MEETING RECAP
A Glorious and Raucous Weekend
By Joseph F. QuinnSunday, December 10, 2023
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A Glorious and Raucous Weekend
Joe Quinn
When President Mary Horn (PMH) rang the bell at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, December 8th, we had no idea what we were in for! Eric Warn provided a serious invocation and Dave Reames led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. PMH thanked the setup Dream Team of Rob Erb, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden and James Osundwa (actually, James was out of the country so this is a reminder to PMH to fine him when he returns).
Dick Ferrell was collecting lots at the Paul Harris desk, Jan Gee served as Sergeant at Arms and Barlow Buescher staffed the raffle table. PMH recognized the Puffins in attendance and warned them ominously that she might not be so nice to them after next week. OOOOH! Bob Zawilski was taking photos, Joe Quinn is the Scribe and John Lowney, our conscientious Treasurer was minding the Cookie Jar.
Guests of Rotarians included spouses Mary Herr (Mark) and Aaron Frederickson (Cat, our Program Speaker today). Visiting Rotarian Jim Merritt of Tacoma 8 was again with us. Zoomers included Carole Wier, John Magnuson and David Swindale. Dignitaries with us: PDG Greg Horn and AG Bill Potter.
Sunshine Report: Wendy McGowan let us know that someone has kidney surgery in his near future—I think it is Bob Martin.
Paul Harris pin: Steve Enquist rose to present Mark Edgecomb with a pin sporting two rubies (or is it rubys….or maybe rubles) to recognize Mark’s eighth Paul Harris award. Special fundraiser. Greg Rediske stepped to the podium to announce the 30-30 program of the Lakewood Community Foundation (LCF). In honor of their 30 successful years in building the endowment of the foundation, Greg and their board are asking for $30. (See more from Greg below about LR generosity.) Greg briefly reviewed the LCF’s history. Started in 1993 by LR Rotarians and Clover Park Rotarian (primarily Tom Faubion) the foundation grew its endowment funds gradually. By 2005 they had amassed $150,000 but by 2023 now the fund is up to $1.2 million. Like any endowment, they only spend the interest annually, but these days that is getting substantial. They gave grants of $37,000 in the last year to many organizations we are familiar with, covering many diverse Lakewood needs. Many of the donations come in the form of memorials or through wills and other estate planning. Some LR Rotarians will recall Dave Covey and his reaction to fines levied by past presidents. Dave created the My-T-Fine Club when Dennis Shade was President (around 1991 or so right Greg) but in his typical style he would offer “$17.95.” In memory of Dave Covey, past member of LR, Gina Benesh, just provided a check to the LCF in the amount of $117.95. Nice memorial, Gina.
Which reminds the Scribe of one nice trick Dave Covey employed when he was a Bulletin Writer: he tried to list in the Lakewood Key as many members as possible, placing each name in boldface. So that explains what you have seen above and below. Dave’s goal was inclusive—every member should see their name in this bull. That means we are all active in Rotary.
Announcements: PMH thanked those who helped with candy packing for the Saturday parade, especially the Partners, but also Mark Herr, Joel Vranna, and Amelia, our Exchange student. The parade, by the way, took place on Saturday starting at 4:00 p.m. near the Park Lodge School and proceeded down Gravelly Lake Drive SW to Main Street and on to City Hall (in a driving rain!).
Bill Potter said the bike delivery will be Saturday, December 16th, starting at 11:00 am at the old Mattress Ranch store on the corner of Steilacoom Blvd. SW and Lakewood Drive.
PMH reminded us that there are no Rotary meetings on December 22nd and 29th, to allow us to recover (and Mary too) from the Tom and Jerry party and Presidential Roast on next Friday, December 15th. The January 5th meeting will be at the Pavilion in the Park, not at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club. Legislator Mari Leavitt will be our Speaker and Dick Ferrell will be the Chef with a supporting cast of sous-chefs (or sour chefs, under-chefs, and vice-chefs).
PMH reminded us of tonight’s (well last night’s now) Christmas Party, aka Mingle and Jingle, sponsored by the Partners, so see below about the festive event.
