ROTARY CLUB OF PASADENA
SPOKES
Newsletter
www.pasadenarotary.com
DISTRICT 5300 • Rotary Club 794 • (626) 440-0908 • Apr. 25, 2012 • NUMBER 231
This Week’s Program at The University Club at
12 Noon, Wednesday, Apr. 25, 2012:
Current Domestic & Global Economics
By Victor Zhang, Head of Investments, Wilshire Funds Management
Victor Zhang has 15+ years of investment experience . As head of investments for
Wilshire Funds Management (WFM), he leads the overall investment activities of the
group, including manager research and portfolio management. Victor
also chairs the WFM investment committee.
Prior to joining Wilshire, he served as director of investments and
in other senior investment positions with Harris my CFO Investment
Advisory Services, a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal, where he advised
on all investment issues including asset allocation, manager research,
portfolio construction, and risk management for large family offices
in the country. Prior to Harris, he was a senior investment consultant with Ernst &
Young, LLP.
Victor earned a B.A. in business economics from UCLA.
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Dodger night Apr. 28
Spring party May 12
Pasadena Pops June 16
Please join us at
Stadium
for
the Villicana
IntroductionsDodger
of Visiting Rotarians
& Guests:
Ann-Marie
Meditation: Temo
Arjani Rotary
Program Introduction:
Cristina Fuentes
2012
Dodger
Song Leader: Marilyn Buchanan Accompanist: Ross Jutsum
Day
SPOKES is a weekly newsletter published by the Rotary Club of Pasadena. Should you have questions regarding this publication, please call us at 626-440-0908 (Fax 626-440-9806) or send us an email to [email protected]. Our mail address
is 556 South Fair Oaks Ave, Suite 101, #379, Pasadena, CA 91105. Visit our website www.pasadenarotary.com.
Saturday, April 28, 2011
6:10 p.m.
2 of 5
SPOKES - Apr. 25, 2012
Ken’s Corner
I don’t receive many comments about these articles
I write each week, and I didn’t think much about it.
Then one Rotarian, who shall go unnamed, asked
me what Spokes was, and when I told him it is our
newsletter, he asked how often it is published. If he
represents many of our members, I can understand
why I don’t hear about my scribbling. It just occurred
to me that I’m not sure for whom I am writing today’s
article. Perhaps I will collect them into an anthology
and make them my contribution to future generations. As Nat Read said: “Write it down.”
Following each meeting I enjoy speaking with our
guests, especially visiting Rotarians, to thank them
for visiting our club. Without a question, they are
overwhelmingly positive about our venue, our food
and the quality of our meeting and program. Penny
and Gordon Shurtliff, who visited last week from the
La Jolla area (Gordon counted Pasadena Rotary
as his 207th club visited) both commented on how
impressive our club is, and they should know. We
take for granted what Pasadena Rotary is like, but
we truly have a special club in a special venue, and
it shows loud and clear to our guests. Of course
this “Rotary exceptionalism” that we enjoy requires
effective committees and all of you bringing in new
members to replace our natural attrition. In the last
two months of this Rotary year, please try to sign up
a new member – it makes a difference.
Diana Peterson More is working hard to get her
team ready for her year as president. Many Rotarians are stepping forward to take on chairmanships
and other responsibilities. One task that seems to
take time and goes unrewarded is the publication of
the Rotary Roster in hard copy. Our natural attrition
means we are almost continuously out of date in our
roster, even our online roster. I urge you to take a
few minutes to update your profile on the Web roster
so that the hard copy version will be as current as
possible when it is published early in Diana’s term.
That includes a recent photo. One member told me
the photos are so out of date in some cases that he
didn’t recognize a member he was looking for by
photo in the roster. So here’s a plea one more time
to update your profile in readiness for Diana’s year.
Then again, who is reading this?
The Prez
In Memoriam
Mary Ellen “Mel” Weston
Mary Ellen “Mel” Weston (former Mary Ellen Cannon), 81 was born August 9, 1930 in Syracuse,
New York. She passed away with her family by her
side on March 30, 2012 in Medford, Oregon after a
brief illness.
Mel is survived by her husband, Austin “Wes”
Weston of Medford Oregon; sister Betse Gump of
Summit, New Jersey; daughters, Ellen (Jim) Swagerty of Westlake Village and Kay (Bill) Cohn and
grandson, Michael of Solana Beach. She is predeceased by her son, Fred Weston.
Married in 1952, Mel and Wes moved to the Pasadena area in 1960, settling into their Altadena home
where they lived for over 40 years; raising their
three children and entertaining friends. They retired
to Medford, Oregon in 2007.
