Cindy Stankowski is the Director of the San Diego Archaeological Center. Her personal commitment is to continue to have a positive impact in the community by making new ideas and information accessible in the museum setting.
Ms. Stankowski received a Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in Anthropology from San Diego State University and a Master’s degree in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University. She has been with the San Diego Archaeological Center since 1996, leading the effort to preserve our archaeological legacy. She brings an understanding of curation issues and museum management to SDAC and has led symposia on curation throughout the state.
Ms. Stankowski has worked extensively with local American Indian nations to promote cultural use of curated collections. She also seeks new and innovative ways for the public to connect with the past including exhibits, seminars and school presentations.
Professional memberships include: American Association of Museums, Association of Environmental Professionals, Registrars Committee–Western Region, Society for American Archaeology, Society for California Archaeology and Western Museums Association.
The San Diego Archaeological Center is a museum where visitors can learn the story of how people have lived in San Diego County for the past 10,000 years. In addition to its role as a museum, the Center serves as an education and research facility and is the only local organization dedicated to the collection, study, curation and exhibition of San Diego County’s archaeological artifacts.
Welcome and Introductions: Meeting called to order at 12:30 by President Lora Fisher
Invocation: Claire Reese, The Lord’s Prayer
Pledge: Bill Boehm
Song: Gwyn Jones, who turns 50 in one week, was “Happy Birthday”.
Visitors:
President Lora Fisher and Club Members welcomed…
Betty Dow’s son Jim was visiting from Palo Verdes.
Sue Ball had her mother, Jaunette Taylor and Ken Berry with her.
Bob Pecora hosted Darvy Cohan, a 38-year-old Coast Guard veteran.
Frederick Clerie was hosted by Lora Fisher.
Amy Stowers, CEO Optimize it Consulting
Eileen Jolly accepting her new red badge
Lora led the induction of new member Eileen Jolly, assisted by John Trifiletti, Membership Chair, Ted Rutter, sponsor, and Kevin Hughes, her mentor. Eileen is listed as Insurance Industry.
Happy Bucks:
The Bell donated by the Rotary Club of La Jolla was rung in the Cancer Infusion Center at Balboa Naval Hospital
Cindy Goodman – August 21st marked the first day the bell donated by the Rotary Club of La Jolla was rung in the Cancer Infusion Center at Balboa Naval Hospital. The ringing of the bell by the patient signified completion of chemotherapy and was celebrated by both family and staff. As we had presented the bell only the day before it was not yet mounted. Instead it was held by a member of the nurses, but that didn’t diminish the excitement. One staff member noted that she had never sen the patient look happier. Thank you, Rotarians!
Claire Reese – Attended a conference in Colorado on “Separation of Powers”, 105 people attended including Justice Scalia of the US Supreme court.
David Shaw had his three grandchildren last week with no parental interruptions. Ruin and return was the order of the week.
Nancy Gardner pointed out that both Claire Reese and Carlos Gutierrez will be dancing in “Dancing with the Stars”, La Jolla style.
Announcements:
The Club Board meeting will be held Thursday 8/27, 5 PM at Corinne Fleming’s home.
Gwyn Jones announced last week that his back-to-school supplies fund was needing $2000.00 to reach his goal for this year. Cindy Goodman, Community Service Chair, gave $500.00 from her budget with the hope that club members would match the amount. Lora Fisher gave $250.00, Ken King $100.00, Russell King $50.00, Don Lincoln $50.00, George Wahab $50.00, Pat Stouffer $50.00, and several more whose identity eluded me.
Frederick Clerie updated us on his recent trip to Haiti where he is involved in an orphanage that currently houses 23 children in rented shelters. Frederick was born in Haiti, educated in the US and worked as an engineer. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and children struggle with obtaining enough protein in their diet. President Lora’s Presidents Project this year is funding a chicken coop and 600 egg-laying hens which will help address the dietary protein shortage, as well as provide a revenue stream from egg sales.
A sign-up sheet was passed around asking which members might be interested in traveling to Haiti on March 2 to visit our project.FYI: the hotels do not have hot water in Haiti!
Who’s Life is it Anyways?
Lora did her popular “Who’s Life is it Anyways?” with members Susan Stevens, Davis Cracroft, and David Shaw as the contestants. The three activities that had been accomplished, one by each individual, were sky diving, working on an oil rig, and hiking up to Machu Pichu.
