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The La Kawañian

Melinda Thompson, Guest Editors

September 8,  2004

melinda@ctssolutions.com  

 

OPENING:  It was wonderful to walk into Van de Kamp Hall to the sound of music today.  We have really missed Martha Crockett’s beautiful piano music.  After lunch we started the meeting with Ed Moulton leading us in the Star Spangled Banner.  Then Pres Jim Ackland asked us to share a moment of silence in honor of the service men and women who have recently given their lives so we can enjoy ours.  We joined Pres Jim in the flag salute, and Don Davidson gave the invocation.

CONFESSIONS, GUESTS & HAPPY/SAD BUCKS:   We all pretended it was July 28 so we could sing Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Calciano, who had already joined the Century Club.  Karl Johnson introduced Kit Durkee, who lives in La Crescenta and is the mother of one of our program speakers.  Lloyd Welch had 51 Happy Bucks in honor of his 51st wedding anniversary on September 12th; we welcomed him back from his six week’s work stint in San Diego (where the weather was much cooler).  Elizabeth had half a Happy Buck for a panorama picture of her granddaughter.  Mary Gant had five Happy Bucks for the extraordinary amount of work Clyde Hemphill, Carl Christenson and George Lutes have been doing for our upcoming Sunday Wine and Gourmet Food Tasting event.  Jack Dawson claimed he was exhausted and broke but still donated three Happy Bucks – one for each of his recent vacations; Jack and Barbara took a Mississippi cruise out of Memphis, drove their antique car to Canada, and just returned from Norway.  Jim Reynolds just returned from a submarine convention in Texas.  Hal Thomas had Happy Bucks because he and Julia have lived near the Bachmayers since their early apartment days in Glendale, and Bachy’s daughter was here today with her dad.  Bill Watts had Sad Bucks for the worn carpet between our luncheon tables and the iced tea table, since we have to go back and forth so often to fill up our wine glasses with iced tea.  Frank Ragazzi had Happy Bucks for their good vacation in Hawaii, but Sad Bucks because Vi landed in the hospital when they returned.  Bob Wallace had two Happy Bucks for his two-year-old grandson who visited last weekend and could operate the computer better than his grandma.  Rick Lazarre had eight Happy Bucks for his eighth grandchild who was just born.  Clyde had Happy Bucks for Mary Gant who so graciously acknowledges everyone else’s work while she works just as hard or harder than anyone else.  Doris Horwith had three Happy Bucks because 1) she just returned from her nephew’s wedding in Connecticut, 2) two of her grandchildren are starting college, and 3) her new press (purchased in March) is working so well you could count the hairs on Anthony Portantino’s legs on the cover of the Valley Sun last Thursday.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:  Pres Jim reminded us we will be dark for the noon meeting on September 29th, but the Installation Dinner will be that evening.  Ed Moulton announced he has been asked to start a Kiwanis chorus for our Kiwanis District 53; anyone interested should plan to stay about 15 minutes after next week’s meeting to get more information.  Bill Scherkey encouraged us to sign up for the Kiwanis Division 3 Installation Dinner at the Castaway Restaurant on October 5th.  This will be an extra special meeting because Past International President Ito Torres and International Treasurer Nelson Tucker (who is from Southern California) will be there.  Call Howard Backer to sign up.  Daryl Gant encouraged us all to keep inviting everyone we know to our Wine and Gourmet Food Tasting event on Sunday, September 12.  Daryl has tickets – which are free (until Howard charges them to your Kiwanis account).  Frank reminded us to put the six Travel Adventures dates on our calendars; tickets will be sent out to us next week.  Bob Wallace announced that Bill Scherkey has been nominated for club secretary, although he was just elected a member of the board.  Bob was recruiting a volunteer for Board Director to fill the spot left by Bill’s “transfer” to club secretary.  Call Bob if you are interested; board meetings are held on the first Thursday evening of every month.  Carl Christenson passed around a sign-up sheet for volunteers on Sunday; a lot of help is needed for both set-up and take-down.  Call Carl and volunteer.  Clyde announced we will have 45 wineries, 100 different wines and 14 food vendors on Sunday; keep inviting everyone you know!!!  Remember, we are hoping to turn this into our biggest annual “fun” fundraiser.

FROSTY’S SLA UPDATE:  Dick DeGrey is really beginning to sound like his old self, but Shirley remains about the same.  Remember to give Dick a call and share a bit of news with him; it helps a lot since he spends almost all his time at home taking care of Shirley.  Frosty talked to Joyce Flynn, Pat’s wife; she sounded cheerful and Pat was at the office.  Ken Lowe just had eye surgery, and - as Frank already announced – Vi Ragazzi is in the hospital.  She hopes to be home soon. 