Several Cookie Jar donations were made, but it got pretty rambunctious so apologies to anyone that we either miss or inadvertently insult below! Steve and Ellen Mazoff in absentia gave a thoughtful gift of $95 in honor of Bob Peterson who turned that ripe old age recently. Linda Disney and Paula Olson came forward to bear gifts (like the Magi) to the lord and master, PMH. Both of them just returned from separate European trips in search of the best Christmas market. Linda enjoyed Berlin, whilst Paula covered Heidelberg, parts of Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria. Linda gave some Christmas bells to PMH, who quickly demonstrated that they were very hard to ring! But Paula stole the show. In Salzburg, Paula picked up some chocolate balls that (I swear) she referred to as Mozart balls. Things went downhill from there! Maybe she also gifted PMH with a little cuckoo clock and a Swiss chocolate bar, but most members just could not clear their minds of the image of Mozart’s balls being provided to our dear President! After all, he died about 200 years ago. Later it was noted that Paula gave $30 to Mr. Lowney earlier, $10 for each country and Linda threw in $20 even though she only went to one.
After things settled down, Gayle Selden announced that we are doing Break Bags distribution this coming Monday starting at 9:05 a.m. Show up on time to the bus barn area off Lakewood Drive over by the Lakewood Police station. Gayle seemed a bit flustered, so she admitted she was distracted by the image of the presentation of the Amadeus chocolate balls.
To change the pace, PMH announced that the Board meets next Friday at 11:30 am at the usual place.
The Cookie Jar continued to grow, though, as Donna and Andy Phillips paid at least $50 for their trip to Japan. Maybe they each gave $50. Carl Bronkema added $20 for a wedding anniversary. Peter Marsh donated $50 for celebrating “Marshmas” with the whole family in Washington, D.C. for the tenth consecutive year.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Leanna Albrecht introduced Tate Bloom, our December Student of the Month. Tate is a senior at Clover Park HS. He is a strong leader, who is in his fourth year in JROTC, where he currently serves as Commander. Tate is also a member of the school’s Leaders of Change. This six-week leadership program partners with Communities in Schools to prepare students for success in their senior year and beyond. These students work on leadership development, while working to improve their social, emotional, and interpersonal communications. They create a proposal for change and present that to community members, friends, and families at the end of the six-week program.
Tate, who also serves as a student rep for the school’s site council, is a member of the cross-country team. He spoke in detail about the many ways that CPHS has helped him throughout high school to develop as a young man. He thanked many, including the school principal Rene McCord, the Boy Scouts of America (Eagle Scout) and the LDS Church.
TODAY’S PROGRAM:
Donna Phillips introduced our Speaker for today, Cat Frederickson, also known as the Lady Longshoreman. In her 19th year at the port, Cat is a fourth-generation longshoreman. Initially, Cat said simply, “As longshoremen, we load and unload ships.” But then she elaborated quite a bit, explaining the highs and lows of a difficult and challenging job. She said with her experience, she gets to play many different roles on the crew, including Supervisor. As she put it, “I love telling the guys what to do.” (Maybe I am slightly misquoting her here, but an audible “Oooh” was heard from the assembled Rotarians.)
Cat described the various equipment used at the port, including the huge cranes and straddle carriers. While a lot of the work involves loading and unloading huge containers onto ships, there are some unusual tasks. One of those is moving the “cowtainers”, which apparently are containers used to transport live cows. It sounds like working on the huge equipment might be quite stressful, with the operators often having to sit in awkward positions. In the case of the cowtainers, Cat said two operators cover an eight-hour shift, with one coming in at “half time” to spell the other operator due to these stressful working conditions.
Cat described getting up (by crane it seems) on top of stacks of containers stacked about 9-10 containers high. When one considers the height of one container, that means about 90 feet off the ground. The crew member has to look between the containers to see how and exactly where to affix the cables or ropes used to move them. A bit challenging, especially if there is a coating of ice on top of the pile. Yes, this could be dangerous at times.
Cat described the entry and growth of women in the profession. She acknowledged that upper body strength, or the lack thereof, can sometimes present challenges to the lady longshoremen, but she showed one or more pictures of several lady longshoremen on the crew, so women are definitely working there. She described the longshoremen’s union as “the great equalizer.” When asked how long it takes to unload one ship, Cat said they can unload 30 containers per hour per crew. She showed one photo of a ship being unloaded by four crews operating simultaneously! Another good program by one of our own members.
Raffle drawing: As in recent days, PMH had three tickets pulled. Jacob Cuthbertson and Rick Selden won some clothing items from the Don Daniels Rotary clothing store, but that was overshadowed by Dwight Williams who grabbed the red chip for $303!
