MEETING RECAP
District Governor bill McGregor: Just Show Up
By Donn Irwin
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District Governor Bill McGregor: Just Show Up
Donn Irwin
Following on the heels of last week’s rather “pucky” Key and in keeping with the sports activity of our current President, Carl Bronkema (PCB), this writer will chat about golf. Oh, and will mention a few things about what the Governor had to say as well.
Tim, an employee of Carl’s, knew his boss was out of the office for the day. Tim had the brilliant idea to transfer all of his office telephone calls to his personal cell phone and took it with him to play golf. Carl called Tim on the sixth hole and asked, how is everything going today? Trying to keep his composure and muffle the ambient outside noise, Tim responded, Everything’s great. All under control, boss. That’s great, his boss replied. Could you do me a favor? Sure, Tim said. What do you need? Could you move a little faster? I'm in the foursome behind you.12:30PM rolled around, the walk-up noise stopped and President Carl called our meeting to order. Said President was bedecked in tie and coat. The basics: The esteemed Joseph Quinn Esq was called upon to lead us in the flag salute. We sang our National Anthem AND the Canadian Anthem in honor of our guest speaker, District Governor Bill McGregor. Shiru Osundwa gave the invocation. Steve Enquist was at the Paul Harris table and Chuck Hellar collected raffle ticket money and acted as our SAA. Don Daniels was at the greeting table passing out Wine a Little – Win a Lot raffle tickets. Don’t forget to sell a bunch of those bad boys cuz this is how we raise the dollars to give back to the community.
Speaking of bad boys, the notorious Rob Erb gang was lauded by PCB for their collective efforts in setting up our meeting and specifically for having both national anthems up on the screen so we could sing along by following the bouncing ball. Besides Mr. Erb, the gang included Tom George, James Osundwa, Terry Roarke and Rick Selden.
1-17-1773 – Captain James Cook is the first to cross the Arctic Circle
The guy capturing the images was Walt Richardson and your scribe for the day, Donn Irwin.
Congratulations to all of you once again as the Paul Harris table took in $890.00 for the day!!
PCB called on the Puffins to stand and be recognized, I believe three Puffins stood.
Connie Coleman-Lacadie introduced Syl Wies of the American Red Cross and Chad Smith.
Greg Rediske introduced Tiffany Holman (Tiffany should be a new member next Friday)
Our speaker’s wife, Barbara McGregor joined us as well. It appears our only visiting Rotarian was Bill McGregor himself.
1-17-1821 – Mexico permits James Austin and 300 families to settle in Texas.
PCB was lamenting that his golf game is so bad, he had to get his ball retriever regripped.
Zoomers: Barb Spriggs, Carole Wier, Charles Heberle, Tori Murphy and Dave Swindale with Joe Walsh coming on late.
Steve Enquist presented three folks with Paul Harris awards: DGE Tony Camoroda, AG Bill Potter and Terry Roarke.
PCB asked his golf instructor: You think my golf game is improving?
His instructor said: Yes. You miss a lot closer now.
1-17-1871 - 1st cable car patented, by Andrew Smith Hallidie in the US begins service in 1873.
There were a few announcements. Don Daniels reminded everyone to get busy selling those Wine a Lot raffle tickets and again asked for two more volunteers to help him – especially in March. Scott Casebolt thanked the Puffin crew for their work on the Presidential Roast and let the club know that the Puffins have selected Shop with a Cop as the place that the $3,055.00 dollars they raised will go. The money has to go through the Lakewood Police Officers charity so he asked for a motion for that to happen. A motion was made, seconded and we voted to approve the expenditure.
Now that PCB is older, he was heard to exclaim: “I’ve been playing golf for 50 years and I swear that the holes are moving.”
1-17-1893 - Queen Liliuokalani is deposed by an American coup, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
Connie Coleman-Lacadie announced the number of responses from the survey the club members were asked to participate in. We had a 47% response. She will be passing along the results of the survey to the Board. It appears we have gotten a few speakers from the survey as well. Connie also brought a motion for the group to authorize a down payment on the McGavick Center for our upcoming event. The motion was granted and approved. Bill Potter got us to pass and approve a motion and payment to the Lakewood Baseball Club for $2,500.00
1-17-1920 – 1st day of Prohibition in the US and
1-17-1929- Popeye makes debut in a comic strip.