Mel was an active volunteer throughout her years
in Pasadena; serving in many leadership positions.
The list of organizations includes: KCET Women’s
Council, Huntington Memorial Hospital Auxiliary
Guild, The Sycamores, Pasadena Philharmonic
Committee, Board of Directors of the Town Club.
She was active as a Junior Warden and the Altar
Guild in the Episcopal Church. She loved Hawaii
and enjoyed spending time with Wes at their home
on Molokai.
A graveside Memorial Service at San Gabriel Cemetery will take place 11:00AM, Wednesday, April 25,
2012.
Published in Pasadena Star-News on April 19, 2012
3 of 5
SPOKES - Apr. 25, 2012
The Scoot Zone
Apr. 18, 2012
By John Tegtmeyer
The tax man’s taken all my dough
I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of Rotary
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
Phil Miles, our song leader, you summed up just
the way I was feeling and your song did ‘help me,
help me’ …cheer up a little! Major Darren Norton,
your meditation on ‘Amazing Grace’ was pretty,
well… ‘amazing on a sunny afternoon.’ Thank you
Hassan Kheradmandan you definitely know how to
extend a warm Rotary welcome to our guests, you
gave them more than ‘two good reasons why they
ought to stay.’
Gary Nelson gave us several reasons why we
should go to Dodger Day. Dave Mans told us how
we could have a lot of fun while ‘sipping on an ice
cold beer’…at the Ice House, this Saturday Night.
Armida Baylon even made dinner reservations at
nearby restaurants. Meanwhile, Colleen Carey reminded us about the Spring Party on May 12 at the
home of Heidi Rasmussen. Robert Risley was
giving Hallmark a run for their money. You can buy
beautiful sets of University Club artwork-inspired
greeting cards for $ 25 with half of all proceeds
going to the Rotary Foundation. Unfortunately
President Hill fined Robert for not sending any of
these cards to Rotarians. Ken was sure nice to the
Shurtleffs however. Gordon and Penny had come
representing the Torrey Pines and La Jolla Rotary
Clubs respectively. Gordon presented Ken with a
private label bottle of red wine. “Is this for me or for
the club?” Ken asked coyly. I suspect that he’ll be
‘living the life of Rotary’ at home tonight. Next Ken
caught up with Scott Carder and that’s not easy because apparently Scott is a man on the run. Actually he was wearing suede thongs to get his feet in
shaped for ‘barefoot running.’ Ken obliged him by
lightening the load with a bare wallet.
Ken then sidled over to John McDannel for an
update on the Group Study Exchange. So far the
Pasadena group has been greeted by a 7.2 earth-
quake, Julia and the leader both got sick and went
to the hospital for treatment, and two members
were robbed! So let’s give a warm Rotary welcome
to the GSE visitors to Pasadena! Following this,
Ken had us give a listen to Ellen Simon of the
HEAR center, they are sponsoring an event at One
Colorado tomorrow.
Ken then asked Christina Fuentes to introduce
our speaker for today, our own Nat Read. Christina
introduced her long time multi-talented friend as a
“truly a legend in his own mind.”
“Write your story!”
Our legend thanked Christina for her “truthful introduction” and began by saying that he could sum up
his speech in just three words: “Write your story.”
He continued, “Don’t just write a message in the
sand because it will quickly wash away in the tide
and it will be gone forever.” Nat talked about his
autobiography, his fifth book, which he just finished
and which is now available at Vromans. He was
especially grateful that he had a chance to document some of his father’s experiences in World War
II at Lehte Gulf and Okinawa, two of the largest sea
based invasions in history. He also documented
his brother’s experience in Vietnam in a MASH unit
and his personal experiences also. Nat was on
one of the ships in the Tonkin Gulf that was supposedly fired upon by North Vietnam and was used as
an excuse to get into the Vietnam War by Lyndon
Johnson. “It simply never happened,” Nat said, “the
whole war was justified by an event that never happened.”
Nat also used this opportunity to study his Genealogy which went back prior to 1200 A.D. with kings,
Romans and characters right out of Shakespeare.
