Darrell Johnson, a member of our club for 4 years (from January 2006) died Sunday according to his daughter’s FB post. Darrell was the leader of the Boy Scouts for the Apple Valley District. He and his family moved to Portland a few years ago. He was only 60.
The speakers were introduced by Tom McNair. Ray Taylor came to Wenatchee in 1953 from Sturgis South Dakota with his family when he was 18. His father was a Baptist minister and he became Pastor in 1954 at First Baptist Church (the current YWCA building). Ray began at Wenatchee Valley College and also held a job as a messenger at National Bank of Commerce. After graduation he worked his way up to branch operations manager and in 1967 was invited by Harold Brown to be Assistant Manager for Chelan County Medical Services Corporation/ Blue Shield. That’s where our program begins. Along the way he met Betty Lee and they raised 3 kids. Today Ray enjoys children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and his Betty Lee, as well as time volunteering for Gideons, WV Senior Center Singers and active in the Calvary Crossroads Church community.
Beth Stipe came along in 2003 to take the helm at the Foundation after Ray announced his retirement after 17 years. A Hoosier by birth, with a decade in Colorado, Wenatchee is home. A lover of all things outdoors (unless its scary, too cold or too wet) – Beth loves to ride her mountain bike, snorkel, fish, swim, ski or enjoy a lovely campfire. But most of all she loves cooking and sharing good meals with friends. Needless to say, COVID is a drag.
Ray Taylor shared the story of how Chelan County Medical became the Community Foundation of North Central Washington. Highlights of the history of Chelan County Medical included the fascinating history of how the organization started in 1933 to provide prepaid medical to fruit warehouse workers and the competition that caused the sale to Blue Cross. The sale to Blue Cross provided $2.1M in assets to create the Community Foundation of North Central Washington in 1986. The idea was suggested by the legal team hired by Blue Cross and ultimately voted on by the Board of Chelan County Medical and the doctors. Ray shared stories of early donors Jack Hill, John Brown and Earle Jenkin who helped create the Waterville Community Fund. The Waterville Community Fund was started with $25,000 from five Waterville residents and today has provided over $100,000 in grants and has a corpus of over $175,000. Finally, Ray discussed some of his favorite grants – the Wenatchee Youth Circus received the first grant ever to help build the cook and equipment wagons that they still use today! Ray laughed about helping buy the very first computer for Children’s Home Society. After 17 years Ray retired and Beth Stipe was brought on to lead the organization. She has bested his tenure having served 18 years and counting….
At the close of the meeting, P/E Alice Meyer (who refers to Ray as Mr. Taylor (since she once worked under him) commented that she knows him as a continuing dedicated volunteer in our community, and that he has given many hours working at the PAC. She ended the meeting encouraging all of us to take this special time to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.
The program ended with Ray sharing one of his favorite Peanuts cartoons.
President Kory Kalahar opened the November 19th ZOOM meeting to about 44 members.
Scroll to bottom to view attendance. After the pledge of allegiance to our magnificent American flag, Rich and Allan suggested methods to better synchronizing the pledge. Phil Schultz was our guest again, and was promised an induction in December.
Matthew Michelson (in Moses Lake) introduced his friend and market development manager Jason, who is interested in Rotary. He then went on to promote some local food drives.
Local food banks are extremely low. Coca-Cola will be providing free product to the first 240 people who donate on 11/21. Our special events trailer will be there helping to facilitate the collection by Avamere. Deidre Galloway, community relations director is coordinating the effort.
Also, he mentioned a food bank at New Song Church (where Don Myers is a pastor) has experienced a failure of their meat freezer. Rich Peters came to the rescue by promising info on an available freezer at WVC, but Kory stated that New Song already has been promised one!
OTHER NEWS
Global grant for the Haiti project: Carin Smith announced she and her district committee are beginning work on global grants for the HANWASH program, and is welcoming anyone who would like to help. Tentatively, the project will be conducted in 5 stages, each being a stand-alone project, permitting multiple grants. Contact Carin HERE.