On the eve of a Presidential Inauguration for the US, where future and former Presidents will gather, Lakewood Rotarians today were treated to our own brand of governing royalty. PDG Horn, current DG McGregor, incoming DG Camoroda and AG Potter were all in attendance.
AG Potter was called upon to introduce our speaker – DG Bill McGregor. Here is what Mr. Potter had to say:
Born in Vancouver, B.C., his family moved to Tacoma, WA when he was 4 years old. DG Bill has been a Rotarian since 2007. He has served as President of the Lacey Rotary Club, and was the Assistant Governor in Area 130, which includes Lacey, Gateway, Hawks Prairie, and Yelm clubs. Bill and his wife, Barbara, are Paul Harris Society members and Major Donors. In addition to his contribution through Rotary, DG Bill has served on many non-profit boards. He currently serves on the South Sound Maritime Heritage Association board. DG Bill has a degree in Transportation Logistics, is certified as a Public Port Manager, was involved with Ports in Washington State for over 42 years, and worked at the executive level with the Ports of Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor.
In 2000, he moved back to Lacey and went to work for Saint Martin’s University as the Director of Facilities Management. In 2006, he was appointed to the Port of Olympia Commission and held that position until he retired in December 2021.
DG Bill and his wife Barbara have been foster parents for over 40 years. They have opened their home to children for a night, for weeks, for months, and in several instances, for multiple years. They have five children, 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. (Lots of potential for future Rotarians!)
District Governor McGregor mentioned that this wasn’t the first time he had attended one of our meetings. He shared that he came to a meeting where Rod Koon spoke to us about the Port of Tacoma (and his book on the subject). Mr. McGregor just wanted to be sure that Rod was accurate in his recounting of the Port’s history. Evidently, he was.
Our speaker thanked PDG Greg Horn and wife Mary for their hard work and contributions in getting “dacdb” up and running (and keeping it that way). He then called upon incoming DG Camoroda to come forward and thanked him for his support and involvement in all things Rotary.
DG McGregor spoke to us about the “Magic of Rotary”. This “Magic” highlights the impact of Rotary in our communities and around the world. Unlike a card trick, Rotary’s “Magic” isn’t illusional, it is real. Rotary is made up of people of action. We provide humanitarian aid in times of crisis. Our ability to cross borders and work with others is our magic – think Polio Plus and clean water. Bill touted “Just Show Up”, a book by Hall of Fame baseballer Cal Ripken Jr. Cal holds the major league baseball record for consecutive games played (2,632). Like Cal Ripken, DG McGregor believes that by showing up Rotarians demonstrate to others that we are committed.
The Governor encouraged us all to volunteer within our club and he touted the upcoming District Conference. He also told us of a newly chartered club in Lacey that was started by a woman in the health care field that couldn’t make regular meeting nor attend via Zoom. The Governor didn’t state how the charter was structured but was very excited about the club and the fact that it was chartered with 54 members! Evidently the new club will have members attending the District Conference.
The Governor showed a video about the upcoming Conference and encouraged us to attend. This year’s Conference will be held at the Marriott in Tacoma. The dates are May 29-31.
With that he ended his remarks. PCB called the meeting to an end and the raffle drawing ensued. Bob Martin won the right to pull out a chip. A red one would have awarded him $536. Alas, he drew a white chip worth $5.00.
1-17-1934 – NY Giants award MVP pitcher Carl Hubbell with a huge $18,000 contract.
Birthdays and Anniversaries were handled by Chris Kimball. Chris called on those birthday guys and gals to come forward and try to name a tune from scrabbled words to a song. Joe Quinn, Steve Enquist, Bill Potter, Greg Horn, and Brianna Cooper were the only ones out of 16 that came to the meeting. Their attempts to unscramble the words and get the song title was entertaining. I believe Bill Potter was the only successful participant. The other birthday folks are listed below along with club and wedding anniversaries.
