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| Barbara shown with President Bill Crookston just after receiving a standing ovation for all of her hard work. |
Good things never last. Our Executive Secretary Barbara Hopper is retiring after three and a half years of giving our club "Service Above Self". Barbara was responsible for bringing our club into the computer age with the set up of our Club's books on Rotary International's "Clubmate" software. In June of 2000 she was awarded the outstanding new member award. She worked tirelessly to make our club run efficiently and is a person who really cared about the operations of our club. I know myself and my wife, Brenda (see below) will miss seeing our buddy Barbara's face at Rotary events.
..... Larry Maher, Web Master
Barbara (my sister) I will miss you. I loved being with you at events and sharing in the fun with you. You are a blast to be with and I love you!
..... Brenda Maher
Barbara worked for Four presidents in her stay as Executive Secretary. Some of their thoughts are shown below.
Barbara
Hopper had the most difficult of all tasks, following a legend.
Despite the pressures, she not only survived, but also thrived and did an
outstanding job in taking over the Executive Secretary’s job as “Rotary’s
1st Lady”, Esther Johnson, moved over and headed towards a
well-deserved retirement.
My
first reaction on realizing that I had to find a replacement for Esther was,
“Why on my watch?.” Then, after
meeting Barb - - thanks to George Collins - - I realized that here was a good
person who could do the job for us. Barb
proved to be a quick study, and eminently qualified for the job. She also proved
to be a good person to work with. I’m sorry to see her move on.
Jack Siegal, Past President 1999/2000
It was always a pleasure to come to Rotary on Friday and see the smiling face sitting at the business table - guess who? Barbara Hopper. That always brought a laugh to your day.
This was Barbara - she would help in any way she could and found it hard to say no.
Her Kindness to my wife during her broken wrist period was a true joy - all those casseroles and bags of goodies - Barbara is a lady who thought of others first!
I'll miss her humor and wit , but most of all I'll miss her as a wonderful human being. Thank you Barb for all of your help and kindness during my year.
John Lehne, Past President 2000/2001
My year as the President of the Rotary Club of Santa Monica was enhanced with
Barbara Hopper as the Executive Secretary. Barbara knew the
"ropes" and she kept me on the "straight and narrow".
She was forthright with her comments and opinions and those comments and
opinions were generally sound. I relied on her advice and was thankful for
all her help and support. On a personal note, Barbara is a fun loving and
caring person. She knows how to have a good time and she knows how to get
the job done. I will miss Barbara at the weekly Rotary meetings. I
have come to enjoy Barbara as one of my fellow Rotarians.
Hal Quigley, Past President, 2001/2002