Cards for Chelsea. Kory repeated Chelsea's request for volunteers to help write the cards of encouragement which go into the sack packs. Several members volunteered, but Kory has 50-60 additional cards which can be obtained at WSHS. Contact Kory HERE if you wish to write cards. See prior Appleseed for more info. Sack-Pack stuffing begins Dec. 01.
Cougar Gold Cheese. Repeating. To order your Cougar Gold Cheese or have questions, contact either: Garry Sparks Wenatchee Rotarian – 679-5653 – floorsgs@aol.com; or Janice Lawell, wenatchee Central Lions – 663-6204 – jlawell49@gmail.com Price - $30.
Leavenworth Rotary Auction. It's the "give thanks" auction online; go HERE! Bidding begins at noon, Nov. 14. They have some amazing items.
Would you rather? Would you rather have to read aloud every word you read (use the talking with your hand sign) or sing everything you say out loud (sing with your mouth)?
Ten (or more) things we didn't know about PP Tom McNair .
Photos show Tom then and now. He joined Rotary Feb. 01, 1986, and served as club president in 1996-97.
I once made 13 straight free throws in a high school basketball game.
As a kid living in Alabama, I dreamed of becoming a country music disc jockey.
I served as a Sonar Technician in the US Navy on a Destroyer w/nuclear weapons. Our main job was hunting Russian submarines. If I told you how many we found, and where they were located, I’d have kill you!
I’m married to the smartest person I know. Not many people can say that. So, I can’t imagine why she agreed to marry me 53 years ago!
I have been a member of Wenatchee Rotary so long that, when I joined, women were not allowed, but smoking was, and we sometimes told off-color jokes from the podium. Those were the good old days?
I first set foot in Washington State during the summer of 1962 when my cousin and I drove out from North Carolina to visit the Seattle World’s Fair. I was 17.
In 1964, I and a few wild and crazy buddies of mine drove up to New York City to visit their World’s Fair. We had only one day to spend, and the first thing we saw was the German Beer Pavilion. We spent the whole day drinking beer and flirting with the frauleins who were serving the beer. I enjoyed that fair more than Seattle’s!
I’m lucky in other areas besides marriage. In May of last year, I performed with my band at the Lake Chelan Wine & Jazz Festival. One night I struck up a conversation with Mark; turns out he played trombone with the Ellensburg Big Band and they were short a trombonist for their upcoming performance. Short story short, I subbed for the missing player. A few weeks later they invited me to join the band on a trip to New Zealand to perform at the Christchurch Big Band Festival, travel expenses paid. Mary Ann and I had a great time, and I’m still with the band!
In 2016 I had the great honor of placing a rose on the grave of General Leslie J. McNair at the American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy. General McNair is the oldest soldier among the 9,385 GI’s buried there.
Among the best things that ever happened to me was the invitation, in 1981, to move my family to Wenatchee and manage an office for an insurance company. A few years later I was invited to join Wenatchee Rotary Club. Yep, I’m a lucky guy!
These members have already told their story :
Leonard Singhose
Jil Leonard
Raz
Laurel Turner
Tom Ross
Rich Peters
Gary Provo
Linda Parlette
Dawn Davies
Gene Anderson
Alicia Nakata
Dorry Foster
Claudia DeRobles
Ford Barrett
Tom McNair
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
NOVEMBER 26 - NO MEETING
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
(COVID PERMITTING)
DECEMBER 03 - CLASSIFICATION TALK
With Ken Robertson
SPONSOR OF THE WEEK
Our current sponsors are those who generously sponsored
Also, he mentioned a food bank at New Song Church (where Don Myers is a pastor) has experienced a failure of their meat freezer. Rich Peters came to the rescue by promising info on an available freezer at WVC, but Kory stated that New Song already has been promised one!
Would you rather have to read aloud every word you read (use the talking with your hand sign) or sing everything you say out loud (sing with your mouth)?
Ten (or more) things we didn't know about PP Tom McNair .
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