1-17-1966 - NBC picks up 'The Monkees' TV show
Birthday folks not mentioned above:
Troy Wilcox, Jim Bisceglia, Clayton DeNault, Gary Fulton, Ralph Johnson, Steve Mazoff, Donna Phillips, Jessica James, Linda McDermott, Brandy Paxton, Patrick Smith, Bill Wiggins
The above birthday folks share their day with some famous (and infamous) people – Founding Father Benjamine Franklin, gangster Al Capone, actress Betty White, singer Eartha Kitt, actor James Earl Jones, boxing great Muhammad Ali, attorney Robert F Kennedy Jr., former First Lady Michelle Obama and NBA basketballer Dwayne Wade.
Club Anniversaries – years in Rotary in parenthesis: Philip Lindholm (1), Joel Vranna (2), Linda McDermott (3), Dwight Williams (3), Jessica James (4), Carl Bronkema (4), Angela Connelly (6), Barlow Buescher (9), Jason Whalen (19), John Caulfield (24), Dave Betz (26), James Guerrero (29), Leon Titus III (33), Rob Erb (35), Dave Reames (43), Jim Bisceglia (51).
Wedding Anniversaries: Jim & Penny Rooks – 38 years. Phil & Judy Eng – 40 years.
Upcoming Events:
Friday, January 24th - Rotary Club Meeting, Andrea Suarez - Executive Director of We Heart Seattle - Trash Clean-ups and Homelessness Support
Friday, January 31st - Rotary Club Meeting - Little Free Pantry day - Matthew Metsker - CEO at St. Claire Hospital
February 8th, 2025, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 District Council Meeting - Zoom
February 21-23, 2025 – President-Elect Learning at SeaTac DoubleTree Hilton
March 2025 – Rotary Winter Get-Away, possibly Oregon coast
Friday, April 12th – Lakewood Rotary Wine & Beer Festival Fundraiser at McGavick Center
May 29, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. - District Council Meeting - Marriott Downtown Tacoma
May 30 – 31, 2025 - Rotary District Conference - Marriott Downtown Tacoma
June 21-25, 2025 - Rotary International Convention - Calgary, Canada
June 27, 2025 - Installation Banquet for our new president, Tom George, and board at the Country Club
June 30th, 2025 - End of Rotary year: Annual Dues due
July 1st, 2025 - new board takes office, beginning of Rotary year
Donn Irwin
Following on the heels of last week’s rather “pucky” Key and in keeping with the sports activity of our current President, Carl Bronkema (PCB), this writer will chat about golf. Oh, and will mention a few things about what the Governor had to say as well.
Tim, an employee of Carl’s, knew his boss was out of the office for the day. Tim had the brilliant idea to transfer all of his office telephone calls to his personal cell phone and took it with him to play golf. Carl called Tim on the sixth hole and asked, how is everything going today? Trying to keep his composure and muffle the ambient outside noise, Tim responded, Everything’s great. All under control, boss. That’s great, his boss replied. Could you do me a favor? Sure, Tim said. What do you need? Could you move a little faster? I'm in the foursome behind you.12:30PM rolled around, the walk-up noise stopped and President Carl called our meeting to order. Said President was bedecked in tie and coat. The basics: The esteemed Joseph Quinn Esq was called upon to lead us in the flag salute. We sang our National Anthem AND the Canadian Anthem in honor of our guest speaker, District Governor Bill McGregor. Shiru Osundwa gave the invocation. Steve Enquist was at the Paul Harris table and Chuck Hellar collected raffle ticket money and acted as our SAA. Don Daniels was at the greeting table passing out Wine a Little – Win a Lot raffle tickets. Don’t forget to sell a bunch of those bad boys cuz this is how we raise the dollars to give back to the community.
Speaking of bad boys, the notorious Rob Erb gang was lauded by PCB for their collective efforts in setting up our meeting and specifically for having both national anthems up on the screen so we could sing along by following the bouncing ball. Besides Mr. Erb, the gang included Tom George, James Osundwa, Terry Roarke and Rick Selden.
1-17-1773 – Captain James Cook is the first to cross the Arctic Circle
The guy capturing the images was Walt Richardson and your scribe for the day, Donn Irwin.
Congratulations to all of you once again as the Paul Harris table took in $890.00 for the day!!
PCB called on the Puffins to stand and be recognized, I believe three Puffins stood.
Connie Coleman-Lacadie introduced Syl Wies of the American Red Cross and Chad Smith.
