MEETING RECAP
Second to Last Meeting
Sunday, June 20, 2021
By: Paula T. OlsonThe Second to the Last Meeting
As President Mark started the meeting two minutes late he reminded us that it was his second to the last meeting as President. So I thought it would be good to share some pithy words of farewell in preparation for next Friday. Dr. Seuss said “Remember me and smile, for it’s better to forget than to remember me and cry.” And smile we will.
Above: Dr. Seuss smiles at Mark
Prez Mark thanked Bill Potter for standing in for him last meeting while Mark was on a mini vacation. His Honor Clint Johnson led us in a heartfelt invocation and Mark did an outstanding job of leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Those are going to be some big shoes for the President Elect to fill on that job. Kendra Riconosciuto subbed for Leanna Christian on electronics, John Lowney sitting by to collect fines and other money, and yours truly, Paula Olson tapping out the bulletin.
Before we move on to more meeting substance, what about this farewell saying. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” By T.S. Eliot. We had another short timer in our midst – District Governor Greg Horn who is also counting the days before his term ends. I wonder how Mary feels. We had a couple of guests: Shiru Osundwa, James Osundwa’s wife, Shiru, and Bob Martin. Welcome! Puffins in the house included Tom George, Steve Saalfeld and our honorary Puffin Carole Wier who put out all of her fires before she logged on, plus Carl Bronkema, James Osundwa and Wendy McGowan. For Sunshine, Rob Erb reported that Donnnnn Irwin was home and doing well and Carole Wier reported that Bob Lordahl was making progress.
Celebrating his real birthday was Jason Whalen who later reported he was 58 years old and celebrating their real anniversary were Ed and Jayne Shannon with 55 years of marital bliss even though Ed was not present at the meeting. Pres Mark read a lovely thank you letter from the Family Renewal Shelter thanking us for the $2,000 we donated to them. The letter told a story of a single mom escaping a violent relationship and how the money we gave helped her start a new and safe life with her children.
Pres Mark explained the Rotary year to uninformed members. And that recalled these words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Our fiscal year ended on June 30, 2021 and started on July 1, 2021 with a new President, a new President Elect and three new board members, new committee chairs, and new committee opportunities. The board approved the 2021-2022 budget which is available for viewing if you contact John Lowney.
Above: A goodbye kiss to Mark is timely
Pres Mark then introduced our new Program Committee Chair – Sally Porter Smith. Sally told us that we are going to do programming a little differently by getting 20 people to commit to bringing two speakers from their own community. With the wide range of interests in the club, that will be 40 very interesting topics. Sally asked everyone to think about what they would like to hear about. Sally will need an admin person to introduce the speakers and herd them around once we are in person. So call or email her if you want to get involved. Already committed are Carl Bronkema, Mark Edgecomb, Jan Gee, Anne Enquist, Paula Olson, Barlow Buescher, Andrew Neiditz, Dave Hall and Mary Jo Strom-Copland.
President Mark introduced our newest honorary member: Ward Fletcher. Ward was going to resign because of health reasons but thank goodness someone figured out how to keep him around. If anyone paid for the Rotary International Zoom Conference, see John Lowney about a refund. Fellowship events included the Installation Dinner in person at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club on Friday, June 25th starting at 5:00 pm social hour. Cost for surf and turf is $60 per person. Puffins are going to get a special invite. July 15th is the Floating Board Meeting with more information coming. The Reeder Roadster Romp is August 1 -3rd. And Greg Horn and others want to get Monday Night Football going again.
Fine time. Someone let the cat out of the bag by wanting to push Mark over some benchmark of fines but Mark was all hush hush so as not to impede fine flow. Jan Gee paid $50 for her three week vacation to Arizona, California and Oregon. Mark paid $25 for his short trip and to honor Bill Potter’s sub. Wendy McGowan paid a Greenleaf for her trip to California to see her oldest granddaughter graduate from high school at the San Francisco Giants Stadium. Jason Whalen paid for his birthday and then rounded up to $100 because he missed the past board meeting. Turns out he was in Hawaii to celebrate a friend’s mom’s 100th birthday. Barb Spriggs paid $25 each for her twin granddaughters’ high school graduation with honors. Greg Rediske paid $20 in gratitude for a grandchild’s successful heart surgery and another grandchild hitting .800 for the Little League.
And before we read about the program, here’s a little saying from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie: “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” We’ll never forget this past Rotary year in more ways than just Mark.
Above: Mark presiding from his hot tub
PROGRAM: Greg Rediske introduced Marc Blau, President of the Shanaman Sports Museum aka Tacoma Sports Museum. Marc is a 1969 Stadium High grad and he attended UPS but graduated from UW with a recreation major. He worked for the Pierce County Parks Department and was a director of Sprinker Recreation. He retired from Parks after 29 years in 2004. Marc has had a passion for sports of all kinds since he was a kid. He’s a baseball nut and reffed high school volleyball. He knows the local sports history like no one else around and he’s met the best and most talented the Pierce County area has to offer. He told story after story.