Burton Housman was “volunteered” to ask each a question and then select who had done what. After asking his questions, he deferred to Captain Jonathan Spaner to make the selections. Captain Spaner attempted to “pass the buck” to his aide, E-3 Heather Walters, but Burt was having none of it, insisting the Captain make the selections.
Susan Stevens had sky dived, prodded on by her mother telling her not to, Davis was the oil rig worker, early training for ER Doctor, and David had hiked to Machu Pichu 10 years ago.
Ed Mracek, Captain Jon Spaner and President Lora Fisher
Speaker: Captain Jonathan Spaner, United States Coast Guard
Ed Mracek introduced our speaker, Captain Jonathan Spaner, US Coast Guard. It was a rather lengthy introduction, and Capt Spaner noted upon taking the lectern, that his 11-year-old son Theodore, having attended another function where the same lengthy introduction had been used, noted that his father was a “Model” Officer. He then asked his father if he had read the definition of “model”, to which Spaner replied no. Theodore informed him it was “a small reproduction of the real thing”. Back to earth.
Captain Spaner is the Sector Commander for the Southwest US., including the Colorado River and Artic.
His 5 duties are Captain of the Port, Officer in Charge of ships, including inspection of newly built ships, Search and Rescue coordinator, Fed. On-scene disaster Coordinator, and Maritime security.
In the 4th quarter of 2013, 48 jet skis from Mexico containing illegal drugs/guns/cash landed on the San Diego Coast.
4th Quarter of 2014, 12 landed.
This year is on track to have 3 jet skis land on our shores.
The Coast Guard has very limited capacity to operate in the arctic, having only two icebreakers. Russia has 20.
The Arctic is very important to Russia, providing 20% of their economy.
His Aide, E-3 Heather Walters, was honored by the Mesa Arizona Rotary for her volunteer work when she was 16 years old.
President Lora Fisher, Captain Jon Spaner and E-3 Heather Walters
Where in the World?
Where in the World is this Rotarian and who are they? Be the first to indentify your fellow Rotarian and the location to win. Please send your answer to mahalosu@gmail.com.
If you have an interesting travel photo of yourself in a recognizable destination you would like to submit for the game please send to: mahalosu@gmail.com. Photos do not have to be recent, older pictures are welcomed! All submissions will be considered, international and domestic!
May the best globetrotter win!
From The Pages of:
August 2015 Edition
Out of Tragedy, Some People Create Something Good
What’s the worst that could happen? For most of us, that’s a simple question. We might be late for a train. We might miss out on a promotion, or even lose a job. But for some, the worst is unimaginably worse. An unfortunate few endure what Ani Kalayjian calls “true trauma.” War. Fire. Flood. A daughter disappears. A son contracts Ebola. When faced with such disasters, “people feel anger, guilt, sadness, frustration – feelings that can poison the body and spirit,” says Kalayjian, a trauma specialist at Columbia University. “Trauma survivors may think they’re going crazy.”
Some retreat from the world. Many simply survive. And a few, by some sort of spiritual alchemy, turn their trauma into something good for the rest of the world.
“There are things we think we could never survive,” says Harold Takooshian of Fordham University, who has studied what he calls homicide survivors. “A loved one is murdered – suddenly, terribly taken from us,” he says. “Who could endure that? And yet we do endure. We pick ourselves up and go on, even after the worst happens. The question is, how?”
By now you are probably thinking that this is the most depressing magazine story ever. But hang on. It gets worse. And then it gets better.
One spring day in 1973, first grader Joan D’Alessandro was delivering Girl Scout cookies in suburban Hillsdale, N.J. A neighbor abducted and murdered her. Joan’s mother was shattered, almost suicidal. “I lay in bed like a statue,” recalls Rosemarie D’Alessandro. “I felt like I’d never get up. Why would I?” The answer: because she had two other children who needed her. First of all, they needed lunch. “That got me going. Looking at what was immediately in front of me. Making sandwiches. Doing the next thing after that.”
Read More in the August 2015 Edition or Click Here
Club MeetingsUnless otherwise noted, all club meetings are Tuesday, 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla (Map) Check out the Upcoming Guest Speakers on the Club Calendar!
