Another gorgeous day beamed down on our Rotary world, with temperatures somewhere in the vicinity of the seventies…aren’t we fortunate, though! Golfers in the pack were destined to hunt amongst the leaves for errant drives or even nicely hit iron shots…”darn, I know it’s here somewhere!”
After a pledge of allegiance to our beautiful flag, Mo Moshovos led us in prayer, thanking God for strong families, and asking that we be blessed with friendships, bountiful health, and all the good things of life. The Lord must have heard our prayer last week, for once again we were spared from rice and broccoli. Instead our caterers served up some roast pork and nicely cooked roasted potatoes, string beans and salad greens. Tasted good!
It took two swings at the opening bell for
President Marc to gain our attention. (And even then, some of
us continued to compete for speech time). Only two guests were present today, our speaker from the new baseball team (the Yard Goats)
Steve Given, and
Lowell (Sonny) Waldo; but more on him later!
Frank and
Ceil Collins were called on to lead our Welcome Song. (Does anyone else think that maybe we ought to require auditions - from the leaders and the singers- for that task?)
Sgt-at-Arms Jack Sayre told of collecting happy fines fro
m:
Larry Frazier,for celebrating 52 years in Rotary(!!!);
Jay Stewart, for her college’s (Bates) mention in a recent TIME magazine;
Bob Buettner, just because it’s a beautiful Fall day;
Sheryl O’Connor, for a great birthday and wedding;
Dan Larson, for wearing and then losing his badge (and it wasn’t even his!);
Jack Sayre for handing out some ladies pocketbooks (but a lot of guys took them);
Ceil Collins for being in Rotary 19 years (and our prexie almost forgot this momentous event).
Under Caring Moments, Nick Cecere called our attention to the passing of Carmella Malinguaggio, widow of our former member Mike; diminutive in height, but magnificent in character and personality!
We were reminded of a whole lot of meetings coming soon .Mark your calendars, guys and gals:
Paul Harris Nominating meeting:
Nov.11, at Goodwin College,
11:30;
RLI Institute in Chicopee,
Nov.7, at 7:
30.AM; that’s a
Saturday and 5 Rotarians appear to be going;
Nov.5, the
Foundation Dinner at Chez Josef; if you’re not currently on the list of 14 going but would like to be, give
Sheryl a call. Next week at
11:30, the
Foundation Committee (not to be confused with the dinner) will meet here at the Ridge at
11:30. And then there’s the social hour at
Adams Mill on
Nov.12. Lots of good Rotary times…If you’re booked into any of these, or should be, be there!
And then,
President Marc did something no other East Hartford Rotary President has ever done, he
installed his father-in-law,
Lowell (Sonny) Waldo as an East Hartford Rotarian. Formerly in business with
Steve Jacoby, Sonny has a long history of “togetherness” with our club and its members…offering just “a couple words,” Sonny did just that and was warmly welcomed into our club.
Just to break the string of winners, Nick Cecere won today’s Raffle!
Dan Firestone introduced today’s speaker,
Steve Given. He’s fairly new to the area, having arrived to join forces with the new double A baseball team, as their spokesman, publicist or whatever. Lots of myriad facts and figures were thrown at us. This is an exciting new venture: new team (the Yard Goats), new location (Hartford),
ew ballpark (Dunkin Donuts). It’ll seat 6000 (8000, counting standing), ticket prices from $6 to $12 for grandstand seating; $16 to $20 for premium seats. The Yard Goats are tied in with the Colorado Rockies; opening day game will be on
April 7; they really do appear to be striving for a ”family friendly” atmosphere. “Rotary Days” and many other long-favorite Rock Cats events will continue to be features of this new venture. Steve gave an enthusiastic presentation, and we’ll hope for the same from the team, as “The Yard Goats” come on the scene!
And with that, another East Hartford Rotary meeting went into the history book. As always, it was good we could be together.
.jpg)