His latest venture is with the Shanaman Sports Museum, a rescue operation from the Tacoma Sports Museum that was attached to the Tacoma Dome for about 23 years. It contained all kinds of memorabilia that was packed up and stored. It was originally going to his attic but his wife was worried about theft or fire and Marc wanted to stay married so it went to storage. They are looking for an appropriate place to relocate and now enjoy a great website at: https://www.tacomasportsmuseum.com/ . Marc shared part of a wonderful video on some local sports legends going back to 1858 with the first sporting event in Tacoma being a horse race. In 1874, the Invincibles Baseball Club got started and 20 years later, the Tacoma Country and Golf Club was organized, followed by the Fircrest Golf Club in 1928. Marc told us about the first Tacomans who won Olympic medals in skiing, rowing and swimming.
Marc walked us through part of the virtual tour of the exhibits in the sports museum and told us some stories. There was a leather hockey jacket belonging to Joey Johns of the Tacoma Rockets Hockey Team. Joey wore it when he changed his car oil, did yard work and as a result, it was in bad shape. He was going to throw it out when someone took it from him, cleaned it up and put it in the museum. When Joey went to look at the exhibits, he saw the jacket and wondered whose it was. He was amazed to learn it was his.
Marc told stories about collecting soap box derby cars and athletic jerseys. He told us about recreating sports announcers. One very popular was Art Popham who recreated announcing a Tacoma Tigers played out of town. Art’s wife and a manager got information on the phone about the game and passed notes to Art who announced it as if he was sitting in the stands. Marc played a clip of that and it was absolutely astounding. There was no way to know that he wasn’t actually present at the game. Truly a lost art, one Rotarian chatted.
Marc knew some long time Lakewood Rotarians such as Tom Names who is long retired. He invested in a little company that was going to sell sports shoes and it grew into Nike. The museum has its eye on a couple of physical locations. Marc shared that Fred Shanaman was also a sports enthusiast and he donated money to make the museum happen, hence the museum’s name. Marc has kept busy doing podcasts – check out the website for the schedule. Carole Wier shared that Ted’s company (Weyersomething?) supplied some of the beams to the Tacoma Dome and noted that the late Lakewood Rotarian Jim McGranahan was the dome’s architect.
Thanks Marc for a very interesting program. And President Mark ended his second to the last meeting of his year. (It was a penultimately good one—The Ed.) Here’s a couple more quotes for next Friday: “Good-bye and hello, as always.” ? Roger Zelazny, The Courts of Chaos. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” By Dr. Seuss
Remember that if you shop online, you should do so at Amazon Smile so you can allocate a portion of your purchase to Lakewood Rotary. Also remember to tell Greg Rediske that you read the bulletin so you can get a make-up for a missed meeting.
Before we move on to more meeting substance, what about this farewell saying. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” By T.S. Eliot. We had another short timer in our midst – District Governor Greg Horn who is also counting the days before his term ends. I wonder how Mary feels. We had a couple of guests: Shiru Osundwa, James Osundwa’s wife, Shiru, and Bob Martin. Welcome! Puffins in the house included Tom George, Steve Saalfeld and our honorary Puffin Carole Wier who put out all of her fires before she logged on, plus Carl Bronkema, James Osundwa and Wendy McGowan. For Sunshine, Rob Erb reported that Donnnnn Irwin was home and doing well and Carole Wier reported that Bob Lordahl was making progress.
Celebrating his real birthday was Jason Whalen who later reported he was 58 years old and celebrating their real anniversary were Ed and Jayne Shannon with 55 years of marital bliss even though Ed was not present at the meeting. Pres Mark read a lovely thank you letter from the Family Renewal Shelter thanking us for the $2,000 we donated to them. The letter told a story of a single mom escaping a violent relationship and how the money we gave helped her start a new and safe life with her children.
Pres Mark explained the Rotary year to uninformed members. And that recalled these words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.” Our fiscal year ended on June 30, 2021 and started on July 1, 2021 with a new President, a new President Elect and three new board members, new committee chairs, and new committee opportunities. The board approved the 2021-2022 budget which is available for viewing if you contact John Lowney.
Above: A goodbye kiss to Mark is timely
Pres Mark then introduced our new Program Committee Chair – Sally Porter Smith. Sally told us that we are going to do programming a little differently by getting 20 people to commit to bringing two speakers from their own community. With the wide range of interests in the club, that will be 40 very interesting topics. Sally asked everyone to think about what they would like to hear about. Sally will need an admin person to introduce the speakers and herd them around once we are in person. So call or email her if you want to get involved. Already committed are Carl Bronkema, Mark Edgecomb, Jan Gee, Anne Enquist, Paula Olson, Barlow Buescher, Andrew Neiditz, Dave Hall and Mary Jo Strom-Copland.