Back by Popular Demand! Speaker for Tuesday: September 1st, 2015
Claude Anthony Marengo will be back to discuss the La Jolla Village Merchants Association!
Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
The remaining “Rotary Padres Nights” for this baseball season are as follows:
Saturday, September 5th at 5:40 pm vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers – Rotary price is $50.00 for Field Plaza Seats.
Please invite your members to join other Rotarians from District 5340 for an evening of baseball and fellowship.
Part of each purchase will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. To place your order for tickets, please reply to Rotarian Kevin Forrester (kforrester@psmkr.com), or (760) 944-1918, no later than 7 days before the scheduled game day.
USO San Diego’s 5th Annual Golf Classic Tuesday, November 3, 2015 – The Crosby National Golf Club www.usosandiego.org/golf
For more information contact Laurnie Durisoe at 619-861-1417
To receive Surf Beat each week, click the “subscribe” button above.Looking for a past issue? Surf Beat Archive has all online editions since July 2013.Submissions to Surf Beat are welcome and appreciated.* * * *
Rotary Club of La Jolla is one of sixty clubs in the San Diego area’s Rotary District 5340 and one of the 34,000 clubs that make up our parent organization, Rotary InternationalMembership is open to all by invitation. For further information about our club and membership, please contact John Trifiletti by clicking the link below.
The mission of the non-profit San Diego Bowl Game Association is to generate tourism, exposure, economic benefit and civic pride for San Diego and its citizens by presenting the nation’s most exciting and entertaining bowl games and festivals of events. The San Diego Bowl Game Association is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization which produces the National University Holiday Bowl and the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.
Welcome and Introductions:President Lora Fisher was back from the birth of her second grandchild, and presided over the meeting. She opened the meeting by pointing out that there is no better place to spend Tuesday at noon than lunch and Rotary at the La Valencia Hotel.
Invocation: Russell King
Pledge: Ed Mracek
Song: Sally Fuller, who asked for a show of hands from all the WWII vets in the room. When none was raised, Betty Dow noted that her late husband had served in WWII. We then sang “America the Beautiful”.
Visitors:
President Lora Fisher and Club Members welcomed…
William (Bill) Brough, personal chef, Litchfield Park, Arizona.
Eileen O’Neill Jolly, Guest of Ted Rutter.
Evelyn Nelson, Guest of Jane Reldon.
Derek A. Earley, Esq., Guest of Bob Pecora.
Happy Bucks:
John Hoss: Celebrated his 50th Wedding Anniversary in Hawaii.
Gwyn Jones: Local Salvation Army Bands came in first place in the Western Music Institute contest.
Jane Reldon
Bob Pecora: His wife celebrated her 50th birthday.
Russell King: Completed the trifecta of running all three local 1/2 marathons this year, Carlsbad, La Jolla, and America’s Finest City.
Lee Vida: Wanted to honor former member Kay Woltman, and Lora’s new grandchild.
Mark Christopher: Claude Rosinski helped him and Ana locate an orthopedic surgeon.
Claire Reese
Announcements:
President Lora summarized a letter that the Club received from Caitlyn Kellogg updating us on her summer as she heads back to USC for the Fall semester as a Junior. She completed a physics class at Mesa College, did a bit of volunteering with the SD Alzheimer’s Assn. and Baja Animal Sanctuary, and continued her internship at Dr. Mary Dobry’s dermatology office. She once again thanked us for our continuing support of her education through our Scholarship program.
Mark Christopher, Vocational Service Chair, reminded us of the upcoming networking/relationship training seminar being held by District 5340 on Sept 10, 5:30 PM. For more info, go to www.rotary5340.org.
Cindy Goodman has purchased a bell and is having it engraved as a gift from the Rotary Club of La Jolla, in preparation for presenting it to the cancer ward at Balboa Naval Hospital, where it is the tradition to ring a bell when a patient completes their cancer treatment program.
Cindy also noted the importance of having a passport that is valid for at least 6 months after your overseas travel return date. Her husband Tom was refused entry to Finland, as his passport was soon to expire.
Will Creekmur, RI Foundation Chair, updated us on the Bowling Tournament, “Strike Out Polio” which will be Saturday September 26, 2-4 PM at Kearny Mesa Lanes. seven of the eight lane sponsorship opportunities have been purchased, so hurry as I’m sure the last one will go soon. Will has set a goal of raising a minimum of $1500.00 for Polio Plus.