Greg Rediske introduced Tiffany Holman (Tiffany should be a new member next Friday)
Our speaker’s wife, Barbara McGregor joined us as well. It appears our only visiting Rotarian was Bill McGregor himself.
1-17-1821 – Mexico permits James Austin and 300 families to settle in Texas.
PCB was lamenting that his golf game is so bad, he had to get his ball retriever regripped.
Zoomers: Barb Spriggs, Carole Wier, Charles Heberle, Tori Murphy and Dave Swindale with Joe Walsh coming on late.
Steve Enquist presented three folks with Paul Harris awards: DGE Tony Camoroda, AG Bill Potter and Terry Roarke.
PCB asked his golf instructor: You think my golf game is improving?
His instructor said: Yes. You miss a lot closer now.
1-17-1871 - 1st cable car patented, by Andrew Smith Hallidie in the US begins service in 1873.
There were a few announcements. Don Daniels reminded everyone to get busy selling those Wine a Lot raffle tickets and again asked for two more volunteers to help him – especially in March. Scott Casebolt thanked the Puffin crew for their work on the Presidential Roast and let the club know that the Puffins have selected Shop with a Cop as the place that the $3,055.00 dollars they raised will go. The money has to go through the Lakewood Police Officers charity so he asked for a motion for that to happen. A motion was made, seconded and we voted to approve the expenditure.
Now that PCB is older, he was heard to exclaim: “I’ve been playing golf for 50 years and I swear that the holes are moving.”
1-17-1893 - Queen Liliuokalani is deposed by an American coup, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes a republic
Connie Coleman-Lacadie announced the number of responses from the survey the club members were asked to participate in. We had a 47% response. She will be passing along the results of the survey to the Board. It appears we have gotten a few speakers from the survey as well. Connie also brought a motion for the group to authorize a down payment on the McGavick Center for our upcoming event. The motion was granted and approved. Bill Potter got us to pass and approve a motion and payment to the Lakewood Baseball Club for $2,500.00
1-17-1920 – 1st day of Prohibition in the US and
1-17-1929- Popeye makes debut in a comic strip.
On the eve of a Presidential Inauguration for the US, where future and former Presidents will gather, Lakewood Rotarians today were treated to our own brand of governing royalty. PDG Horn, current DG McGregor, incoming DG Camoroda and AG Potter were all in attendance.
AG Potter was called upon to introduce our speaker – DG Bill McGregor. Here is what Mr. Potter had to say:
Born in Vancouver, B.C., his family moved to Tacoma, WA when he was 4 years old. DG Bill has been a Rotarian since 2007. He has served as President of the Lacey Rotary Club, and was the Assistant Governor in Area 130, which includes Lacey, Gateway, Hawks Prairie, and Yelm clubs. Bill and his wife, Barbara, are Paul Harris Society members and Major Donors. In addition to his contribution through Rotary, DG Bill has served on many non-profit boards. He currently serves on the South Sound Maritime Heritage Association board. DG Bill has a degree in Transportation Logistics, is certified as a Public Port Manager, was involved with Ports in Washington State for over 42 years, and worked at the executive level with the Ports of Tacoma, Olympia and Grays Harbor.
In 2000, he moved back to Lacey and went to work for Saint Martin’s University as the Director of Facilities Management. In 2006, he was appointed to the Port of Olympia Commission and held that position until he retired in December 2021.
DG Bill and his wife Barbara have been foster parents for over 40 years. They have opened their home to children for a night, for weeks, for months, and in several instances, for multiple years. They have five children, 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. (Lots of potential for future Rotarians!)
District Governor McGregor mentioned that this wasn’t the first time he had attended one of our meetings. He shared that he came to a meeting where Rod Koon spoke to us about the Port of Tacoma (and his book on the subject). Mr. McGregor just wanted to be sure that Rod was accurate in his recounting of the Port’s history. Evidently, he was.
Our speaker thanked PDG Greg Horn and wife Mary for their hard work and contributions in getting “dacdb” up and running (and keeping it that way). He then called upon incoming DG Camoroda to come forward and thanked him for his support and involvement in all things Rotary.
