Rotary Club of Santa Monica

Prior Meetings

January - February 2003

Rotary International Past President Rick King was our speaker for lunch on 2/28/03.

Past President Hal Quigley is shown standing next to Rick. Hal was serving as president of our club when Rick was serving as Rotary International President.	How, you may ask did we get the Past President of Rotary International to speak to us? The answer is that our Past President Dick Rice (right) read an article in the monthly Rotary magazine about the "Wheelchair Foundation" and called to inquire how that our club could help. Dick was amazed when Rick King answered the phone. They struck up a conversation and Rick accepted an invitation to talk to our club. By the way our Club raised enough money to buy 100 wheelchairs which was donated to the Foundation!
	President Bill is shown with Rick.

2/21/03 Esther Johnson - Annual Music Competition Awards.

This years awards were Held at the The First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica (Thank you Pat Farris). Shown starting left - Nat Trives (chairman), Scott Berens, Allen R. Gross, Director/Conductor, Santa Monica Symphony, Xibei Jia, and Micah Schub.

This years first place winner is Xibei Jia , who is a 12th grade student at New Roads High School. She performed Chopin's Ballad Number 1. Her passionate performance gave us a whole new meaning of music appreciation!

Look at all those orchids!

World class orchid expert George Vasquez was our guest speaker on 2/14/03. George brought along with him a dozen or so of his orchid plants which were auctioned off to members for their special Valentine.

Patricia Farris is shown next to our guest speaker, Superintendent of Schools (and club member), John Deasy on 2/7/03.
     Superintendent Deasy firmly believes that all children can "learn to become smart". He deplores the traditional American School System's practice of grouping children as "gifted" or "non gifted" . He explains that often times the "non gifted" children are shuffled off to sub standard teachers and learning conditions, thus eliminating any chance of receiving a rigorous education.

     Michael reminded everybody how long it now takes to get around in Southern California. Our travel times have gone up dramatically. The freeways are now jammed no matter what time we are on them.
      Michael is the Director of “Amtrac” and is passionate about trains. He is very strongly in favor of expanding our train system, and points out that the technology is already here and gave us examples of Japan and Europe’s success with their “Bullet Trains”. He feels that with a little public investment in capital and use of existing routes, we could make a real improvement in our transportation system.

Michael Dukakis was back as our speaker on 1/29/03 after last speaking to us three years ago.

Kristina Andresen and Tod Lipka honored us with their "Craft Talks" on 1/24/03

Kris, who is one of Santa Monica's finest architects told us that she always wanted to design buildings ever since she was a mere lass in the 3rd grade.
     Well Kris, I think the picture of the beautiful MGM building, which you designed, proves that you have made your goal! Tod, who is Executive Director of "Step Up on 2nd" , is shown receiving a check from Dick Lawrence for a new stove for his organization.
     Tod loves helping people and gets great satisfaction working for a charitable organization that helps Santa Monica's homeless.

Our guest speaker on 1/17/03 Robert Tranquada, M.D. was introduced by our own Dr. Rick Kennedy (left). Dr. Tranquada said that the County of L.A.'s Medical Program is a major disaster waiting to happen. He pointed out that the County is projecting a 700 million dollar deficit and because of such may be required to shut down many of it's major trauma centers.

Gary Small, M.D. - Author of "The Memory Bible was our speaker on 1/10/03. New member Michelle Schrader is shown getting an official signed edition of his book. Dr. Small explained that a good memory is only about 35% hereditary and the balance to memory health is up to us. He gave us a number of tips to help keep our memories in shape for the rest of our lives.

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2/21/03 Esther Johnson - Annual Music Competition Awards.
This years awards were Held at the The First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica (Thank you Pat Farris). Shown starting left - Nat Trives (chairman), Scott Berens, Allen R. Gross, Director/Conductor, Santa Monica Symphony, Xibei Jia, and Micah Schub.
	This years first place winner is Xibei Jia , who is a 12th grade student at New Roads High School. She performed Chopin's Ballad Number 1. Her passionate performance gave us a whole new meaning of music appreciation!

Kristina Andresen and Tod Lipka honored us with their "Craft Talks" on 1/24/03

Kris, who is one of Santa Monica's finest architects told us that she always wanted to design buildings ever since she was a mere lass in the 3rd grade. Well Kris, I think the picture of the beautiful MGM building, which you designed, proves that you have made your goal!	Tod, who is Executive Director of "Step Up on 2nd" , is shown receiving a check from Dick Lawrence for a new stove for his organization. Tod loves helping people and gets great satisfaction working for a charitable organization that helps Santa Monica's homeless.