s premier Junior hockey programs by including all the aspects necessary for a player’s success. They are not only trained on the ice and in the gym, but also have strict academic and community service requirements. They receive classroom instruction on a variety of subjects, ranging from hockey video analysis and NCAA requirements to life skills training thus fulfilling MacLeod’s goal – “We’re not just teaching them about hockey,” he says. “We’re teaching them about life.”

A LOOK BACK AT AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES
Abigail Adams (1744-1818)

When Abigail Adams was asked late in life whether she would have wanted her husband to go into politics had she know it would mean years of separation from him, she replied in the affirmative. “I feel a pleasure,” she explained, “in being able to sacrifice my selfish passions to the general good, and in imitating the example which has taught me to consider myself and family but as the small dust of the balance, when compared with the great community.”

Abigail Adams was the first woman to be both the wife and mother of a President. (Barbara Bush joined this rank in 2000.) She took satisfaction in her son John Quincy’s steady rise in public life, and, though she didn’t live to see him become President, she was delighted when President Monroe made him Secretary of State, a stepping stone to the Presidency, in 1817.

Women were, she knew, expected to be good wives and mothers, and Abigail, for all her “sauciness” (John’s term), was conscientious about her womanly responsibilities. But she also struck off on her own at times, and both John and John Quincy were well aware of her unusual abilities.

The Adamses were the first to live in what eventually came to be called the “White House” after the capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington in the fall of 1800. Mrs. Adams found the location of the President’s new house magnificent, but complained about the climate and the unfinished state of the Executive Mansion. Only six rooms were completed, she discovered, the stairs were not up, there were no call bells to summon servants, and the place was so cold and damp she had to keep thirteen fires going to make the place tolerable.

“We have not the least fence, yard or other conveniences without,” she wrote her sister, “and the great unfinished audience room I make a drying-room of, to hang clothes in.” Still, she was hopeful. “It is a beautiful spot.” she acknowledged, “capable of improvement, and the more I view it, the more I am delighted with it.” Besides, “this Home is built for ages to come.”

THIS DAY IN HISTORY (JULY 15)
1957 – EDSEL: The first official day of production of the automobile that would come to symbolize a flop in popular culture.
1954 – First flight of the Boeing 707 capable of flying 21 passengers at 600 mph.
1881 – Jesse James commits his last murders when he kills a railroad engineer and a passenger while he and his gang, including his brother Frank, were holding up a train near Winston, Missouri.

A QUOTE
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
— Author Unknown, But Greatly Appreciated!!!!!

WILL ROGERS QUOTES
“You’ve got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.”

“Republicans want a man that can lend dignity to the office. Democrats want a man that will lend some money.”

HOW TRUE, HOW TRUE
“If you look for beauty, you’ll find it. Look for imperfections, you’ll find them too.”

ABOUT PAUL HARRIS
On a bitterly cold night in February 1905, a young lawyer named Paul P. Harris went to dinner with his new friend Silvester Schiele. Silvester was just about his only friend in the big city of Chicago, and so Paul was very lonely. He had grown up in the tiny Vermont village of Wallingford, where everybody knew one another, where one’s word was one’s bond and where merchants and customers greeted one another by name.

Because of family circumstances, he had been raised by his grandparents, and they had taught him to be tolerant, respectful, hardworking, and honest. When he graduated from law school and arrived in the teeming metropolis of America’s second-largest city, he was utterly shocked at what he found.

(To be continued…)

DID YOU KNOW THAT…
The first year that The Rotary Foundation received total contributions of US$1 million in a single year was 1964-1965. In 2004-2005, about $85 million was given to the Annual Programs Fund. Contributions since 1917 total about $1.7 billion.

DUES ARE DUE
Your first quarter dues are due at this time. You will be receiving the quarterly invoice. Please take care of this as soon as possible. Thank you.

A SPECIAL EVENT
On July 22, 2010, our International President, Ray Klinginsmith will be speaking from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers, Arkansas. This is the first time our District (6110) has hosted a sitting Rotary International President while he is in office. Mr. Klinginsmith is a gifted speaker. You will not want to miss this one. Our District Governor, Wallace Williams, is urging members to attend.

