In the Beginning...
Rotarians and their guests assembled, welcomed, and called to order by Co-President Bill Prather. He expressed his excitement on serving our Club in this 75th year of the Rotary Club of Ojai. He pointed out that both Bill and Carl are chronologically challenged and have also been on this planet for 75 years. Bill and his family just completed a sojourn in Europe. Now, with jetlag shaken off, he is hitting the ground running.
Bill reached out to Marty, Kay, and Family. Marty is in our thoughts and prayers. He expressed his thanks to Marty and Kay for the herculean efforts on behalf of the Club.
Local artist and cartoonist for the OVN, Colleen McDougal presenting Marty with her portrait of the Topa Topa Mountain Range.
Many thanks to:
Kathy Yee-Pledge of Allegiance
Cheree Edwards-Inspirational Moment:
Live Your Life With No Regrets
Life hands you obstacles
that put you out of place.
Do not run and hide
life is something you need to face.
Live each day with a purpose
Do what you want to do.
Dream big dreams
and fight to make them true.
Life can be wonderful
if you live it right.
Full of happiness
if you put up the fight.
Live it by the moment
even if you jump and fall.
Live your life with no regrets
or you never live at all.
Leanna Markgraf
Visiting Rotarians and Guests—A full house!!
Paul Thomas—Rotary Club of Ojai West
Joyce West—Al West’s better half
Terry Campbell—Guest of Janet Campbell
Lisa Malone—Mike’s special one
Nancy Prather—the Co-First Lady
Taundra Roddick—Special Guest, spouse of Bob Roddick. Daughter of Carl Gross.
Bob Roddick—See above
Olga Jones—Guest of Bill Prather
Anna Kotula—Guest of Bill Prather (One of the nuns in "Nunsense" now playing at the Ojai Art Center Theater)
Daylin Weston—Guest of Greg Webster
Bruce Bouche—Spouse of Leslie
Win Matthews
Peggy Lacera
Thank-Yous continued
Bret Nighman, Dave Watson, Bret Bradigan, Kelley Rasmussen—Room Setup
Carl Gross—Reminder Newsletter Editor and photographer.
Greeter—Janet Campbell
Roving Mic—Bret Nighman
Treasurer—Dave Brubaker
Great Moments in History—Bret Bradigan
Blue Badge Awarded to Bret Nighman
Cheree Edwards brought up Bret “The Younger” Nighman for his Blue Badge, having met the requirements of all new Rotarians. He ripped off his red badge and tossed it in the air before Cheree reminded him that we recycle red badges. Congratulations, Bret!!
The theme for the Rotary District 5240 is “Let’s have fun!”. With that directive, we intend to do just that. Jack Jacobs and his Program Committee, the Events Committee, and all of us can look forward to a year where we can work together, unite our Rotary Family, and have fun.
Future Programs: Jack Jacobs
Jack commented on the stellar lineup of programs for this year. He thanked the members of his committee for their diligent efforts to make our programs informative and entertaining. You can access upcoming programs in Clubrunner. Just go to the home page at: ojairotary.org and click on Calendar on the top menu bar. You can click here to go directly to the Calendar.
July 14th—Club Assembly—We will go over our goals and programs for the year, followed by filling in the committees.
July 21st—Susan Andrzejewski—Dean of Business School, CSUCI
July 28th—Debbie Parisi--Friends of Condors
August 4th—Colonel Jack Jacobs, Ret—No relation of our Jack Jacobs. He will report on the Ukraine-Where we are/could go.
Historical Moment—Bret Bradigan
Bret regaled us of tales of pirates. Who would of known Blackbeard would weave gunpowder into his beard and ignite it to terrorize his enemies with a sparkly beard? Who would have known that there were women pirates? We hope to have Bret “The Elder” share more historical oddities in this year.
Announcements:
So nice to see Andy Gilman back with us! He reported on:
Free Onsite Community Film Series
Alfred Hitchcock Monday Movie Nights
Monday Evenings, June 26 - August 28
The Agora Foundation and the Ojai Valley Brewery & Winery are teaming up to host Hitchcock Monday Movie Nights! Films begin at 7:30PM. Purchase your food and beverages onsite and no reservations required. Click on the Hitchcock Monday Movie Night page for videos, menus, articles, and more. Fantastic films in our fantastic community... what could be better?
The July 10 Film:
Rear Window - (1954)
Schedule:
7:30 - 9:30PM PDT
Location:
307 Bryant Street in Ojai, California
Fining—Bob Eisler
Bob elicited a cornucopia of confessions from the membership.
Bill Prather coughed up a few shekels for his recent trip and his birthday.
Chris Golden thanked her crew for the massive cleanup effort at Cluff Vista Park. This beautiful garden has not been tended for the past 2 years. Our Club joined other service clubs in this effort to beautify the park.
The Program—Ellis Hall
Carl Gross took the podium to introduce his good family friend, collaborator with his wife, Donna, former patient of Carl, and all-around great guy, Ellis Hall.
Recording artist, producer, director, actor, songwriter, and many more titles took to his keyboard and rocked the house with his distinctive R&B melodies. Sightless his whole life, he embraced music and has mastered the keyboard, guitar, and bass. He was in Tower of Power, a R&B band from the Bay Area, arranged the music for the California Raisins campaign (remember Heard It Through the Grapevine?). His mentor and source of inspiration was Ray Charles.
He played “Ribbon in the Sky”, a Stevie Wonder tune that he played 28 years ago as entry music in the wedding of Bob and Taundra Roddick. The tears were flowing.
Thank-You, Ellis. We hope you can join us again soon!
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