In the Beginning....

 

Despite plumes of smoke billowing from Ojai’s backcountry, the fearless gang of the Rotary Club of Ojai came together in solidarity, fired by the unquenchable spirit of camaraderie and community spirit. After dire news for the past 10 days, it felt helpful, and hopeful, to come together. We were reminded that from the ashes, we will endure, even flourish.

 

First up was Randy Roth on the desk, taking our money with his usual brio. Then it was on to Sid Cohn and Therese Brown, giving us a hearty welcome. While Terry Beckett led us in the flag salute, Ginger scurried around to get us food … an excellent fettuccine with bolognese. Soule Park wasn’t expecting us amid all the blazes, but they underestimated our fearless drive to gather up to do good. Given the circumstances, it was a job well done and appreciated. Then Mike Malone led us into a moment of silence, to reflect on our gratitude for Ojai’s good fortune and fearless firefighters who saved our town.

 

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

 

Guest included … Sharif Sakr (for the final time before officially joining our ranks), Dawn Thiede, guest of Wendy Barker from the OV Museum, and Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, about whom more will be heard later.

 

Announcements

 

 

 

The big news of the day to close out our year was from Deirdre Daly, our president-elect. The board voted Thursday to allocate $25,000 to partner with Help of Ojai for the Thomas Fire catastrophe. Deirdre said that the funds would come from the Education Foundation in lieu of our usual Community Grants. We were encouraged to add to the fund to aid Ojai in its hour of need.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Brubaker, our program chair, reminded us that we’d be dark until Jan. 5th. And that Jan. 12th would be our Club Assembly.

 

FINING: Sandy Buechley opened the fining with her expression of gratitude for the firefighters and their valiant efforts. Then she opened the floor for confessions, of which there were many, with their stories of courage and survival, as the Thomas Fire climbed the ranks, threatening to become California’s largest ever wildfire.

 

 

 

• Colin Jones dropped $1,000 into the box to recount his evacuation as the fire climbed the Ladera Ridge.

 

 

• Tony Thacher hosted four fire engines, saving the historic Friend’s Ranch packing house.

 

 

• While Judy Gabriel told us to check AirNow.Org for the latest in air quality (all red zone now - wear your masks)

 

 

• Marty Pops talked about the 50 hospital patients evacuated safely

 

 

 

 

 

• Marc Whitman, after an epic struggle to save the family homestead, talked about Ojai’s chance to rebuild with “new ideas and new methods.”

 

 

• Leslie Bouche said that Boku (at the old Ford dealership) was selling air purifiers at cost, and that evacuating with a 90-year-old father-in-law with Alzheimers was quite a challenge. She also said that it a good time to remember “don’t wait to be happy."

 

 

 

• Kay Bliss said that other Rotary Clubs were reaching out, and reminded us that the Direct Relief provisions brought in were ironic because it was usually us sending relief to other regions.

 

 

• Al West, a firefighting veteran, said he was expecting this fire for some time, as controlled burns and prescribed fires had fallen out of fashion at the Forest Service. His firefighter son from Oregon was dispatched to Ojai, where he was working with a nighttime crew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Cheree Edwards thanked John Russell, her neighbor, for helping beat back the flames. And that it was her 6th year Rotary anniversary, and that she “was grateful to be part of the family of Rotary.”

 

• Larry Wilde spoke for many of us when he said, “as one of the fortunate, here’s $100 for the unfortunate.”

 

• John Russell celebrated his 80th birthday earlier in the week, before his firefighting mettle was tested.

 

• Bill Prather spoke about being a volunteer fireman in NoCal, “about going in when everyone else is leaving” with heavy hoses and water packs going up steep mountainsides.

 

 

Program

 

Ren Adam introduced Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, leader of the Ventureño-Barbereno band of Chumash, and part of a tribe that once ranged from San Luis Obispo to Malibu, and numbered in the tens of thousands. She talked about evacuating “with seven cats, three dogs, and two rats” and her husband and children of course. She said “I’ve always worked and lived in nature … Mother Nature was our first guru.”

 

 

 

She said that Chumash worshipped the elements, and that the color black represented rain, white represented wind and that red was for fire. Fire was an important tool for Chumash, who worked with and around fire to create a productive environment. In the intricate Chumash ethnobotany, many food and medicinal plants require fire; milkweed, dogbane, artemisia and chia seed among them. The fire was also used to clear brush under the oak canopy. And Deergrass required fire to reach its optimal state for the Chumash’s world-renowned basket-weaving virtuosity.

 

She and others have been praying for rain, but “the female rain, which can be tenacious, but is steady, soaking.” 

 

She talked about the role fire played in the Rainbow Bridge story, that after Mother created the Island (before it became the Channel Islands), and “us two-legged creatures,” Sky Snake (also known as the Milky Way) wanted to make a gift to the First Peoples, so he “spit down a bolt of fire.” It was that fire which singed Condor, who was one pristine white, but who flew too close to it, and burned off his head feathers and turned himself an ashy black color. He has never since returned to the Channel Islands.

 

Once the fire dies down, she and others will be checking on cultural resources such as the painted caves. 

 

Julie said that on Dec. 21st, she and other elders would gather to pray for the solstice, and the sun, and for the losses during the year, including the tragic losses of two firefighters on the Thomas Fire. “We need to do this all the time” she said. 

 

Since Mike Malone had to leave, Deirdre Daly closed out the meeting with a Christmas quote from Washington Irving, about the fires of hospitality warming our way through the season.