A ROTARY MOMENT
John Kenny, Past President of Rotary International, recently said “There is so much we can do as Rotarians that will mean so much to others. And as important as it is to give material assistance – to help in the areas of water, health and hunger, and literacy – it is equally vital that we give that help freely, with true caring for others. Because often, simply caring is what helps others most of all.”

WE HAVE A NEW INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
Ray Klinginsmith is the 100th President of Rotary International. He resides in Kirksville, Missouri. Recently he said, “Rotary lives and breathes in our 33,000 clubs, and it is the clubs that improve lives by Building Communities – Bridging Continents – the new theme of Rotary International for the 2010-2011 year.

If we succeed in helping clubs to become Bigger, Better, and Bolder in the next year, then it will be clear that the best days of Rotary are still ahead. We are fortunate to be Rotarians! Together, we can make the world a better place!”

FUTURE ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS
New Orleans: May 21-25, 2011
Bangkok, Thailand: 2012
Lisbon, Portugal: 2013
Sydney, Australia: 2014
Sao Paulo, Brazil: 2015
Seoul, Korea: 2016

THANKS TO:
Lynn Fesperman, John Benjamin, Larry Boyer and Glenn Burnett for participating in last week’s program. They are all Past Presidents and gave highlights of their year as President. If you missed the program, you really missed out.

A JOB WELL DONE
I thought our new President, Tom Wilson, did a terrific job last week, how about you?

Also, Tom apparently owns a cap that has a beer opener on it. Who knew?

RESIGNATIONS
Sadly, we had three members resign before the start of the new Rotary year: Bob Winters, Ben Estes, and Jack Koehle. However, we had a new member join us at the Change of Horses: Gwen Goff! We’re glad to have you in the club, Gwen!

FISHING FOR FUN”DS”
Instead of fines, Tom has instituted a new policy of “Fishing for Fun’ds’.” Whenever you want to make an announcement, drop a dollar (or more) in the fishing net that gets passed around. We learned a lot about what’s been going on in the lives of our members last week!

NEXT WEEK’S PROGRAM
Rotarian of the Day: Ben Gorrell
Speaker: Southside’s own Josh Butts who will be speaking about his new role in Major Rooney’s “Folds of Honor” Program. You do not want to miss this program.

Our Rotarian of the Day today is John Benjamin. John is now retired after spending over 40 years in financial marketing and sales. Before he retired, he was Area Sales Manager for Capital One Auto Finance, a Division of Capital One Financial. Prior to joining Capital One, he was Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Tulsa’s Western National Bank.

John’s volunteer involvement in the Tulsa area is extensive. Since 1968, he has served in leadership positions with over 30 Tulsa non-profit Boards, Commissions and Civic Organizations. Also, he served the Tulsa City Council from 1990-1996 and was Chairman in 1995. He is the Co-Founder of the Oklahoma Special Olympics and Oklahoma Walk for Mankind.

John has been a member of Southside Rotary since 1982. He has served Southside as President, Secretary, Director and Chairman of the Southside Rotary Foundation. During the year John was President,m Southside Rotary was awarded #1 club in District 6110 which at the time was the largest Rotary District in the world. He has been awarded RI’s Paul Harris Fellow four times and Southside’s Bill Crews Community Service Award two times.

John successfully chaired two major community development projects for Southside Rotary, the Langenheim Park Murrah Memorial Children Playground which Southside was awarded the Tulsa Park Department Council Oaks Award and the past two years Southside’s Biscuit Acres Dog Park at Hunter Park recently named the #24th “Best Dog Parks” out of approximately 2,000 dog parks in the U.S. by the national publication Dog Fancy Magazine. Both projects raised approximately $150,000.00 in community donations toward project completion.

John has been married to his wife, Laura, for 23 years. They have two married daughters, Piper & Katie, and three grandchildren; Carmen, Beatty and Sloan. In his leisure time, John enjoys golf, spectator sports, trout fishing, white water rafting, snow skiing and vacation travel.