Lane Sponsorship Commitments:
Lane 1: Ken King
Lane 2: John Trifiletti
Lane 3: Mike Sedloff
Lane 4: Don Lincoln
Lane 5: Sue Ball/Lora Fisher
Lane 6: Corinne Fleming
Lane 7: Jane Reldon
Don Lincoln donated Charger tickets for next Saturday’s Charger’s Seahawks football game to be auctioned off with the funds going to the club. Bill Burch was the high bidder.
“The Wheel of Misfortune”
Lora gave us some examples of other local clubs’ cell phone fines, Club 33 levies $500.00 fine for your phone ringing during the meeting, the Downtown Breakfast Club charges $100.00. She asked Chuck Marsh for his opinion on fines, to which he declared no fines should ever be levied. Lora then unveiled her “Wheel Of Misfortune”, which she plans to use for fines when the occasional cell phone rings. She noted that Past President Russell would ask members to check their phones prior to starting the meeting, but she has more of an entrepreneurial spirit, and no warnings will be given going forward.
Was this planned!!!, Cindy Greatrex’s phone then rang, and she spun the wheel which landed on $75.00. HMMM.
Speaker: Mac McLaughlin, President/CEO, USS Midway Museum.
The USS Midway is the most visited ship in the world. Attendance last year was 1.2 million, and it is up by 16% this year. The excellent location of being right up front on the embarcadero certainly helps, along with having attractions for non-navy visitors.
Alcohol sales exceeded $1 million dollars last year.
The ship hosts everything from corporate events to weddings etc.
You do not need to be a Navy veteran to volunteer at the museum.
From The Pages of:
August 2015 Edition
From Success to Significance –
Robb Knuepfer should be in a hurry. It’s Monday morning and his day is full of appointments, a client meeting, and an evening board meeting. Instead, he’s found time to have coffee with me at a Starbucks near his home in Hinsdale, Ill., outside Chicago.
He’s a busy guy, and he likes it that way. He’s been involved in dozens of volunteer endeavors, including decades in the Rotary Club of Chicago. A well-respected and civic-minded lawyer, he reached the top of his field. Still, he’s ready for more. “I want to go from a life of success to one of significance,” he says.
For more than 30 years, Knuepfer enjoyed a fast-paced career at Baker & McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms. “It wasn’t unusual for me to go to Frankfurt for lunch,” he says. But as the 63-year-old looks toward the years ahead – “the back 9, as we say on the golf course” – he’s eager for a change.
Last September, Knuepfer, a senior partner focused on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and corporate finance, announced his retirement. Though he maintains ties to several local clients, his days of managing more than 300 accounts are behind him. A few months after retiring, he went back to class, as a student at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Read More in the August 2015 Edition or Click Here
Club MeetingsUnless otherwise noted, all club meetings are Tuesday, 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla (Map) Check out the Upcoming Guest Speakers on the Club Calendar!
Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
The remaining “Rotary Padres Nights” for this baseball season are as follows:
Saturday, September 5th at 5:40 pm vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers – Rotary price is $50.00 for Field Plaza Seats.
Please invite your members to join other Rotarians from District 5340 for an evening of baseball and fellowship.
Part of each purchase will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. To place your order for tickets, please reply to Rotarian Kevin Forrester (kforrester@psmkr.com), or (760) 944-1918, no later than 7 days before the scheduled game day.
USO San Diego’s 5th Annual Golf Classic Tuesday, November 3, 2015 – The Crosby National Golf Club www.usosandiego.org/golf
For more information contact Laurnie Durisoe at 619-861-1417
To receive Surf Beat each week, click the “subscribe” button above.Looking for a past issue? Surf Beat Archive has all online editions since July 2013.Submissions to Surf Beat are welcome and appreciated.* * * *
Rotary Club of La Jolla is one of sixty clubs in the San Diego area’s Rotary District 5340 and one of the 34,000 clubs that make up our parent organization, Rotary InternationalMembership is open to all by invitation. For further information about our club and membership, please contact John Trifiletti by clicking the link below.
Mark Sickman is a longtime resident of La Jolla.He is a veteran dramatist with over 200 productions, small and large, from coast to coast. These include two off-Broadway runs.
