Rotary Log for January 5, 2017
By Neal Ouellett
Photos by Jim Rini
We were greeted at our first meeting of the New Year by a smiling Sue Rapoza. Paris Khavari offered a splendid invocation after asking for a moment of silence in honor of our dear and departed Reverend Allen. He will be greatly missed. Father Allen was put to eternal rest just before Christmas at a funeral at St. John’s Church. He had been the Rector there for more than 20 years. Sara Treacy and President James did our club proud with their heartfelt eulogies.
Speaking of James, let’s raise a New Year toast for his leadership during the first half of his presidential term. James graces us with his impeccable preparation and quick wit week after week. Kudos James!
It was nice to see Tristan Shanley return from her leave after giving birth to two future Rotarians.
As always in our vibrant club there was an abundance of announcements:
- James offered the club the requisite two-week notice for a vote on January 19 to use $5000 from the Ray Jones Fund. The money will help replace windows at the Portsmouth Discovery Center.
- He gave well-deserved praise to Ben Wheeler for his leadership of the annual Christmas Tree Sale. Ben notes that we sold out and netted in excess of $50,000, on this, our biggest fundraiser.
- Barbara Miller reported that the William Cash Committee recommended, and the Board approved, two allocations. The first was to pay airfare for Ted Alex’s most recent Rotoplast trip, once again to Bangladesh. Thank you Ted for representing! The second distribution is to the New Heights program. These funds are given in support of their STEM project, as presented by Julie Gigliotti and Tristan Shanley. Barbara also notes that the Cash Fund still has substantial resources available. She further reminds us of the essential mission of the fund. That mission is to support non-profit projects with which there is hands-on Rotarian involvement.
Following announcements, James and Mort Schmidt continued a decades-long club tradition. Every year Past-President Ray Jones paid a substantial surcharge for the honor of owning the Christmas ornament labeled #1. Since Ray’s passing, Mort has continued the custom and given the ornament to Ray’s wife, Marlene. Thoughtfulness like that certainly makes one proud to be a member of the Portsmouth Rotary!
There were a great many Happy Dollars:
- Jon Flagg for a terrific trip to Belize with the assistance of Leonard Seagren and a Belizean Rotarian;
- Jim Rini with an impassioned and personal support of mammography;
- Peg Millar had a wonderful visit from her grandson;
- Barry McArdle coughed up big bucks in announcing his recent engagement;
- Cindi Shanley got in a plug for her two new adorable grandkids;
- John Lyons took bragging rights for selling the last Christmas Tree;
- And Leonard offered up a dollar- something about a book he was gifted.
Next up was enactment of another great Rotary tradition: the awarding of a Paul Harris Fellow. Dave Underhill and Mort Schmidt did the honors. Our very own terrific and very active member, Bob Lewis, accepted the kudos in front of his family. Bob mentioned that of the seven Rotary Clubs to which he has belonged, our club is the most engaged, active, and fun. Congratulations, Bob!
The speaker, Katy Kramer, was introduced by her friend and neighbor Donna Lewallen. Ms. Kramer gave a very interesting summary of the history of the PNSY Naval prison. She has completed 10 years of painstaking and thorough research to discover the answer to a question posed by so many visitors to the Seacoast: What is that monstrous building across the river? The culmination of all that work is her recently published book, Portsmouth Naval Prison (Images of America Series.)The book is currently available in stores and on-line for a reasonable price.
Ms. Kramer gave a very interesting pictorial account beginning with the conception of the prison in 1898 to its mothballing in the 1990’s.
This week’s raffle winner was an excited Caitlyn Hassett.
Respectfully submitted, Neal Ouellett
