SPOKES VOL. LXV NO. 20 November 13, 2018
Tony Martorano and Ted Weber – who was practicing for next week - were our greeters this morning.
President Odland opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Art Ayers provided an invocation including our prayers for the loss of our friend Don Hixson and for Julie Weber, Missy Thompson Jean Stein and Ann Hemeter.
Guests:
Our guests today included prospective members Jim Bradford, prosective member Rosalie Plechaty, Terry McGarr, our speaker Ted Guimond and spotlight speaker Dave Womack.
Spotlight:
Dave Womack from the Salvation Army was our spotlight speaker this morning , thanking us for our bell ringing work. We have been ringing bells in South Haven since 1982 and last year we raised a record $2,650. He especially thanked Bob Stickland for organizing our efforts. Our Bell ringing date this year is December 22nd.
Announcements:
- Funeral arrangements for Don Hixson have been set with visitation from 2:00 to 3:00 PM Friday, November 16 followed by the funeral service at 3:00 PM at Peace Evangelical Church in South Haven.
- Jean Stein and Ann Hemeter are both recovering from their respective surgeries with Ann’s recovery expected to last as long as six months.
- Thanks to the Blessings in a Backpack volunteers including the Kitchins, Pietenpols, Martoranos, Tom Renner, Art Ayers, Richard Swanson, Dan Thompson, Mark Odland and Rhonda Wendzel.
- On December 11th we will be having our annual Christmas get together, at Beeches Golf Course.
- The first “Back Door Dinner at the Congregational Church” that we are scheduled to work is Thursday, November 15th.
- December 18th is the Rotary Open Door Christmas Dinner at the Methodist Church and all are invited to come and help serve.
- Got your warm clothes? We are scheduled to Ring the Bell for the Salvation Army on December 22nd.
- Richard Swanson has extra tickets for the Hope College Vespers on Sunday, December 2nd at 2:00. Contact Richard if you would like at attend.
Songs
Larry Wittkop took up the reins on our songfest today.We began with a test of our singing ability, “By the Beautiful Sea”, which was originally recorded by the Heidelberg Quintet, topping the early American music charts for six weeks in the summer of 1914, during the outbreak of World War I.We followed that with Larry’s favorite song, a drinking song from eastern Europe, “Stodola Pumpa”, which we sang with much gusto under Larry’s direction.We finished with “Rotary, My Rotary” which contains a slight hint of Christmas.
50/50
Bob Stickland had the lucky ticket this morning and initially thought he had drawn the 4, but Rhonda pointed out that it looked more like a 7 than a 4. Guest Terry McGarr won the $2 prize.
Fines:
- Dene Hadden celebrated the birthday of his grandson Brooks this week.
- Tom Renner is celebrating the birthday of granddaughter Abby and his daughter-in-law Julie.
- Dan Leihr is pleased that we are one day closer to spring.
- Mark Odland reviewed Don Hixson story and asked anyone who has more about his involvement in Rotary to let him know.
- Tom Fleming reminded us again: Don’t forget that Big 10 Tuesday has commenced and you can save $.10 a gallon on gas from now through basketball season.
- Ted Weber reminded us that Michigan won another football game this weekend.
- Larry Wittkop was pleased to announce that a helf dozen girls from the SHHS swim team will be traveling to the MHSAA State Swim Meet this weekend.
- Don Hodgman asked us to remember that Don Hixson was heavily involved in the community beyond rotary and did not advertise it all.
- Dene Hadden is excited to work the Internet radio broadcast of the MHSAA State Volleyball finals this weekend. He does not do the TV broadcast as he has the perfect face for radio.
- Steve Miles is celebrating his daughter’s Rugby team from Northern Michigan University and their third place finish in regionals in Iowa.
Art Ayers strode up to the podium ad introduced our speaker this morning, blacksmith Ted Guimond.
Ted is a retired teacher but has had smithing in his blood since he was 9 years old and especially enjoyed a trip to the blacksmith shop at Greenfield Village at about that age.
He does blacksmith work along with some ice carving and teaching classes in this skill. He is also an active volunteer in the community. He does not do any work with animals, like horses.
He showed us many pieces of his work with examples and pictures.
He has done fences, railings, decorations tables and many other unusual pieces. He showed us a couple of railings that he did; one just an assembly of premade parts, one a special handmade rail and the third a specially designed rail with many intricate details.
He also works with copper and showed us two pieces he did for a client. The first was a 200 pound copper turtle with glass inserts that turned out to be a beautiful piece of work. He followed that up with a huge copper bell tower that had alternating twists applied to a very heavy and thick copper rod.
You can see more of Ted’s work by looking up Guimond Metal Art on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/guimondmetalart/
Ted finished his presentation by giving several members a “round Tuit” to help them get on their projects sooner.
Art presented Ted with our own token of appreciation and thanked him for his very interesting presentation.
Mark Odland closed the meeting with the Four Way Test
Next week’s program: Barry Winkel will introduce Bill Hunter from the City of South Haven with a Public Works Update.
Next week’s Greeters: Ted Weber and Nick Tuit
Editarian: Dene Hadden