Mark’s new show ROPE was a multiple award-winner in New York’s Venus Theater Festival and enjoyed a very successful run at the Robert Moss Theatre in New York’s East Village.ROPE will be presented at the Tenth Avenue Theater in downtown San Diego in 2016.ROPE is a musical with eleven original songs.
Prior to entering the field of drama, Mark was an executive at large advertising agencies in Chicago.He is an alumnus of both the Leo Burnett Company and Foote, Cone and Belding.In 1989 he founded Sickman and Reese, an agency and design firm headquartered in La Jolla, California.
Mark graduated from Loyola University of Chicago and earned his masters degree at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.
Bill Burch exchanged club flags with visiting Rotarian Yasser Tahboub from Bahrain. Yasser is vacationing in La Jolla with his family.
Filling in for President Lora Fisher, former President Bill Burch kicked off the meeting with a reminder that at Rotary “every action we take, every decision we make, and every investment we partake is measured by how meaningful it is.”
A Few Highlights from our Club Meeting:
Welcome and Introductions: Bill Burch
Invocation: Major Gwyn Jones
Pledge: Mark Leinenweber, after giving a brief history of the pledge
Song: Laurnie Durisoe, “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad”
Visitors:
Bill Burch and Club Members welcomed…
Eleanor Ellsworth, senior associate rector at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church and former club member, guest of Sally Fuller
Jennifer Harter, with CitiNational Bank, guest of Dr. Jane Reldan
Manuel Castaneda, Comerica Bank; Mustafa Yonus, Comerica Bank; and William Calladolid, financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, all guests of Russell King
Yasser Tahboub, visiting Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Sulmaniya in Bahrain.
Blue Badges Awarded:
Bill Burch invited John Trifiletti and Nancy Gardner (great to see you!) to the podium to award members Carlos Guitierrez and Sue Ball their blue badges in recognition of completing a variety of service-oriented tasks at Rotary. Burch also noted their other service to the community, including Guitierrez’s work with Challenged Athletes Foundation and Pedal the Cause to Cure Cancer, and Sue Ball’s 30 years of service with the YMCA, including the improvement of two local YMCA campuses and as director of two local Ys.
Happy Bucks:
Claude Rosinsky was happy to report her recent return from Italy, where she met with Andrea Bocelli. She is a member of Bocelli’s foundation.
Laurnie Durisoe introduced her niece and has enjoyed showing her around La Jolla and bringing her to Rotary.
Mark deBello was happy to inform the club of an event for Ronald McDonald Club hosted by the hotel that raised $11,000 for the charity.
David Weston shared his admiration for Pastor Eleanor Ellsworth’s graceful handling of an interruption in a memorial service for Weston’s close friend when the friend’s previously-unknown Brazilian first wife made an unscheduled appearance.
Jane Reldan enjoyed breakfast with Hillary Clinton at the home of Irwin and Joan Jacobs.
Carlos Guitierrez announced that he has taken on an additional challenge in the 620-mile Challenged Athletes Foundation bike ride by starting his trek about 400 miles north of the starting line. He will be happy to take any sponsorships to help him raise $4,500 for his 1000-mile ride on behalf of the Foundation.
New Babies, Fab Wine Dinners, and Other Announcements:
Bill Burch explained that President Lora Fisher’s absence is due to the arrival of her second grandchild, Kaiden. The future Rotarian was born on August 7 in Sacramento. Fisher is expected back at the podium next meeting.
Burch reported on the Club’s first Winery Dinner. Held at Cordiano Winery last Thursday, he said it was a success and hopes similar Rotary social outings will follow.
Laurnie announced that USO San Diego’s 5th Annual Golf Classic is coming up on November 3 at The Crosby Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe. Rotary of La Jolla has supported the USO for many years, and Laurnie asked members to consider continuing their support of the Tourney in some way again this year.
Burch took a moment to recall his term as Rotary Club president in 2010 and gave an update on the Liberian project started under his watch. He is pleased to report that the community bank our club helped start is expanding, financing 20 high-tech private schools and giving microloans that are empowering women entrepreneurs. The water well developed with our club’s help also continues to provide water to the community.