DG McGregor spoke to us about the “Magic of Rotary”. This “Magic” highlights the impact of Rotary in our communities and around the world. Unlike a card trick, Rotary’s “Magic” isn’t illusional, it is real. Rotary is made up of people of action. We provide humanitarian aid in times of crisis. Our ability to cross borders and work with others is our magic – think Polio Plus and clean water. Bill touted “Just Show Up”, a book by Hall of Fame baseballer Cal Ripken Jr. Cal holds the major league baseball record for consecutive games played (2,632). Like Cal Ripken, DG McGregor believes that by showing up Rotarians demonstrate to others that we are committed.
The Governor encouraged us all to volunteer within our club and he touted the upcoming District Conference. He also told us of a newly chartered club in Lacey that was started by a woman in the health care field that couldn’t make regular meeting nor attend via Zoom. The Governor didn’t state how the charter was structured but was very excited about the club and the fact that it was chartered with 54 members! Evidently the new club will have members attending the District Conference.
The Governor showed a video about the upcoming Conference and encouraged us to attend. This year’s Conference will be held at the Marriott in Tacoma. The dates are May 29-31.
With that he ended his remarks. PCB called the meeting to an end and the raffle drawing ensued. Bob Martin won the right to pull out a chip. A red one would have awarded him $536. Alas, he drew a white chip worth $5.00.
1-17-1934 – NY Giants award MVP pitcher Carl Hubbell with a huge $18,000 contract.
Birthdays and Anniversaries were handled by Chris Kimball. Chris called on those birthday guys and gals to come forward and try to name a tune from scrabbled words to a song. Joe Quinn, Steve Enquist, Bill Potter, Greg Horn, and Brianna Cooper were the only ones out of 16 that came to the meeting. Their attempts to unscramble the words and get the song title was entertaining. I believe Bill Potter was the only successful participant. The other birthday folks are listed below along with club and wedding anniversaries.
1-17-1966 - NBC picks up 'The Monkees' TV show
Birthday folks not mentioned above:
Troy Wilcox, Jim Bisceglia, Clayton DeNault, Gary Fulton, Ralph Johnson, Steve Mazoff, Donna Phillips, Jessica James, Linda McDermott, Brandy Paxton, Patrick Smith, Bill Wiggins
The above birthday folks share their day with some famous (and infamous) people – Founding Father Benjamine Franklin, gangster Al Capone, actress Betty White, singer Eartha Kitt, actor James Earl Jones, boxing great Muhammad Ali, attorney Robert F Kennedy Jr., former First Lady Michelle Obama and NBA basketballer Dwayne Wade.
Club Anniversaries – years in Rotary in parenthesis: Philip Lindholm (1), Joel Vranna (2), Linda McDermott (3), Dwight Williams (3), Jessica James (4), Carl Bronkema (4), Angela Connelly (6), Barlow Buescher (9), Jason Whalen (19), John Caulfield (24), Dave Betz (26), James Guerrero (29), Leon Titus III (33), Rob Erb (35), Dave Reames (43), Jim Bisceglia (51).
Wedding Anniversaries: Jim & Penny Rooks – 38 years. Phil & Judy Eng – 40 years.
Upcoming Events:
Friday, January 24th - Rotary Club Meeting, Andrea Suarez - Executive Director of We Heart Seattle - Trash Clean-ups and Homelessness Support
Friday, January 31st - Rotary Club Meeting - Little Free Pantry day - Matthew Metsker - CEO at St. Claire Hospital
February 8th, 2025, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 District Council Meeting - Zoom
February 21-23, 2025 – President-Elect Learning at SeaTac DoubleTree Hilton
March 2025 – Rotary Winter Get-Away, possibly Oregon coast
Friday, April 12th – Lakewood Rotary Wine & Beer Festival Fundraiser at McGavick Center
May 29, 2025, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. - District Council Meeting - Marriott Downtown Tacoma
May 30 – 31, 2025 - Rotary District Conference - Marriott Downtown Tacoma
June 21-25, 2025 - Rotary International Convention - Calgary, Canada
June 27, 2025 - Installation Banquet for our new president, Tom George, and board at the Country Club
June 30th, 2025 - End of Rotary year: Annual Dues due
July 1st, 2025 - new board takes office, beginning of Rotary year
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