After the meeting, Greg Rediske sent in this note about the 30-30 effort: “Greg Rediske, Anne Enquist, and Nicole Hancock and the entire board of the Lakewood Community Foundation Fund thank our Rotary Club for their generosity. Again. With all the asks out there this time of the year,, our members responded with $710 to our $30 for 30 years celebration. That’s $710 that will continue to serve Lakewood forever. Thank you one and all!
THE POST-MEETING GALA:
About 75 Rotarians and guests showed up at the Rotary Christmas Party at the club on Friday night. Billed as the Mingle and Jingle party, the event was a smashing success with a lot of mingling and jingling, dancing, Christmas songs and a fabulous dinner. One of the hits of the night (for me, anyway) was the Swinging Singles (SS) table, where about 7 or 8 lady members assembled. Somehow, DGN Tony Camoroda infiltrated the SS so I kept calling it the “harem table”. Assigned photographer Bob Zawilski ran over and got some pictures so I hope he sent those to the Editor, Paula Olson. We did notice that some of the married women sneaked over and enjoyed this “most fun” table. (We caught you over there, Penny Rooks, much to the chagrin of Jim Rooks—just kidding Jim) The SS table included, if memory serves, Jan Gee, Paula Olson, Linda Disney, Barb Spriggs, Mary Marlin, Wendy McGowan and Mary Moss. Editor’s Note: Tony Camoroda was more than welcome at the SS table since he is a single too.
But the Rotary weekend was not quite over. On Saturday, December 9th, the Lakewood Christmas Parade featured John Lowney’s bright red Thunderbird convertible. 1956, right John? Pam Lowney, Rose Stevens and Troy Wilcox accompanied the parade in a driving rain. Apologies to anyone else who marched, as I am relying on three photos I saw on Facebook.
What a weekend. Suffice it to say that Lakewood Rotarians are busy and involved in Lakewood life. I counted 50 Lakewood Rotarians, past and present, who volunteered or were recognized in this bull in boldface, er bullface. Only one bullface per person to make it easier for me to count. If your name is not listed either you were not there or you had better volunteer for something, quick! If I boldfaced your name more than once, my error, but you do a lot.
Joe Quinn
When President Mary Horn (PMH) rang the bell at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, December 8th, we had no idea what we were in for! Eric Warn provided a serious invocation and Dave Reames led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. PMH thanked the setup Dream Team of Rob Erb, Tom George, Wynn Hoffman, Terry Roarke, Rick Selden and James Osundwa (actually, James was out of the country so this is a reminder to PMH to fine him when he returns).
Dick Ferrell was collecting lots at the Paul Harris desk, Jan Gee served as Sergeant at Arms and Barlow Buescher staffed the raffle table. PMH recognized the Puffins in attendance and warned them ominously that she might not be so nice to them after next week. OOOOH! Bob Zawilski was taking photos, Joe Quinn is the Scribe and John Lowney, our conscientious Treasurer was minding the Cookie Jar.
Guests of Rotarians included spouses Mary Herr (Mark) and Aaron Frederickson (Cat, our Program Speaker today). Visiting Rotarian Jim Merritt of Tacoma 8 was again with us. Zoomers included Carole Wier, John Magnuson and David Swindale. Dignitaries with us: PDG Greg Horn and AG Bill Potter.
Sunshine Report: Wendy McGowan let us know that someone has kidney surgery in his near future—I think it is Bob Martin.
Paul Harris pin: Steve Enquist rose to present Mark Edgecomb with a pin sporting two rubies (or is it rubys….or maybe rubles) to recognize Mark’s eighth Paul Harris award. Special fundraiser. Greg Rediske stepped to the podium to announce the 30-30 program of the Lakewood Community Foundation (LCF). In honor of their 30 successful years in building the endowment of the foundation, Greg and their board are asking for $30. (See more from Greg below about LR generosity.) Greg briefly reviewed the LCF’s history. Started in 1993 by LR Rotarians and Clover Park Rotarian (primarily Tom Faubion) the foundation grew its endowment funds gradually. By 2005 they had amassed $150,000 but by 2023 now the fund is up to $1.2 million. Like any endowment, they only spend the interest annually, but these days that is getting substantial. They gave grants of $37,000 in the last year to many organizations we are familiar with, covering many diverse Lakewood needs. Many of the donations come in the form of memorials or through wills and other estate planning. Some LR Rotarians will recall Dave Covey and his reaction to fines levied by past presidents. Dave created the My-T-Fine Club when Dennis Shade was President (around 1991 or so right Greg) but in his typical style he would offer “$17.95.” In memory of Dave Covey, past member of LR, Gina Benesh, just provided a check to the LCF in the amount of $117.95. Nice memorial, Gina.