FROSTY’S CHALLENGE:  The challengers included Elizabeth, Carl, and Hal Crockett.  Carl got the most applause for his story that ended with “age and cunning beats out youth and enthusiasm every time.”

 

SPOTLIGHT ON:  Steve Hagerty – one of our newest members - gave his craft talk today.  In his family he is a latecomer to Kiwanis; his dad has been a member for 40 years and his brother has been lieutenant governor twice.  Although Steve is a native Hoosier and was born and raised in Indiana, another branch of his family settled in South Pasadena in 1901.  Steve went to Purdue a few years as an engineering student, but dropped out to work for Lockheed in Seattle.  He completed his bachelor and master’s degrees at the University of Washington with a business major.  He has worked in Thousand Oaks, Detroit and New Jersey for Burroughs Corp. and stayed in New Jersey two more years while working for General Instrument.  (Steve could never figure out what the “general instrument” was.)  Since he moved back to California he has worked as a software consultant.  Currently he telecommutes to his one client’s office in Chicago.  Office attire is very casual, but the time difference is tough.   Steve’s personal life is filed with the activities of a ten year old boy.  His friend adopted a foster child, and he is helping co-raise the child.  Boy Scouts, sports, YMCA, etc. keep Steve very busy.  Steve joined our Kiwanis Club after they raced in the Soap Box Derby. 

PROGRAM:  The program started late, but we stayed until 1:45 p.m. because it was so interesting and heartwarming!  Bachy Bachmyer proudly introduced his daughter, Christine Bachmyer, who has been a pediatric physical therapist in the spina bifida department at Childrens’ Hospital for 13 years.  She gave us a great visual illustration of what causes spina bifida.  This neural tube birth defect, which used to affect one out of every 1000 children, occurs on the 26th day after conception.  Lack of folic acid seems to be one of the causes, and the rate of incidence has been reduced to one in 2000 since women starting increasing their folic acid intake.  In spina bifida the spine and nerves are never covered over, which causes multiple problems after birth.  Most spina bifida children need help from many medical specialties such as urology, endocrinology, and orthopedics – just to name a few.  The spina bifida center at Childrens’ Hospital treats 800 children in Los Angeles County and has a clinic day every Thursday morning; this is very special because the children can come and see all of their doctors at once.  Christine introduced Joy Durkee, a sophmore at Hope College who has been a Childrens’ Hospital patient since birth.  Christine was Joy’s physical therapist this past summer after Joy had leg surgery.  Joy told us about her experiences at Childrens’ Hospital and also explained from her point of view why the program at Childrens’ Hospital is so special.  When Christine and Joy were done we all felt like making more generous contributions to the Children’s Hospital collection tubs on our tables.

50/50 DRAWING:  Nobody claimed the first ticket, so Mary Gant won the pot on the second draw.

CLOSING:  Pres Jim closed the meeting at 1:45 p.m.

 

UPCOMING WEDNESDAY PROGRAMS

  • Aug. 25       TEACHERS - Apples for Teachers

  • Sept. 1        POLITICS - Harry Jacobs, California Election Board   Precinct Workers – A Fund Raiser!

  • Sept. 8        CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL – Elizabeth Bachmayer   CRAFT TALK – Steve Hagerty

  • Sept. 15      FOUNDATIONS –  Gene Stoeckly, La Canada Scholarship Foundation Funding for the Future

  • Sept. 22      SWAN SONG by President Jim Ackland

  • Sept. 29      INSTALLATION BANQUET – Evening Meeting  -  Induction of Club Officers and Board Members for 2004-2005

 

OTHER SPECIAL KIWANIS DATES

Sunday          August 22   Summer Social

Sunday          Sept. 12      Wine and Gourmet Food

                                             Tasting

 

TRAVEL ADVENTURES

  • Saturday        Oct. 16        Ireland Celtic Myths &
                                                            Splendors

  • Saturday        Nov. 27      Sardinia

  • Saturday        Jan. 22       Sailing Down to Rio on
                                                            the Queen Mary 2

  • Saturday        Feb. 12       Exploring the Ancient
                                                            Southwest

  • Saturday        Mar. 26       RV’ing in Alaska ’s
                                                             Inside Passage

  • Saturday        Apr. 16        Soul of Morocco  

                            

   

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