President Mark introduced our newest honorary member: Ward Fletcher. Ward was going to resign because of health reasons but thank goodness someone figured out how to keep him around. If anyone paid for the Rotary International Zoom Conference, see John Lowney about a refund. Fellowship events included the Installation Dinner in person at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club on Friday, June 25th starting at 5:00 pm social hour. Cost for surf and turf is $60 per person. Puffins are going to get a special invite. July 15th is the Floating Board Meeting with more information coming. The Reeder Roadster Romp is August 1 -3rd. And Greg Horn and others want to get Monday Night Football going again.
Fine time. Someone let the cat out of the bag by wanting to push Mark over some benchmark of fines but Mark was all hush hush so as not to impede fine flow. Jan Gee paid $50 for her three week vacation to Arizona, California and Oregon. Mark paid $25 for his short trip and to honor Bill Potter’s sub. Wendy McGowan paid a Greenleaf for her trip to California to see her oldest granddaughter graduate from high school at the San Francisco Giants Stadium. Jason Whalen paid for his birthday and then rounded up to $100 because he missed the past board meeting. Turns out he was in Hawaii to celebrate a friend’s mom’s 100th birthday. Barb Spriggs paid $25 each for her twin granddaughters’ high school graduation with honors. Greg Rediske paid $20 in gratitude for a grandchild’s successful heart surgery and another grandchild hitting .800 for the Little League.
And before we read about the program, here’s a little saying from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie: “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” We’ll never forget this past Rotary year in more ways than just Mark.
Above: Mark presiding from his hot tub
PROGRAM: Greg Rediske introduced Marc Blau, President of the Shanaman Sports Museum aka Tacoma Sports Museum. Marc is a 1969 Stadium High grad and he attended UPS but graduated from UW with a recreation major. He worked for the Pierce County Parks Department and was a director of Sprinker Recreation. He retired from Parks after 29 years in 2004. Marc has had a passion for sports of all kinds since he was a kid. He’s a baseball nut and reffed high school volleyball. He knows the local sports history like no one else around and he’s met the best and most talented the Pierce County area has to offer. He told story after story.
His latest venture is with the Shanaman Sports Museum, a rescue operation from the Tacoma Sports Museum that was attached to the Tacoma Dome for about 23 years. It contained all kinds of memorabilia that was packed up and stored. It was originally going to his attic but his wife was worried about theft or fire and Marc wanted to stay married so it went to storage. They are looking for an appropriate place to relocate and now enjoy a great website at: https://www.tacomasportsmuseum.com/ . Marc shared part of a wonderful video on some local sports legends going back to 1858 with the first sporting event in Tacoma being a horse race. In 1874, the Invincibles Baseball Club got started and 20 years later, the Tacoma Country and Golf Club was organized, followed by the Fircrest Golf Club in 1928. Marc told us about the first Tacomans who won Olympic medals in skiing, rowing and swimming.
Marc walked us through part of the virtual tour of the exhibits in the sports museum and told us some stories. There was a leather hockey jacket belonging to Joey Johns of the Tacoma Rockets Hockey Team. Joey wore it when he changed his car oil, did yard work and as a result, it was in bad shape. He was going to throw it out when someone took it from him, cleaned it up and put it in the museum. When Joey went to look at the exhibits, he saw the jacket and wondered whose it was. He was amazed to learn it was his.
Marc told stories about collecting soap box derby cars and athletic jerseys. He told us about recreating sports announcers. One very popular was Art Popham who recreated announcing a Tacoma Tigers played out of town. Art’s wife and a manager got information on the phone about the game and passed notes to Art who announced it as if he was sitting in the stands. Marc played a clip of that and it was absolutely astounding. There was no way to know that he wasn’t actually present at the game. Truly a lost art, one Rotarian chatted.
Marc knew some long time Lakewood Rotarians such as Tom Names who is long retired. He invested in a little company that was going to sell sports shoes and it grew into Nike. The museum has its eye on a couple of physical locations. Marc shared that Fred Shanaman was also a sports enthusiast and he donated money to make the museum happen, hence the museum’s name. Marc has kept busy doing podcasts – check out the website for the schedule. Carole Wier shared that Ted’s company (Weyersomething?) supplied some of the beams to the Tacoma Dome and noted that the late Lakewood Rotarian Jim McGranahan was the dome’s architect.
Thanks Marc for a very interesting program. And President Mark ended his second to the last meeting of his year. (It was a penultimately good one—The Ed.) Here’s a couple more quotes for next Friday: “Good-bye and hello, as always.” ? Roger Zelazny, The Courts of Chaos. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” By Dr. Seuss
Remember that if you shop online, you should do so at Amazon Smile so you can allocate a portion of your purchase to Lakewood Rotary. Also remember to tell Greg Rediske that you read the bulletin so you can get a make-up for a missed meeting.
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