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

TODAY’S PROGRAM
Today’s program will be some past presidents of Southside giving some highlights of their year as president. This is always a fun program, one that you will enjoy. If you are not present, you will miss an entertaining program.

A LOOK BACK AT AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES
Martha Washington (1731-1802)

There was nothing high-falutin’ about America’s very First Lady. She was, said an acquaintance, “simple, easy, and dignified”. She was called “Lady Washington”, dressed plainly in homespun garb and loved knitting stockings for the soldiers.

Martha Washington was born Martha Dandridge in June, 1731. She came up the easy way. The daughter of a wealthy Virginia planter. As a child she did the things rich girls did, studied with a tutor, embroidered, played the spinet and rode horseback. She began moving in high society when she was fifteen.

Martha was solicitous of her husband on all social occasions. She never permitted guests to talk politics and when visitors tried to draw her out on public issues she tactfully steered them to non-controversial topics. She also saw to it that her husband did not stay up too late. When the clock struck nine, she was in the habit of telling guests: “The general always retires at nine o’clock, and I usually precede him.”

She called her days as the President’s wife her “lost days.” On May 11, 1802 after seventeen days of illness, she died at the age of seventy-one.

Observed the Port Folio of her passing: “To those amiable and Christian virtues which adorn the female character, she added the dignity of manners, superiority of understanding, a mind intelligent and elevated. The silence of respectful grief is our best eulogy.”

THIS MONTH’S BIRTHDAYS
Billy Ward
Glenn Burnett
Randy Sullivan

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY (June 29 – July 5)
June 29, 1995: U.S. Space Shuttle docks with Russian Space Station
June 30, 1936: Gone With the Wind published
July 1, 1997: Hong Kong returned to China
July 2, 1964: President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act
July 3, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg ends
July 4, 1776: United States declared independence
July 5, 1946: Bikini introduced

A ROTARY MOMENT
In June, the Rotary International Convention in Montreal, Quebec, Canada concluded. The International Convention is Rotary at its best, Rotarians coming together to enjoy congenial fellowship while discussing the more serious business of service.

It has been said many times, that you cannot truly appreciate the internationality of Rotary until you attend a convention. There were Rotarians attending from more than 100 countries, speaking dozens of different languages, but all were eager to communicate with with words, smiles and laughter, effectively bridging any cultural or linguistic differences. I will never forget my first International Convention in the Republic of Singapore. What an experience.

A WILL ROGERS COMMENT
About Government and Politics: “A flock of Democrats will replace a mess of Republicans… It won’t mean a thing. They will go in like all the rest of ‘em. Go in on promises and come out on alibis.”

HOW ABOUT THESE APPLES?
“If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise.”

ABOUT AGING…
Is it common for people over sixty to have problems with short-term memory storage? Storing memory is not the problem, retrieving it is. We all get heavier as we get older because there’s a lot more information in our head. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

A QUOTE
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

DUES ARE DUE
The first quarter dues are due at this time.

DISTRICT 6110 HAS A NEW GOVERNOR
Wallace Williams is the new Governor for our District (6110) for the 2010-2011 Rotary year. He will be visiting our club in December.

WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT
On Wednesday evening, June 30, 2010 the Rotary Club of Southside Tulsa installed a new president for the 2010-2011 Rotary year. Tom Wilson is the man. Let us all get behind Tom and have the greatest year ever in the history of Southside. WE CAN DO IT…….. Congratulations Tom.

LAST WEEK…
At the Change of Horses, we inducted a new member, Gwen Goff! Gwen, we’re glad to have you in the club.

We also awarded the Bill Crews Community Service Award and the Roy Gardner Vocational Service Award at the Change of Horses. Corey Williams, the executive director of Sustainable Tulsa, won the Bill Crews Community Service Award, and we awarded the Roy Gardner Vocational Service Award to Ken Bays. His widow, Roz, was there to accept.