Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
Sage
The Reminder Newsletter
January 6th, 2017
 
In the Beginning
 
On a fresh winter afternoon, President Bill gaveled the Rotary meeting together for fellowship and service.   Bret led the salute and Dewayne gave the invocation.  President Bill thanked those whose work made the meeting a success:  Matt and Bill for the set-up; Dave and Terry for greeting; Marc for the roving mike; Dierdre for running the front table; and finally, to Ginger, without whose food the meeting would be grim indeed. 
 
 
 
Guests and Visitors
 
The meeting had a rich assortment of guests and visitors:
·        Alexia Parks from the Rotary Club of Boulder, Colorado
·        Don Scanlin’s grandson Grey D’Angelo
·        Carl Gross’s son in law and special guest,  Bryant Huber
·        Ivan and Katerina
·        Alex Kin from the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa
 
 
 
A truly special guest was Taylor Farnham, the only Nordhoff graduate ever to attend MIT.   Taylor Farnham's attendance at MIT was made possible by the Jacobs Family Scholarship through the Ojai Rotary Education Foundation.  Taylor has gotten his BA and Masters at MIT and is now embarked upon a career in the applied sciences, with a focus emphasis on slippery coatings.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PEP student of the month:  Kate Seery
 
 
 
 
Dr. Fred Fauvre introduced Kate Seery of San Antonio School, this month’s PEP student of the month.  Her teacher, Robin Monson, gave a heartfelt description of the reasons that she had nominated Kate for this award:  Kate is not only a gifted athlete, but has great attitude and enthusiasm.  Kate’s parents Ed and Nancy Seery, and her 8 year old sister Ella, looked on proudly as Kate accepted the award and the check for $200.  Congratulations Kate!
 
 
 
 
Announcements
 
1.     There are many committee meetings set up next week.
2.     Tony Thacher encouraged Rotarians to come to the Museum’s reception on Sunday to kick off the “Ojai Centennial Jubilee” celebrating 100 years from the date when ED Libby transformed dusty Nordhoff in the sparking Spanish style city of Ojai.  The high point of the celebration will be a Jubilee picnic on April 8.  Tony encouraged us to attend the picnic in period attire. (where are my jodhpurs?)
3.     Cheree Edwards described Marc Whitman’s ambitious project to build an outdoor community pavilion at Matilija junior high.  Donors have the opportunity to purchase paving bricks with special inscriptions.
 
Fining:  Colin Jones
 
 
A thunderous round of clapping greeted Colin as he started his fining.  Colin’s questions centered on little known statistics about the Panama Canal and the Golden Gate bridge.  Colin extracted a lot of fines in  a short period of time.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Program:  National Search Dog Foundation
 
Celeste Metesevoc gave an inspiring and interesting talk on the history and activities of the National Search Dog Foundation.  (Wilma Melville, the founder and former Executive Director, could not attend the meeting). 
 
The foundation got its start in Ojai after the Oklahoma City bombing.  Based on the lessons learned there, Ms. Melville determined that the most effective program would give highly trained dogs to highly trained first responder Firemen. Due to a generous grant of land from the McGrath family farm, Wilma was able to build a state of the art training center and administrative building in Santa Paula, where dogs and first responders are trained. 
 
 
Ms.Metesevoc made the observation that the single greatest constraint on the growth of the Search Dog foundation is the availability of dog candidates.  The ideal candidate dog is hard to find since it must have a rare combination of intelligence, focus and athletic ability, as well as the tenacity to complete a training regimen lasting up to 8 months.  To meet this constraint, the foundation has recruiters who visit the animal shelters to find suitable candidates.
 
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