Speaker: David Bennett, general director, San Diego Opera
“Why Opera Makes Music Worth Seeing”
As the San Diego Opera’s new general director, David Bennett provided a brief overview of the obstacles the Opera has overcome since the premature announcement of its demise two years ago. By trimming costs and relying on the generosity of other U.S. opera companies who have lent costumes and scenery, the Opera has been able to end the last two seasons in the black or at break-even. Bennett reviewed the Opera’s upcoming season, which will include three grand operas and three special event concerts, beginning September 19 with a recital by René Barbera. What’s in store for the Opera’s future? Bennett laid out the following programming plans:
Continuing the tradition of grand operas at the Civic Theater
Adding non-traditional chamber operas, as has been done successfully by other companies
Taking Opera to the community by performing chamber operas in non-traditional venues
Collaborating with other San Diego arts organizations such as theater, dance and the symphony
Commissioning and developing new works
Reviving interest in American opera artists
From The Pages of:
August 2015 Edition
A Conversation with Caryl Stern
The six-day-old baby shuddered with convulsions. Her mother, Memunatu, had given birth at home and cut her daughter’s umbilical cord with what she could find – a sharp piece of metal. When the newborn contracted tetanus, Memunatu walked miles to reach a clinic. That’s where Caryl Stern encountered the pair. Stern was on a field visit with UNICEF in Sierra Leone and stayed with Memunatu, trying to comfort her, until the child died. The image of the baby in pain, hypersensitive to light and sound, stayed with Stern as she got off the plane in New York and headed home to her own family. “I realized that the pizza I asked my son to order that night because I didn’t feel like cooking cost more than the vaccine that would have prevented this disease,” she says. “On my most frustrating day, I bring myself back to that moment. That’s why I’m here.”
Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, sits in a corner office adorned with hand-drawn pictures and brightly colored paintings by children she’s met around the world. “Kids are awesome,” she says as she shows off the homemade gallery. “As bad as it is in some places, kids are still kids.” In 2007, she joined the U.S. Fund for UNICEF after almost two decades as a senior official at the Anti-Defamation League. In her new role, she learned about UNICEF’s humanitarian work by visiting country after country, sleeping in tents and under bed nets. She wrote a book titled “I Believe in Zero” – something she started saying to rally her team around the possibility of bringing the number preventable child deaths to zero….
Read More in the August 2015 Edition or Click Here
Club MeetingsUnless otherwise noted, all club meetings are Tuesday, 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla (Map) Check out the Upcoming Guest Speakers on the Club Calendar!
Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
The remaining “Rotary Padres Nights” for this baseball season are as follows:
Saturday, September 5th at 5:40 pm vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers – Rotary price is $50.00 for Field Plaza Seats.
Please invite your members to join other Rotarians from District 5340 for an evening of baseball and fellowship.
Part of each purchase will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. To place your order for tickets, please reply to Rotarian Kevin Forrester (kforrester@psmkr.com), or (760) 944-1918, no later than 7 days before the scheduled game day.
USO San Diego’s 5th Annual Golf Classic Tuesday, November 3, 2015 – The Crosby National Golf Club www.usosandiego.org/golf
For more information contact Laurnie Durisoe at 619-861-1417
To receive Surf Beat each week, click the “subscribe” button above.Looking for a past issue? Surf Beat Archive has all online editions since July 2013.Submissions to Surf Beat are welcome and appreciated.* * * *
Rotary Club of La Jolla is one of sixty clubs in the San Diego area’s Rotary District 5340 and one of the 34,000 clubs that make up our parent organization, Rotary InternationalMembership is open to all by invitation. For further information about our club and membership, please contact John Trifiletti by clicking the link below.
Captain Spaner is the Sector Commander and Captain of the Port of San Diego, California. In this role, he is the Federal Maritime Security Coordinator for Southern California and is also responsible for maritime safety, search and rescue, and environmental protection in the region. He reports to Sector San Diego from Washington, D.C. where he served as Director of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Office of Emerging Policy. In this position, he was responsible for development of strategy on major issues including the Arctic, Western Hemisphere affairs, cyber security, and climate change. Moreover, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, Captain Spaner served as Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Arctic Council Task Force assigned with creating the Arctic Economic Council.
Previously, he served as Commanding Officer of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Michigan with responsibility for HH-65C helicopter operations in the Great Lakes and Caribbean regions. Captain Spaner has held senior pilot ratings in the C-130 and HH-60 aircraft during tours in California, Florida, and Oregon. He also served as Strategic Policy Advisor to the Four-Star General commanding war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Director of Port and Cargo Security on the White House Staff.