Which reminds the Scribe of one nice trick Dave Covey employed when he was a Bulletin Writer: he tried to list in the Lakewood Key as many members as possible, placing each name in boldface. So that explains what you have seen above and below. Dave’s goal was inclusive—every member should see their name in this bull. That means we are all active in Rotary.
Announcements: PMH thanked those who helped with candy packing for the Saturday parade, especially the Partners, but also Mark Herr, Joel Vranna, and Amelia, our Exchange student. The parade, by the way, took place on Saturday starting at 4:00 p.m. near the Park Lodge School and proceeded down Gravelly Lake Drive SW to Main Street and on to City Hall (in a driving rain!).
Bill Potter said the bike delivery will be Saturday, December 16th, starting at 11:00 am at the old Mattress Ranch store on the corner of Steilacoom Blvd. SW and Lakewood Drive.
PMH reminded us that there are no Rotary meetings on December 22nd and 29th, to allow us to recover (and Mary too) from the Tom and Jerry party and Presidential Roast on next Friday, December 15th. The January 5th meeting will be at the Pavilion in the Park, not at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club. Legislator Mari Leavitt will be our Speaker and Dick Ferrell will be the Chef with a supporting cast of sous-chefs (or sour chefs, under-chefs, and vice-chefs).
PMH reminded us of tonight’s (well last night’s now) Christmas Party, aka Mingle and Jingle, sponsored by the Partners, so see below about the festive event.
Several Cookie Jar donations were made, but it got pretty rambunctious so apologies to anyone that we either miss or inadvertently insult below! Steve and Ellen Mazoff in absentia gave a thoughtful gift of $95 in honor of Bob Peterson who turned that ripe old age recently. Linda Disney and Paula Olson came forward to bear gifts (like the Magi) to the lord and master, PMH. Both of them just returned from separate European trips in search of the best Christmas market. Linda enjoyed Berlin, whilst Paula covered Heidelberg, parts of Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria. Linda gave some Christmas bells to PMH, who quickly demonstrated that they were very hard to ring! But Paula stole the show. In Salzburg, Paula picked up some chocolate balls that (I swear) she referred to as Mozart balls. Things went downhill from there! Maybe she also gifted PMH with a little cuckoo clock and a Swiss chocolate bar, but most members just could not clear their minds of the image of Mozart’s balls being provided to our dear President! After all, he died about 200 years ago. Later it was noted that Paula gave $30 to Mr. Lowney earlier, $10 for each country and Linda threw in $20 even though she only went to one.
After things settled down, Gayle Selden announced that we are doing Break Bags distribution this coming Monday starting at 9:05 a.m. Show up on time to the bus barn area off Lakewood Drive over by the Lakewood Police station. Gayle seemed a bit flustered, so she admitted she was distracted by the image of the presentation of the Amadeus chocolate balls.
To change the pace, PMH announced that the Board meets next Friday at 11:30 am at the usual place.
The Cookie Jar continued to grow, though, as Donna and Andy Phillips paid at least $50 for their trip to Japan. Maybe they each gave $50. Carl Bronkema added $20 for a wedding anniversary. Peter Marsh donated $50 for celebrating “Marshmas” with the whole family in Washington, D.C. for the tenth consecutive year.
STUDENT OF THE MONTH
Leanna Albrecht introduced Tate Bloom, our December Student of the Month. Tate is a senior at Clover Park HS. He is a strong leader, who is in his fourth year in JROTC, where he currently serves as Commander. Tate is also a member of the school’s Leaders of Change. This six-week leadership program partners with Communities in Schools to prepare students for success in their senior year and beyond. These students work on leadership development, while working to improve their social, emotional, and interpersonal communications. They create a proposal for change and present that to community members, friends, and families at the end of the six-week program.
Tate, who also serves as a student rep for the school’s site council, is a member of the cross-country team. He spoke in detail about the many ways that CPHS has helped him throughout high school to develop as a young man. He thanked many, including the school principal Rene McCord, the Boy Scouts of America (Eagle Scout) and the LDS Church.
