Norwich Rotary Club
November 1st, 2023
Location-Bella Fiore
THE RONE
Presiding: Mary Richardson
Invocation: Barry Shead
Fellowship: Barry Shead
Birthday’s: Lottie Scott on 11/5. A resounding Happy Birthday was sung to Lottie!
Anniversaries: Kathleen Stauffer on 11/3-13 years & Ray Baribeault on 11/5-26 years
Guests: Kathryn Tracey introduced Lynne Quintal, Mike Cooney introduced Matt & Katie Cooney and Bob Reed introduced Art Rowbotham.
Barry started off by asking how many people remembered the old song “Kind of a Drag” by the Buckingham’s. It’s a saying we don’t use any more like we did in the 1960”s. Barry then listed a few words and phrases we rarely say now but used to way back when. Some of these were “Groovy”, “It’s not my bag!”, “Uptight and out of sight!”, “Dig it!”, “Life’s a Gas!”, “Far Out!”, “Beat Feet!”, “Hang Loose!”, “Foxy!”, “You bet your Bippy!” and finally “Heavy.” Needless to say the over 60’s in the group knew every one!
Membership Minute: Molly Bruno asked members to stand and say what they love about Rotary and why they wanted to be a member of a Rotary Club. Most who rose said it was to serve their community, enjoy the fellowship with fellow Rotarians and give back.
Announcements:
The Happy Dollars “Turkey Drive” is still continuing and will go through November 13th. All monies raised will benefit the residents of Schwartz Manor in Norwich. There’s still time to give to Happy Dollars and please give generously and make Thanksgiving great for our neighbors at Schwartz Manor. A rep from the Norwich Housing Authority and a resident of Schwartz Manor will be at the November 15th meeting to receive the gift cards.
The Annual Madonna Place Trivial Pursuit Challenge will be on November 3rd at the Bozrah Moose Club. The club is looking for 8 people to fill out a team. There might be a seat or 2 left. The team will be called “The Red Hot Trivia Peppers!”
Jen Granger reported that her committee for the Dictionary Project has finalized the count of 3rd graders and hope to deliver 409 dictionaries to the schools on November 29th. Details still need to be finalized. Stay tuned for more information to follow on how to help deliver the dictionaries.
If you know of a speaker for one of our meetings please contact Kevin Wickleess to get on the schedule.
Mary said the speaker for the November 15th meeting will be Caleb Bailey, Executive Director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.
Mary thanked all Rotarians who brought new socks to the meeting for the “Sock Drive.”
Happy Dollars: Mike Matera
Mike started things off saying that his family had tons of birthdays to celebrate in October that included his son, father, mother, niece, nephew, and Uncle Rodney Green! There will be a big party coming up to celebrate all the fore mentioned. His sister is also celebrating her 2nd wedding anniversary.
Jim Daly gave and offered anyone in attendance Halloween candy as he barely had any trick-or-treaters.
Bill Champagne said he was going to Miss Lottie’s Café on Friday evening at the Norwich Arts Center to see Ella Fitz and urged everyone to go. Show starts at 8pm. Bill also gave $20.00 to report that the tennis team he plays on won the New England regionals in the over 55 category and went to Florida for 4 days to compete in the nationals. He stayed at an Air B&B with his tennis partner which was a new experience. His team came in 13th out of 17 that competed in the national finals. He said the best part was his phone was off almost the entire trip and he received a really nice jacket for being in the competition.
Bonnie Johnson said she just returned from a trip to Greece and Croatia that included a lot of walking, but her foot hung in there ok from an injury from earlier in the year. Her daughter texted her too much on business matters however!
Jeff Brining congratulated Bill on his tennis exploits and welcomed all our guests. He took his last sail of the season over the weekend on his sailboat and saw a whale in Long Island Sound off Old Saybrook. His daughter who is in 6th grade also ran in the state cross country tournament.
Mike Cooney said he was glad to be back after missing the last few Wednesday’s. He also told of his son and daughter’s sports exploits. He also said if anyone would like to buy popcorn to benefit the Scouts he’s the man to see.
Pat Marshall said she was just so happy to see everyone and is glad to be a member of the club!
Andrew Nollman reported that he had a great time this past weekend doing absolutely nothing! His wife Lona is feeling really good now that some health issues are in the past. Both he and his wife are going to a wedding in Washington DC coming up and are looking forward to getting out of town!
Barry Shead gave to wish Lottie Scott a happy birthday! Barry also told that his neighbor was working as an ironworker in Boston and fell 3 floors while on the job. He was in really bad shape for over 3 weeks and they were not sure he’d pull through, but is now able to talk and walk. Amazing!
Suzy Hurlburt welcomed all our guests. She also said that the National Assocation of Realtors lost an important antitrust law suit and might have to lay out 1.8 billion in damages. Not good.
Weekly Auction: Bill Champagne. Bill auctioned off one of the bottles of champagne he usually gives his clients when they buy a property. After some spirited bidding Bob Reed was the winner at $25.00.
Lottery: Bill Champagne.
Mary Richardson, Tom Adams and our guest speaker Assistant District Governor Sam Roudebush drew cards to no avail. Suzy Hurlburt won Barry’s ARC cookies!
Program:
President Mary introduced our area Rotary District 7980 Assistant District Governor Sam Roudebush. Sam talked about the District Governor, Christine Freedman’s focus on Mental Health and said that a new District Committee on Mental Health is forming and urged anyone who is interested on serving on that committee to contact the DG. Sam also spoke of other projects that are happening within our area and complemented President Mary and the club on all they do in our community and area.
President Mary called upon Sam to recite the 4-Way Test and the meeting was adjourned at 1:20pm