Captain Spaner has extensive experience with crisis operations. He flew operational missions as a C-130 Aircraft Commander during the national response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and advised the National Incident Command during the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Captain Spaner also defended against and survived a piracy attack in South America while serving as a crew member aboard a U.S.-flag merchant ship in 1990. Captain Spaner is licensed as an Airline Transport Pilot through the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and as a U.S. Merchant Marine Officer (Third Mate of Ocean Steam or Motor Vessels of Any Gross Tons) through the Coast Guard.
Captain Spaner holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a B.S. cum laude from the United States Merchant Marine Academy where he was the Regimental Commander, and is a distinguished graduate from U.S. Navy Pilot Training. Captain Spaner is a 2013 graduate of Harvard University’s U.S.-Russia Security Program. This program combines 24 senior military and diplomatic officers from the United States and the Russian Federation into an executive course focused on history, bilateral cooperation, and global security. Captain Spaner holds the “Key to the City” from Traverse City, Michigan for citizenship, is a former fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and German Marshall Fund, and is a former White House Fellow.
Captain Spaner is married to the former Laura Bardani from Redding, Connecticut. She is licensed and works as a Registered Nurse at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego.
Dick Woltman, the top bidder in the banjo auction, was presented with the Alison Brown donated banjo by Club President Lora Fisher. He proceeded to demonstrate his budding skill with the banjo.
A Few Highlights from our Club Meeting:
Welcome and Introductions: President Lora Fisher
Invocation: Chuck Dick read a prayer from a collection of Prayers for Food.
Pledge: Orrin Gabsch
Song: Ted Rutter: Kumbaya (we’re taking it back!)
Visitors:
Lora Fisher and Club Members welcome…
Judy and Peter Corrente with Ed Mracek
Jan BrunstingEvelyn Nelson, UCSD Medical Student, with Jane Reldan
Ryan Kaziemeni with Bob Pecora
The Following are Florence Riford Grant Recipients:
Ann Backe, Leslie Harrington, Rick Schwartz, Jenny Mealov, Heath Fox, Sidd Vivek, Kara Smith, Cornelia Feye and Conrad Castro
Happy Bucks:
President Lora Fisher, having “shamelessly” self-promoted in a wonderful 10 Questions feature in The La Jolla Light, graciously made a generous donation to the club.
Florence Riford La Jolla Community Fund Grant
David Weston provided history on Florence Riford and the Florence Riford La Jolla Community Fund which was established in 1986 to assist worthwhile community charitable projects in La Jolla. This fund is advised by a board of directors appointed by the Rotary Club of La Jolla and the president of the La Jolla Town Council. A total of $475,008 has been granted out of this fund over the years. $23,000 has been granted this year to six non-profits serving the La Jolla community:
Florence Riford La Jolla Community Fund Grant Recipients:
YMCA Summer Bridge Program: Presented to Sidd Vivek and Conrado Castro
Partnership with Industries Program: Presented to Mark Berger and Amanda Yoshimura
La Jolla YMCA: Kara Smith (for Sue Ball)
La Jolla Historical Society: Heath Fox
Atheneum: Cornelia Feye
La Jolla Christmas Parade and Holiday Festival Foundation: Ann Kerr and Charles Hartford
Speaker: Rick Schwartz
Rick Schwartz, Zookeeper and Ambassador for the World Famous San Diego Zoo, shared wonderful factoids about the Zoo, which will be celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2016!
The genesis for the zoo was the small collection of animals left behind after the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-16.
Dr. Harry Wegeforth heard the lions roar en route to his surgical practice and said to his brother “Why not a zoo in Balboa Park?”
The City of San Diego accepted the concept of having a zoo, but declined to provide funding or management for the zoo. From the beginning the Zoo was always a community-supported, stand-alone Non-profit.
Wegeforth bartered with other zoos for animals (we had plenty of sea lions to exchange!)
Dr. Charles Schroeder, a veterinarian, was hired by the zoo, and in the 1960’s first referred to the zoo as the “World Famous San Diego Zoo”. The name stuck!
In the 1920s, the zoo was the first to have open exhibitions of carnivores, recognizing how deep moats provided safe barriers between the animals and the visitors.
