Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Calendar of Events

Past Week, 2/21: New Members’ Night and Talks

This Week, 2/28: Corey Bishop – “Restoration of Yaddo Gardens.”

BOD Meeting at 5:00

Next Week, 3/7: Bob Van Vranken – “Ballston Spa National Bank – A Community Success Story.

Comimg Up, 3/4 Gift of Life Dinner Dance, Marriott, Wolf Road

Minute for Rotary: Ron Serapilio and new member, Mark Gasparic

Invocation: Garry Morrow, Dan Stec or Bob Youmans

Suggestions for future programs may be given to Linda LeTendre

President Rey introduced his granddaughter Meghan Whetten who is visiting during the School Break. Reid Lonergan was the guest of Bill Lonergan.

Sally Sorenson, Past President of the Glenville Club paid happy dollars to make a Pitch for the Third Annual Glenville Corporate Olympics co-sponsored by Glenville Rotary and the Glenville family YMCA. The event is scheduled for May 4^th – 7^th and is designed to foster lifetime fitness awareness, sportsmanship, fairness and Fun! Literature was passed out describing the event in more detail. Team registrations are due March 10^th.

Garry Morrow announced that the Gift of Life Dinner Dance is scheduled for March 4^th. Cost is $75.00 per person with proceeds going to the gift of Life foundation that funds life saving and life changing surgeries for children form developing countries.

In Memoriam – Fritz Neumann

President Rey led the Club in a moment of silence for Fritz Neumann who passed away on Friday, February 17^th. Fritz had a long and accomplished career with General Electric and also served as Supervisor for the Town of Glenville. He was a naval aviator during World War II and recounted his experiences as a dive bomber pilot as one of the presenters in our Veteran’s Day observance. Fritz was a Paul Harris Fellow and an outstanding Rotarian. He will be greatly missed.

At the close of the meeting a large group of Rotarians went to the Glenville Funeral Home for calling hours and presented Fritz’s Rotary badge to the family.

New Member Night and Talks

Four of our newest members, Chris Campbell, Don Boucher, Mali Naksanga, and Chris Nyhan were recognized and made brief presentations by way of introduction

to the membership.

Chris Campbell gave a good humored account of his employment history with many banks as a result of mergers and acquisitions culminating in his present employment with Ballston Spa National Bank (no takeover so far) where he is a Branch Manager.

Chris is single and serves as surrogate father to two children of his sister who was widowed in 2000. Chris has a collection of model cars that occupies 54 feet of shelf space in his home!

Don Boucher was born in Queens, NY in 1932 and graduated from Mineola High School after living in eight different locations. He worked briefly for Doubleday Books before serving in the Army during the Korean conflict. After his service he attended the Crane school of Music at SUNY Potsdam and graduated with a degree in music education. Prior to joining the music faculty in the BH/BL school system he taught at Parishville, NY and Rutland, Vermont. Widowed in 1986, he is now married to Becky, a former colleague. Retired from teaching, he is a long time member of the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra and performs with other groups as well.

Mali Naksanga is an exchange teacher from Thailand, one of about two thousand sponsored by AFS each year. She is currently assigned to Stevens Elementary school. Mali lives with “Mom and Dad” Whetten where she has settled in as beloved “Princess”. In Thailand Mali teaches 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade math in a country school surrounded by rubber tree plantations. Mali’s parents are rubber tree farmers as are some of her siblings. Mali has a Master of Education degree from the University of Bangkok. When Mali returns to Thailand in June she hopes to initiate a joint Rotary project to help poor students attend high school which is out of reach for many in rural areas.

Chris Nyhan Grew up in Burnt Hills and had his first job at Burnt Hills Veterinary clinic. He is a graduate of BH/BL High School and Drew University. Chris spent about seven years on the road with the relocation services group of Prudential Financial. He is now with Edward Jones Investments where he manages the Burnt Hills office. Chris was attracted to Edward Jones Investments by their commitment to providing value to clients and partners through community offices. He is married to Shannon and they have a son, Patrick, who is nine and a half weeks old.

We are delighted to welcome these outstanding new members to rotary!

Serve with us- the world is waiting

as reported by Garry Morrow