Bulletin
March 5, 2014
Editor Neal Graham
Photographer: Bill Pickens
2013-2014 Our 24th Year
Rotary Club of Memphis East
David Leake, President
www.rotaryclubofmemphiseast.org
Like us on Facebook/EastMemRotary
Follow us on Twitter/eastmemrotary
Rotary on the Radio - KWAM 990 / kwam990.com
March 12th
Author Curtis Wilkie
Fall of the House of Zeus
Curtis Wilkie is a native Mississippian. He graduated from Ole Miss in
1963 and began his journalistic career as a reporter for the Clarksdale Press
Register at a time when the civil rights movement dominated news in the
Mississippi Delta. In 1969, he received a Congressional fellowship from the
American Political Science Association and moved to Washington where he
served as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill.
After spending more than three years on the staff of the News-Journal papers in Wilmington, Delaware, he was hired by the Boston Globe. Wilkie was
a national and foreign correspondent for the Globe for 26 years. He covered
eight presidential campaigns, served as White House correspondent for six
years, then became the Globe’s Middle East bureau chief in Jerusalem in 1984
before moving back to the US in time for the 1988 presidential campaign.
He closed out his years with the Globe as a national correspondent based
in New Orleans and retired after the 2000 presidential campaign. Since that
time, he has served on the journalism faculty at Ole Miss. He is the author of
three books, “Arkansas Mischief” with the late Jim McDougal; “Dixie,” an
account of the transformation of the South in his lifetime; and “The Fall of
the House of Zeus.” A collection of his newspaper and magazine stories will
be published this fall. Its title is: “Assassins, Eccentrics, Politicians and Other
Persons of Interest.” He lives in Oxford with his wife, Nancy.
Upcoming Programs
March 12th
Author Curtis Wilkie
Fall of the House of Zeus
March 19th
Dale Hall
Ducks Unlimited
March 26th
Melissa McFerrin
U of M Lady
Tigers Basketball Coach
April 2nd
Kennon McCloy
Memphis Public Library
April 9th
Tim Brown
Kroger Regional Manager
April 16th
Jason Little
Baptist Memorial Hospital
April 21st
Dunavant Awards Luncheon
Church Health Center
April 23rd
Meeting Cancelled
Our Speaker Sponsor
John Seabold presented the Church Health Center with a check for $3,000
to build a fence for Klondike Elementary three and four-year-old preschool
children. The fence will prevent the children from wandering into the street
and also stop neighborhood foot traffic which results in litter, broken glass,
used needles and other hazardous refuse.
Pictured with John Seabold and David Leake is Ann Langston and John
Thatcher.
Gift of Life
Rotary Club of Memphis East Golf Tournament
Watch for details on the upcoming Rotary golf tournament to be played
on Thursday, May 1st, at Windyke Country Club. Chairman Lee
Greene will be introducing new plans for the tournament that
will make it a success for our club while providing you with a
good time and some great prizes.
Dunavant Public Servant
Awards Luncheon
Monday, April 21, 2014
U. S. Senator Lamar Alexander
Keynote Speaker
Tables Sales
are listed. Are you
on the list?
February 26th Program
Sherlock Holmes Lives
By: Leo Bearman, Member of Giant Rats of Somatra Club in Memphis
Today Leo Bearman, a member of the Giant Rats of Somatra Club based
in Memphis, Tennessee, updated us on Sherlock Holmes post-retirement
“bee keeping” activities in Sussex and his decision to stop taking the London
Times. Apparently, Sherlock Holmes is enjoying retirement but is ready at
any time to return to London to help the British Empire solve any major unsolved mysteries that could potentially harm the good people of England.
Sherlock was quite a man. He generally played it straight except for
times when he was driven to consume a “seven percent” solution of “cocaine” due to the boredom he suffered when he was not in “hot pursuit” of
some clever villain. We learned that he was a “loner” in that he did not like
women except for Irene Adler who once “equaled him” in “A Scandal in Bohemia.” He also had a brother, Mike Rock Holmes who was older than Sherlock, was a little overweight and worked
for the government.
Besides taking “cocaine” occasionally, he also enjoyed playing the violin, classical music of course. We also were
informed of the situation where Dr. Watson first encountered Mr. Holmes at St. Bartholomew Hospital in the morgue
beating a corpse with a stick to determine whether a “dead man” bruises. Watson was introduced to Holmes by a
mutual friend, and when Watson approached Holmes, Holmes stated, “How are you? You have been in Afghanistan
I perceive.” It turned out Holmes was correct. Watson did serve in Afghanistan during the British War from 1878 to
1880 where he was injured and resulted in “nightmares” that haunted Watson.
We learned from Holmes that “many people see” but “few people observe.” That was the key to solving the mysteries.
Mr. Bearman, an excellent trial attorney, presented the following evidence to support the belief that Mr. Holmes,
born on January 6, 1854, is still alive:
1. No one has ever found Mr. Holmes’ grave.
2. His footprints went to the edge of the precipice but did not return but that can be explained since Mr. Holmes
simply reversed himself and walked backwards in the same footprints that he had made.
3. Thousands of individuals continue to write to Mr. Holmes at 221B Baker Street, and all of these letters are answered by his friends.
Mr. Bearman claims that this evidence should be clear and convincing or simply “very elementary” for great
minds like ours.
Continue to Page Three for
Dunavant Public Servant Awards
luncheon information and table sponsors
Dunavant Public Servant Awards
Monday, April 21st, is the date for our 11th annual Dunavant Public Servant Awards luncheon. Tables sales are
moving at a brisk pace. Tables of ten are available for $400. RCME club members can reserve a seat now and will be
billed a $13 supplement to help offset the costs of a meeting offsite. Tickets for guests and the interested public are $50
each.
For reservations or more information
Contact Lee Hughes at (901) 754-1615 or [email protected]
Current table sponsors are:
Apperson Crump PLC - Joe Aldridge
BancorpSouth - Robert Morehead
Bank Tennessee - Jim Rout
Baptist Rehabilitation Hospital - Rebecca DeRousse
Baptist Women’s Hospital - Anita Vaughn
Black, McLaren, Jones Ryland & Griffee, PC - Mark Griffee
Christian Brothers University - John Smarrelli
The Daily News - James Overstreet
The Dunavant Family
Farris Bobango Barnan, PLC - Mark Beautelschies / Bob Kirk
Financial Resource Management - Lee Greene
First State Bank - Steve Weaver
Gaines & Associates Law Firm - Katina Gaines
Glankler Brown Law Firm - Matt Brinner / King Rogers
Grinder Haizlip Construction - Chris McDermott
InSouth Bank - Bob Gaston
Lanigan Moving & Storage - Lynn Lanigan
Legacy Wealth Management - Rob Sievers
David Leake
Malcolm D. Myers, CPAs - Tom Huddleston
The Marston Group - Chip Marston / Jimmy Dickey
McManus Reilly Financial - Mike McManus / Mike Reilly
Memphis Rotary Club
Menard Gates Mathis - Dale Menard / Van Menard
Palmer Home for Children - David Richardson
Past Winner’s Table sponsored by Ann E. Duncan
Renasant Bank - Carol Russell
Scott & Pohlman - Alisa Farmer
SunTrust Bank - Jean Morton
Trustmark Bank - Tracy Chism
Waddell & Associates, Inc., and Allie Prescott - Allie Prescott
Walker Architects - Michael Walker
Watkins Uiberall - Nina Gourley
Rick Webb
White Station Elementary School - Steve Weaver
Winchester Law Firm - Rick Charlton
Winner’s Family Table
Buddy Wittichen