TODAY’S PROGRAM:
Donna Phillips introduced our Speaker for today, Cat Frederickson, also known as the Lady Longshoreman. In her 19th year at the port, Cat is a fourth-generation longshoreman. Initially, Cat said simply, “As longshoremen, we load and unload ships.” But then she elaborated quite a bit, explaining the highs and lows of a difficult and challenging job. She said with her experience, she gets to play many different roles on the crew, including Supervisor. As she put it, “I love telling the guys what to do.” (Maybe I am slightly misquoting her here, but an audible “Oooh” was heard from the assembled Rotarians.)
Cat described the various equipment used at the port, including the huge cranes and straddle carriers. While a lot of the work involves loading and unloading huge containers onto ships, there are some unusual tasks. One of those is moving the “cowtainers”, which apparently are containers used to transport live cows. It sounds like working on the huge equipment might be quite stressful, with the operators often having to sit in awkward positions. In the case of the cowtainers, Cat said two operators cover an eight-hour shift, with one coming in at “half time” to spell the other operator due to these stressful working conditions.
Cat described getting up (by crane it seems) on top of stacks of containers stacked about 9-10 containers high. When one considers the height of one container, that means about 90 feet off the ground. The crew member has to look between the containers to see how and exactly where to affix the cables or ropes used to move them. A bit challenging, especially if there is a coating of ice on top of the pile. Yes, this could be dangerous at times.
Cat described the entry and growth of women in the profession. She acknowledged that upper body strength, or the lack thereof, can sometimes present challenges to the lady longshoremen, but she showed one or more pictures of several lady longshoremen on the crew, so women are definitely working there. She described the longshoremen’s union as “the great equalizer.” When asked how long it takes to unload one ship, Cat said they can unload 30 containers per hour per crew. She showed one photo of a ship being unloaded by four crews operating simultaneously! Another good program by one of our own members.
Raffle drawing: As in recent days, PMH had three tickets pulled. Jacob Cuthbertson and Rick Selden won some clothing items from the Don Daniels Rotary clothing store, but that was overshadowed by Dwight Williams who grabbed the red chip for $303!
After the meeting, Greg Rediske sent in this note about the 30-30 effort: “Greg Rediske, Anne Enquist, and Nicole Hancock and the entire board of the Lakewood Community Foundation Fund thank our Rotary Club for their generosity. Again. With all the asks out there this time of the year,, our members responded with $710 to our $30 for 30 years celebration. That’s $710 that will continue to serve Lakewood forever. Thank you one and all!
THE POST-MEETING GALA:
About 75 Rotarians and guests showed up at the Rotary Christmas Party at the club on Friday night. Billed as the Mingle and Jingle party, the event was a smashing success with a lot of mingling and jingling, dancing, Christmas songs and a fabulous dinner. One of the hits of the night (for me, anyway) was the Swinging Singles (SS) table, where about 7 or 8 lady members assembled. Somehow, DGN Tony Camoroda infiltrated the SS so I kept calling it the “harem table”. Assigned photographer Bob Zawilski ran over and got some pictures so I hope he sent those to the Editor, Paula Olson. We did notice that some of the married women sneaked over and enjoyed this “most fun” table. (We caught you over there, Penny Rooks, much to the chagrin of Jim Rooks—just kidding Jim) The SS table included, if memory serves, Jan Gee, Paula Olson, Linda Disney, Barb Spriggs, Mary Marlin, Wendy McGowan and Mary Moss. Editor’s Note: Tony Camoroda was more than welcome at the SS table since he is a single too.
But the Rotary weekend was not quite over. On Saturday, December 9th, the Lakewood Christmas Parade featured John Lowney’s bright red Thunderbird convertible. 1956, right John? Pam Lowney, Rose Stevens and Troy Wilcox accompanied the parade in a driving rain. Apologies to anyone else who marched, as I am relying on three photos I saw on Facebook.
What a weekend. Suffice it to say that Lakewood Rotarians are busy and involved in Lakewood life. I counted 50 Lakewood Rotarians, past and present, who volunteered or were recognized in this bull in boldface, er bullface. Only one bullface per person to make it easier for me to count. If your name is not listed either you were not there or you had better volunteer for something, quick! If I boldfaced your name more than once, my error, but you do a lot.
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