President Bill Gilbreth called the meeting to order and thanked Bill Prather for set up, and Jeff Loebl for the pledge of allegiance. Tony Thatcher who in way of invocation gave us a poem reminiscent of our youth baseball experience, with a surprise ending that made all the women smile.
We were joined by visiting Rotarian Linda Taylor from Ojai West and Carol Paquette.
Matt Clements is the Reminder Editor.
There were many admissions of guilt and needed penance. The fines introduced a veritable rogues gallery including our Pres. Bill Gilbreth, Don Reed Suzanne Scar, Jane Spiller, Ren Adams… let’s leave it that it was a very profitable day for fines and retribution.
Announcements:
Tony Thatcher announced the impending Ghost Town to Havana, amovie coming at long last to a theater near you. Which I can now say, after the fact, was a big success! And an inspirational feature, completely unexpected in its impact on our egalitarian equilibrium. It renders the soul open and wondering; considering the strength of the human spirit in inner city, Oakland. And in retrospect the fundamental kindness of the old world with the treatment of their children and the blossoming of youth in an impoverished country like Cuba.
Dr. Fauvre presented Matias Cesena the award for Outstanding PE student of the 2016-17 school year. Matias presented himself with aplomb and had the charisma only a young man of character could display. He is a great athlete playing basketball, soccer and is one of the “fastest runners in Ojai”. He is a good student and a role model for his class.
Ted Lott, Linda Taylor and Michelle Hanson introduced us to the Nordoff Interact students, who gave a short presentation of the good work they are doing in our community. They support the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and NordGenetics, at Nordoff High school. We were treated to a bake sale after the meeting with proceeds going to both causes.
Program: Michael Scar
Michael Scar came clean with the short version of his life story. He shared his long association with Rotary starting in Carpentaria in 1993, then moving to Ventura Downtown and now here with us. There were some insightful points. His fondest memory growing up in Hollywood was the smog. His hair turned gray after he met and married Suzanne… He was a ski bum, attended law school and loved the Ojai Energy immediately upon getting here. Michael has several children and one grandchild. He is lucky enough to work with his beautiful wife Suzanne in Ventura and uses our Rotary meeting as an excuse to quit early on Friday. Please extend a warm welcome to Michael, we are lucky to have him.
Program: Ren Adams
Ren Adams was called back to remind us of who exactly we are dealing with! His association with Rotary goes back a long way, starting 1974. He is a fourth generation newspaper man. He went into the Navy in 1965 at the suggestion of his father; as opposed to joining the Army. A smart move as he states it, “a warm bed and three squares a day, not sleeping in the dirt and eating out of a can”. He drove a 1957 Chevy hotrod, and hung out at Bob’s Big Boy, chasing girls. Which knowing Ren surprised nobody! He has owned several newspapers starting in Lompoc in 1972, moving to Leavenworth Washington and finally purchasing the Ojai paper and Directory in 1992.
He married his lovely wife Victoria in 1997, “third times a charm for both of them”. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary on June 21st,Congratulations!
Ren is an avid fisherman and shared a story of a fishing trip in 1991. He was included in a two week international fishing trip in the USSR, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. They were flown from river to river every day and would spend the whole day fishing the rivers in that pristine wilderness. Where not surprisingly he caught some of the biggest trout seen anywhere. The problem came when the hard line Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) who were opposed to Mikhail Gorbachev's reform program the New Union Treaty, attempted a coup. The guides all became very concerned and nobody knew if they were going to be arrested or what would happen. This went on for three days and finally the coup failed and everything “just went back to normal”.
What an interesting path Ren has walked, full of adventure, inspirational hard work and the now not so new love of his life. We are very lucky to be here to see what in the world he does next!
Bill closed the meeting a little early so we could all bid on the confectionary the children brought for the bake sale.