Charles Schroeder first envisioned the Safari Park (originally called the Wild Animal Park), and continued to scope out the space in the San Pasqual Valley, and pitched opening it to the public, over the profound resistance of the Zoo Board of Directors.
Ambassador Joan Embry brought the Zoo further fame when she appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson
Today the zoo’s conservation mission is carried out in 140 locations around the world!
District Dinner at Cordiano Winery
Tuesday evening, several La Jolla Rotarians met for a lovely dinner in San Diego’s wine country.Overlooking vineyards, valleys, and rolling hills, the Cordiano Winery provided an elegant backdrop for District Governor Janice Kurth’s first event. She lived up to her promise of “No more boring district dinners!”Attendees included George & Kathleen Wahab, Jane Reldan, Laurnie Durisoe, Ken King, Charles & Karla Marsh, Lora Fisher, Bill Burch, and our Italian guest Federica Alemanno. We’ll let you know next time we have such a fun event!
From the Pages of
August 2015 Edition
THE LOST GIRLS OF SOUTH SUDAN AND THE ROTARIAN WHO FOUND THEM
The girls were alone. Their families were dead, or gone, or lost in the broken landscape of southern Sudan. They had nowhere to turn, and no one to turn to. Some lived in the market, others in the cemetery. When Cathy Groenendijk saw them, she couldn’t help herself. She offered them tea, then some food, then a place to sleep in her guesthouse.
“In the morning, we would sit together and talk about what had happened the night before,” Groenendijk remembers. “And what I heard I could not believe. I could not believe it.”
One girl’s father had died, and after the funeral, she never saw her mother again. She was living on the streets with some other kids when four men started chasing them. The other girls were faster. She fell behind and was caught and raped by all four men. Groenendijk knew a doctor who repaired the physical damage, saving her life.
Another three girls, ages eight, six, and one, lived with their mother, but they all slept in the open. Groenendijk helped them build a tarped shelter, but the hot sun ate it away. One night, a man snuck in and tried to assault one of the girls. After that, Groenendijk let them sleep on her veranda.
This was in 2006. A peace accord had been signed the year before, ending a 22-year civil war and paving the way for the independence of South Sudan. But the region was still broken in many ways. While the story of its “lost boys,” who traveled hundreds of miles on foot to reach safety during the war, is well known, little has been written or said about the girls who stayed behind, and who were just as lost.
Groenendijk was born in eastern Uganda, where her father grew coffee and bananas on the family farm. She had three brothers and seven sisters, so when she was three years old, she was sent to the capital, Kampala, to live with an aunt. After secondary school, she went on to study nursing.
“When I was in Kampala,” she says, “I used to take the food that was left from our kitchen in the training school and give it to the children who were without food. It was a very, very bad time under Idi Amin, and after.”
It was a time of war, suspicion, and fighting. Between 1971 and 1979, about half a million people died under Amin’s dictatorship. Another 300,000 died under Milton Obote before he was deposed in 1985.
Read More in the August 2015 Edition or Click Here
Club MeetingsUnless otherwise noted, all club meetings are Tuesday, 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla (Map) Check out the Upcoming Guest Speakers on the Club Calendar!
Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
The remaining “Rotary Padres Nights” for this baseball season are as follows:
Saturday, September 5th at 5:40 pm vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers – Rotary price is $50.00 for Field Plaza Seats.
Please invite your members to join other Rotarians from District 5340 for an evening of baseball and fellowship.
Part of each purchase will be donated to Rotary’s “End Polio Now” campaign. To place your order for tickets, please reply to Rotarian Kevin Forrester (kforrester@psmkr.com), or (760) 944-1918, no later than 7 days before the scheduled game day.
USO San Diego’s 5th Annual Golf Classic Tuesday, November 3, 2015 – The Crosby National Golf Club www.usosandiego.org/golf
For more information contact Laurnie Durisoe at 619-861-1417
To receive Surf Beat each week, click the “subscribe” button above.Looking for a past issue? Surf Beat Archive has all online editions since July 2013.Submissions to Surf Beat are welcome and appreciated.* * * *
Rotary Club of La Jolla is one of sixty clubs in the San Diego area’s Rotary District 5340 and one of the 34,000 clubs that make up our parent organization, Rotary InternationalMembership is open to all by invitation. For further information about our club and membership, please contact John Trifiletti by clicking the link below.
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