Sara Maloney gave thanks for each and every seat that was filled today (Amen!) She prayed we would have the strength and wisdom to serve our communities and, as we do, to maintain dignity for all concerned.
Guests:
Rick Kaiser introduced Jim Lemerond, President of Bellingham Technical College
Doug Cole introduced Sandee Lindhout's family: Husband Jim, Daughters Kelli Little and Keri Kleinknecht and grandaughter Ava Kleinknecht
Members on Zoom: Steve Hager, Jack Westford, John Pedlow and Monty McAllister
Guests on Zoom: Chuck Snyder from Arizona and Scott Wallace
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Honoring 53 Years of Stellar Service
President Doug announced today we were celebrating a work anniversary for our beloved Sandee who has been working for Rotary for 53 years! Doug shared some of her career history (it hasn’t been all about us) and introduced her husband, two daughters, and a granddaughter, who joined us for lunch. Doug’s accolades for Sandee’s work were expanded and affirmed individually by each of the former club presidents in the room. (The Tattler staff could have had a similar round of accolades but we like to keep a low profile at the meetings.) In short, Sandee is a rock star and has been instrumental in the club’s performance over these 53 years, through annual changes in leadership/priorities/styles, expanding use of technology, and logistical challenges too numerous to mention. To celebrate President Doug made some cupcakes for attendees and gave Sandee a pepper plant to recognize her red-hot role in sustaining our organization.
Support for Lahaina
President Doug noted our collection for Lahaina has brought in $1868 so far from the membership. The donation will go to the Rotary District 5000 Foundation for Maui Fires Relief Fund. Thank you members for your donations!!
WCC Food Bank
Keenen Kaemingk, a student affairs professional and manager for the Food Pantry at Whatcom Community College, spoke to us about the need for food among one out of three college students nationally. He announced that the WCC food pantry will be doing a food drive here on September 11. They are looking for cash as well as nonperishable items (e.g., cans, pasta, hygiene products). Keenen thanked RCOB for our previous support and said he gets to see first-hand the benefits of the foodbank for students, which are substantial.
Student Exchange
Felicity Dye announced the arrival of our new exchange student from Curitiba, Brazil, Joao Vitor Haas de Macedo (see photo below). He is in Ocean Shores today with his host family and plans to come to our meeting in a couple of weeks.
Volunteer Opportunity
The Seattle Mariners Community Relations team In collaboration with Playworks are hosting a Playspace Beautification at the Lummi Nation School Saturday, September 9, 2023. Baseball and Softball are Played Here. As a Mariners Community All Star, community volunteers will help us bring baseball and softball back to school playgrounds through a partnership with active play non profit, Playworks. Volunteers will help beautify the school playground including weeding, painting, hanging of playground game banners, and enhancing the baseball/softball/kickball field on school grounds. Here is the link to the sign up: https://app.fieldday.com/events/89c9dc0b-f1d5-485d-ba36-21f166bfa637#overview
Today we had the Larry Halgren Show. First there was the Paul Harris +6 Award Larry received for his continuing and significant generosity to Rotary.
Then there was this Rotary Member Moment in which Larry shared some tidbits from his career. He had traveled a lot, flying to dozens of countries around the globe, and working for a variety of companies (e.g., Uniflight, Bellingham Marine, his own consulting company, and Safe Harbor Marina). Larry is one of the patent holders for the world’s largest floating golf green in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. He has helped to grow revenue for a number of organizations; He was part of the team that grew Safe Harbor Marina to be the largest marina-serving company in the U.S.; serving 110 US marinas currently.
One of the fond memories of Rotary that he shared was of a Rotary Exchange student he had the opportunity to mentor: Ray Colliver. Ray came to Bellingham from Australia and went on to join Paul Allen’s company, Volcan, working on many buildings around Lake Union and Lumen Field. At times Colliver managed all of Allen’s mega yachts, an estate on Lopez, and 16 residences.
Larry later called out – in a good way Rotary way - Doug Cole who also mentored students through Rotary. Apparently, one of those students sought admission to Emory Riddle and had written an essay about Doug Cole as part of his application. He is now a student at that university!
Happy Bucks
Doug managed to slip a false start into the mix, asking members to recall where the RCOB has met for the last 107 years. Bob Diehl, off the top of his head, got them all, or maybe he got more than anyone else fact check: Leopald, Yacht Club, Elks Club, Northwood Hall, Lakeway Inn, and WCC. Nice work Bob!
Larry, in the final episode of today's Larry Halgren Show, stepped up for the real HAPPY BUCKS. He asked a series of yes or no questions surrounding member lifestyles. I wish I could have gotten a count on the number of motorized vehicles members own. Most answers probably reflected one or two vehicles per person, but there might have been some outliners there, people who have a few antique cars, a couple regulars, a boat or two, maybe a plane or two thrown in, etc. As a group, we are a club rich in vehicles. I'm still wondering how rich. Time for some investigative reporting?
Weekly Payment Reminder
VENMO:
@RCOB- Bellingham.
Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532.
CASH / CHECK:
Yes, we still take these and saving on fees is appreciated.
Doug’s introduction of Bill Day started with his being a former member of the Air Force and working as navigator for a troop carrier. Bill later piloted a bunch of 7x7 planes in the private sector, eventually ending up as an instructor on those planes. His wife, Lin, joined him at the meeting today.
Today’s presentation was about his work as ICBM Missile Launch Officer. Bill noted the precise time he started to talk in order to call our attention to the work that had already been underway for hours in Nebraska where he used to work. Missile officers have many and elaborate duties. Many of his duties were classified, which Bill did not see as a problem since he’d forgotten all the classified information long ago and relied only on Wikipedia for today’s presentation.
Bill briefly touched on the evolution of various aircraft and weaponry. The Minuteman Missiles he worked with were located at remote sites in part to draw Soviet weapons to the fire on the remote areas rather than on population centers should such a thing ever come to pass. The missiles themselves were two to three miles apart.
Bill had 200 missiles in his wing, the largest such unit in the Air Force. The location of the site was top secret at first—until the Nebraska locations were described in depth in a couple of US magazine articles.
In his wing, there was a lot of redundancy in communications and movement sensors everywhere. Control rooms like theirs can be seen in museums like the one in Minot.
To keep the missiles ready at all times, they tested them frequently with university physics students and convicts in the area. Interesting. I'd like to hear more on pairing.
Bill captured our attention with a story about his encounters with the spy Allen Mintkenbaugh, Bill’s mother, and the end of his promotions and eventual departure from the Air Force.
Minuteman 3 is still in service (“on alert”) today. It is one-third the size of the one Bill had but more accurate and continually updated on-site and remotely.
Bill felt like they had a lot of intelligence about what was happening with China and Russia. They began each day reviewing that intelligence.
In response to questions, Bill disclosed that commanders worried more about missiles not being fired when intended than about missiles being fired inadvertently.
Bill didn’t exactly say the work was boring, but he did acknowledge some make-work kinds of assignments, like being asked to memorize the hierarchy of all officers in the Indian military.
Closing:
Doug thanked all those responsible for staging the meeting and for their work in pursuit of Rotary's mission. He recognized the guests one last time and adjourned the meeting.
Welcome Exchange Student Joao Vitor Haas de Macedo (J.V.) from Curitiba, Brazil
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
Rotary Moment by Larry Halgren