His only regret was that he had so little information
about his ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary
War and in the Civil War. Nat has done just about
every job at one time or another from taxi driver
(Continued on Pg 4)
4 of 5
SPOKES - Apr. 25, 2012
The Scoot Zone
(Continued From Pg 3)
Apr. 18, 2012
By John Tegtmeyer
to Naval Officer, from preacher to cartoonist, from
casino worker to high speed rail executive. He managed to get in trouble with Richard Daly in Chicago,
he got in trouble with the KGB in Russia, and he
even marched with Martin Luther King. Eventually
he wound up as an executive with Sears Roebuck
and lived above the clouds in the Hancock Tower
in Chicago. He told stories about dealing with PR
nightmares such as the time that Sir Edmund Hillary
jumped up precariously onto the parapet ledge of
the Sears Tower and another time when the Russian Hockey team got arrested in a Sears store in
Alaska, including their KGB escort!
He has spent the last twenty-five years in Pasadena, however, working in PR with his own firm working on projects with Scott Jenkins and others. He
has championed projects from One Colorado to the
Huntington Hotel reconstruction project to the Gold
Line Project. His biggest challenge was the 710
freeway which is now finally in the EIR process after
40 years of debate. Through this process he honed
his writing skills and once someone even asked
him to help them write a suicide note. “Of course,
I insisted on payment in advance,” he quipped, but
he successfully talked the man out of it. His biggest
failure was an attempt to finally get the public to
learn to distinguish John Cushman (the Rotarian)
from the other John Cushman (the developer). He
had pictures published of both of them in the Star
News. Unfortunately the wrong names were paired
with the pictures that were posted and it was all for
naught! The bottom line, however, Nat repeated, is
simply this: “Write it down!”
Ken wrapped it all up by asking Nat if he thought
Ken would ever actually be able to drive on the 710
freeway. “Well, I can’t speak for you, Ken, but I certainly intend to drive on the 710 before I go!”
Visiting Guests and Rotarians
Gordon and Penny Shurtleff were visiting from Tor-
rey Pines and La Jolla Rotary chapters. Gordon’s
visit to our club was his 207th Rotary club visitation.
His ultimate goal is 250 clubs!
Kathy Meagher brought her husband Jim.
Bill Opel brought Bob Davidson, developer of the
new Huntington Pavilion Medical Office Building,
new home of the doctors of USC.
Fiona Cameron brought Dr. Liz Green, former and
hopefully future Pasadena Rotarian.
Ben Mishico brought Dr. Jerome Lisk, a neurologist at Huntington Hospital, he studies movement
disorders.
Howard Raff brought Harrison Darling, D.C. who
has a practice in Pasadena and is a former Rotary
exchange student to Australia.
Nat Read brought his wife Linda who owns an Auntie Anne’s Pretzels store nearby.
Please send all
payments to
Club Administrator Don Gilbert
Pasadena Rotary
5360 Workman Mill Rd.
Whittier, CA 90601
For questions, email:
[email protected]
or call (626) 440-0908
5 of 5
SPOKES - Apr. 25, 2012
Rotary Roamer participants, from left: Yvette, Leah, Cory, Liza, Dave and jodi.
Dogs: Gino and Ziva.
ROAMERS REPORT
On this past Saturday, April 14th, three Rotary
Roamers and four guests went to Sturtevant Falls in
Big Santa Anita Canyon. The weather was beautiful, the falls were running high due to Thursday and
Friday rains, and a good time was had by all. Cory
Brendel and Dave McAlexander and their significant
others Liza and Jodi went on to do the full loop to
Sturtevant Camp. Many unexpected pleasures and
treasures were encountered, such as the serene
beautiful pools above the falls, numerous tents and
backpackers at a camp called Spruce Grove, and
finally an unexpected guided tour by the weekend
caretaker of Sturtevant Camp. Did you know that Sturtevant Camp is a thriving
operation consisting of no less than 12 buildings to
which supplies can be delivered by donkey train? Open to groups, or even couples! Oh, the benefits
of The Rotary Roamers! Roam on!!! Stay tuned for
the Roamers Geocaching Adventure!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THIS
WEEK’S ROTARIANS
Kenneth Stickney
Joseph Lonergan
Francisco Nicolas
Clay Mills
Virgil Bryant
Apr. 25
Apr. 27
Apr. 27
Apr. 29
May 1
Please join us at
Dodger Stadium for the
2012 Rotary Dodger
Day
Saturday, April 28, 2011
6:10 p.m.
At Dodger Stadium
Cheer the Dodgers as they take on the Washington Nationals. Enjoy fun, fellowship
and an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT food feast, including:
Dodger Dogs
Peanuts
Popcorn
Nachos
Soda
Water
Alcoholic beverages not included
Parking is extra
Tickets: $26 /Person
Sign Up NOW
Or
Call the Rotary Office to RSVP
Your Rotary Account will be billed for the event!